Dalton, Tymber - Doggy Tales [Doggy Tales] (Siren Publishing Classic) (13 page)

And he’d totally disagreed with how and why Jeremy claimed Genna as his mate.

He nuzzled the top of her head. “I love you, Genna. Really.”

“I know.” He’d said that a hell of a lot over the past couple of days, and she believed him.

She just needed time to adjust to her new life with him. And to the fact that he could shape-shift.

* * * *

The next morning, she was surprised to look in the mirror over the bathroom sink and see the last vestiges of her bruises were completely faded. Jeremy quietly hovered, attentive and wanting to make amends with every ounce of his being. When Lindsey showed up a little after nine that morning to take Genna out shopping, Genna jumped at the chance to get away for a little while.

“Do you know somewhere we can get good discounts?” Genna asked as she buckled her seat belt.

Lindsey snorted. “Discounts?” She fished a credit card out of her purse. “Honey, Ivan gave me a corporate card and said the two of us should have fun. Specifically, that I should buy you whatever you want and run up one hellacious tab.”

Genna smiled. “On Jeremy’s tab, you mean?”

She laughed. “Ooooh, yeah. Believe me, he deserves it.”

Genna smiled. “I’m going to enjoy this.”

They’d plowed their way through their third high-end department store, with the trunk of Lindsey’s car nearly full already with shopping bags, when Genna needed a break. “I call lunch,” Genna said. “Uncle.”

Lindsey smiled. “You need endurance training. This credit card isn’t even slightly warm yet.”

Genna laughed as she plopped down at a table in the mall’s food court. “Yeah, but I’m worn out.”

Lindsey sat with her. “You okay?”

Genna nodded. “Jeremy and I talked more yesterday. He agreed to go to counseling with me.” She studied her hands. “I believe him in my head, but my heart is still having trouble wrapping around everything. Or maybe it’s the other way around. I still feel like I’m being spun around in the middle of a tornado.”

“Counseling? Really? Good. Maybe I can quit calling him Mr. Shit Weasel then.”

Genna laughed. “You really call him that?”

“Yeah. He told me to stop, and I told him he wasn’t the boss of me. Which, then, of course, he said technically he
was
the boss of me, since he is, you know, my boss. And he’s Ivan’s pack Alpha. But then Ivan growled at him, and Jeremy backed down because he knows he fucked up.” She smiled at Genna. “It gets easier,” she softly said.

“I know.” She studied her hands some more. “I just wish he’d wanted me for me in the first place and not because he wanted to get back at Lester.”

Lindsey sighed. “Not the most romantic of beginnings, I know.” Her voice turned serious. “But when one of their kind mates, it’s for life. Period. And he had to feel it in his soul for it to even happen, even if he thought it was revenge or whatever at first.” She squeezed Genna’s hand. “When he says he loves you, he means it. And that’s not me letting him off the hook, either. That’s me having a little insight into these dumbasses’ minds from the inside.”

Genna nodded. “I know. I know he loves me. I just need some time to process all this.”

“Agreed.” Lindsey leaned in close and dropped her voice. “Ivan saved me when we first met. Literally. He saved my life from three guys who were going to rape me. And since then, he’s kept me safer than I ever thought I could feel. Let me tell you what, I went through quite a few years of not feeling safe. I’m sure Jeremy feels like shit, but I’d be willing to bet he doesn’t disappoint you again.”

* * * *

They returned home several hours later, tired, laughing, and with a trunkful of purchases. Jeremy met them at the front door, anxiety on his face. Genna thought he looked sweet until she remembered how upset at him she still was.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“Calm down,” Lindsey said. “We’re fine.” She handed the credit card back to Ivan but spoke her next words to Jeremy. “Although you might not be when you get the bill next month.”

Jeremy shook his head. “I don’t care as long as she’s happy.”

Genna couldn’t help but smile. “You’re like a lovesick puppy.”

Lindsey laughed. “She’s catching on. That’s a good one.” She held up her hand. “Fist bump!” They did, and Jeremy helped Ivan unload the trunk, taking the bags into the bedroom and dumping them on the bed.

“Okay, you two,” Lindsey said, pushing the men out of the bedroom. “Out. Scoot.”

When they emerged an hour later, Genna was dressed in one of her new purchases, a pretty, flowing black dress that came down to her knees, new high heels, and a new purse. Lindsey had put on her brand new green dress. “Okay,” Lindsey said. “You two are taking us out someplace nice. And expensive.”

They all piled into Lindsey’s car, the men in the front seat. Lindsey patted Genna on the hand and sent her a conspiratorial smile.

Genna appreciated Lindsey running interference. While Genna hadn’t said so in so many words, she still felt a little nervous when alone with Jeremy. Not because she was afraid of him, but because she didn’t honestly know what to say to him other than asking him to fuck her brains out.

And she wasn’t quite sure how to reconcile that desire yet.

The men took them to a high-end steakhouse in downtown Tampa. By the time dinner ended, Genna felt more at ease around Jeremy and even let him hold her hand as they strolled out to the car. He opened her door for her and helped her in before climbing into the passenger seat.

Next to her, Lindsey flashed her a smile that Genna returned. Dinner had helped. She did feel better.

At home, Ivan and Lindsey gathered her purchases and bid them good night. Once alone, Genna returned to the bedroom and changed into a T-shirt of Jeremy’s and climbed into bed. He hesitated until she patted the bed next to her.

With a thankful smile, he climbed in and slid under the sheet. She curled up next to him, her head resting in the crook of his shoulder. “Thank you for taking us out. And for the shopping trip.”

He hugged her. “Anything you want. I mean it.”

She looked up at him, and his butterscotch eyes melted her. “I do want you. I fell in love with you when I thought you were nothing but a dream.” She studied his expression for a minute. She felt his regret at what he’d put her through radiating from him. Lindsey had told her she would start feeling his emotions, that it was part of the shifter-mate stuff.

If anyone else had told her this story, she’d have wanted to run far and fast from them, especially if they said they forgave the jerk.

But she did forgive the big jerk.

Tipping her head back, she kissed him. He hesitantly returned it. She sensed him wanting more, wanting to make love to her, but holding himself back.

Another reason to love him.

Everyone made mistakes, and he was willing to atone for his.

And she was very. Fucking. Horny.

Reaching up, she wove her fingers into his hair and crushed his lips with hers, plunging her tongue into his mouth.

Moaning as his cock immediately stiffened in his briefs, he kissed her back eagerly. A flood of moisture pooled between her legs. She did want him. His body did things to her no man ever had. No reason she couldn’t get some satisfaction from him while they were working through their issues, right?

Genna hooked a leg around his and ground herself against him. Breaking their kiss, she whispered, “Please make love to me.”

He rolled her onto her back. Slowly, gently, he lifted her T-shirt and kissed her belly, his lips feathering across her flesh and stirring deep, dark desires inside her. She remembered how it felt to be totally possessed by his cock, the hot and passionate sex they’d had when she thought he was just a dream.

She wanted to feel that again.

When he reached her breasts, he took his time, cupping them in his hands and rubbing his thumbs over her nipples. Each stroke sent another jolt of need straight to her clit. He took his time, refusing to be rushed, licking and sucking first one, then the other. Back and forth, the hot, sucking pull of his mouth driving her closer to the brink. At this point, she thought he could simply blow on her pussy and make her come.

She raised her arms over her head when he finally lifted the T-shirt off her, leaving her wearing nothing but her now-sodden panties. Bending down, he grabbed the waistband in his teeth and softly growled as he worked them down her legs.

Genna laughed. He glanced up at her. The corners of his eyes had crinkled in amusement. He’d done that on purpose to make her laugh.

Releasing her panties, he kissed her left thigh, then the right one. He admitted what she already knew. “I love hearing you laugh. It’s the best sound in the world.”

“Even better than me screaming your name as I come?”

He rested his cheek against her thigh and laid the palm of his hand flat on her belly. “Making you laugh like that means you’re happy,” he said. “A vibrator can make you come. It can’t make you laugh.”

“Depends on how funny looking it is.”

With a mind of their own, her hands stroked his hair. He was willing to lie there with her, not moving even though she wanted him to. Seeing him like this, the tender side of the man who’d literally ripped Lester’s throat out with his teeth, melted her heart.

“I love you,” she whispered.

He smiled and kissed her thigh as he sat up. “I love you, too. I’ll spend the rest of our lives proving to you how much I love you.” He leaned in and pressed a kiss on the top of her mound, on the pubic bone. “How very, very much.” He worked lower, to just above her clit.

Her hand clutched his hair more tightly.

“I love you more than my own life,” he whispered. His breath blew across her clit as he spoke, making her whimper.

When his tongue caressed her swollen nub, she exploded, crying out, her back arching.

Then he went after her with no mercy, using his lips and tongue to work at her clit, gently pinning her hands to her sides on the bed when she tried to push him away. He fucked her with his talented tongue, sliding it deep inside her flooded pussy, plunging in and out before exploring every fold of her labia, circling her clit to suck on her and make her come again and again.

She lost count.

After what felt like forever, she finally begged him to stop, to give her a moment to rest. He crawled up the bed to hold her in his arms. She kissed him and tasted her juices on his lips.

“I could go to sleep right now, I think,” she softly said.

“Oh, you don’t think I’m done with you yet, do you?” he teased.

She felt the wet spot on the front of his briefs where his rigid cock leaked pre-cum and strained to be freed. He had to be nearly crazy with desire if he was able to turn her into a puddle of goo and still hold himself back.

“I want you,” she whimpered. Suddenly, it was all she wanted, to feel his cock inside her, stretching her, fucking her, owning her.

“You’ll have me.” He nipped her bottom lip, making her whimper again. “But not until I’m satisfied that I’ve taken good care of you.”

All thoughts of sleep rapidly fled her body. She eagerly nodded. “You have! You did! Please?” She squirmed against him, humping his thigh, her oversensitive clit rasping against the fine hair on his leg. She reached for the waistband of his briefs and tried to shove them down his hips, but he intercepted her hand, brought it to his lips, and kissed it.

“We have the rest of our lives,” he said. “This is your time.”