Page 82 of Big Bad Wolf

Ruby’s thighs fell wider apart, and she wrapped her legs around his torso. Her heels digging into his lower back kept him anchored in the moment. He licked and sucked at each breast and everything he’d been worried about for weeks fell away. Nothing else existed except for Ruby’s lush body wrapped around him and her sighs and moans filling him and his name falling from her lips.

“Rafe.” She tugged at his hair, pulling him away. Her cheeks were pink and sweat dampened her hair line. Little curls had formed around her face. He’d left marks on her breasts and almost felt bad about it, but he liked seeing them there.

“I need you.” She said the words while she held his stare, her chest heaving with every breath.

Rafe blinked, the world coming back into focus. I need you. Those words. The look on Ruby’s face.

Rafe put a hand up Ruby’s skirt and tugged her underwear down over her ass. She wiggled out of them and reached for her skirt.

“Leave it on,” he growled, running his hands up her thighs, spreading her wider. He sat back on his heels to admire the view. He ran a hand up her leg until he reached her center. She stilled, her breath catching. He palmed her thigh and let his thumb brush against her folds. She bucked, her hips meeting his hand involuntarily.

Ruby leaned back on her elbows, staring down at him, eyes glazed over with lust. She was so wet. He held her legs open with one hand and explored her with the other. His fingers traced over her, learning where she liked to be touched, watching for every intake of breath, every moan and whimper.

He could do this all night. All week. For the rest of his fucking life.

No, that’s not what this is.

He was on his knees again, kissing, nipping and biting, loving how Ruby responded to every little spark of pain against the pleasure. The wolf inside him growled low with desire, with the need to claim her.

But Rafe wasn’t a wolf right now. He was a human.

He ran his tongue through Ruby’s wetness and his world fractured. Human. He was human. He couldn’t hold on to it. To that thought. To his humanity. This taste. Ruby’s taste. It was everything. He licked her again and again, broad and flat and then teasing and swirling. Over and over until Ruby was grinding against his face, her scent and her taste nearly suffocating him.

He’d never felt anything like it in his life, and as Ruby came against his tongue, trembling and screaming his name, he knew why. The realization stole his breath, stole his senses. It couldn’t be.

He stared up at Ruby while she trembled through the aftershocks, her hair streaming down her back like night itself, her lips red from kissing him not from her lipstick. And he knew.

Ruby was his Mate.

Chapter Thirty-Three

Ruby had just experienced the best orgasm of her entire life, but Rafe was the one who looked wrecked. He knelt in front of her, her wetness on his lips, his fingers still digging into her thighs, but his eyes were filled with something she’d never seen before.

Longing and desire mixed with … fear? Rafe was looking at her like he wanted to fuck her into oblivion and run from her at the same time. She grabbed tight to his arm. She wouldn’t let him run.

“Fuck me, Rafe.”

He shook his head, hard, as though the words had rattled him out of his thoughts.

“I…” His voice was rough and choked like he couldn’t bear what he was about to say. Somehow Ruby knew she couldn’t bear to hear it. She leaned forward and claimed his mouth with hers, demanding he open for her, demanding he let her in.

For a moment he did, and Ruby sagged in relief. She ran her fingers through his hair and down his shoulders. He was still fully clothed which now seemed like a horrible oversight. She tugged at his shirt, and he let her yank it over his head. He kissed her like a desperate man, like this was some kind of goodbye. But that couldn’t be true. Despite all that “bad idea” crap, Rafe couldn’t deny what existed between them. Not when it was so obvious.

Ruby pulled away and leaned her forehead against his. She let her hands trace the planes of his chest.

“That was amazing, but I don’t want to stop.”

Rafe’s exhale was one of defeat. “You got what you needed.” He pushed away from her, rising up. Ruby stood too, not wanting him to tower over her. Not now when he already held too much else over her. She’d been completely open with him and still he was pulling away?

“What I needed? I thought this was mutual. We both feel it, I know we do.” She crossed her arms over her bare chest. Rafe grabbed her shirt from the bed and handed it to her.

“We can’t, Ruby.”

What the actual hell was happening here? Ruby tugged the shirt on, not caring that it was inside out and backwards. This whole night was falling down around her. “Are you kidding?” she asked, ignoring how hurt her voice sounded. “You’re pretending that was just a favor to me?” She gestured to where Rafe’s cock strained against the front of his pants.

The color rose in Rafe’s cheeks, a pained expression crossing his face. “This is all I can give you, Ruby.”

He stalked from the room before she could argue. Ruby dropped back onto the bed, her legs still shaking from her soul-shattering orgasm.