Page 117 of The Alpha’s Unclaimed Mate

Jessa lowers herself into my lap, and I don’t question it. My arm bands around her and holds on.

“How are you this calm?” I ask into her hair.

“I’m not calm.” Her fingers curl into my collar. “I don’t want to keep clawing at the past. I’m trying to move forward with you, with Mia and Bella.”

She tips my chin up and kisses me.

It catches me off guard. I go still, then gather her in and kiss her back, hard. When I draw back an inch, my mouth still brushes hers. “I can’t make sense of you,” I murmur. “You shove me off, then you crawl into my lap and kiss me stupid.”

“Do you have to understand everything?” Her lips graze mine.

“No.” I kiss her again. “I suppose not.”

My hands slide under her shirt. I’ve got her tipped back onto the cushions, then up once more with my hands beneath her thighs, and I set her on the edge of the desk while I drag my tie loose.

“No.” She catches my wrist. “We’re at the academy.”

“I locked the door.”

“The doors out there aren’t.”

That stops me dead. I drop my forehead to her shoulder and groan. “You’re cruel.”

She laughs breathlessly. I pull back enough to take her jaw in my hand. “You kissed me this time.” My eyes hold hers. “I want you to remember that.”

“I remember.”

I search her face. “And what does it mean?”

“Didn’t we just settle this?”

“Maybe I need constant reassurance. I might be a very clingy lover.”

She can’t fight the smile. “That’s going to be a problem.”

Then she leans in, setting her mouth to my throat, and the urge to mark her roars up in me. My wolf shoves for the surface, snapping to be let loose. Her scent floods my head. The animal fixes on the curve of her throat, desperate to sink its teeth in and brand her as mine. It slams into something I can’t see, then drives at it again, wild to get past.

“What are you doing?” she asks.

“Give me a second.” My breathing’s gone ragged. I force the wolf back down, and it fights me the whole way.

I step back and drop into my chair, the desk between us. She’s perched on the desk still, flushed, watching me.

“You’ll be the death of me,” I tell her.

“What did I do?”

I roll the chair in, my hands framing her hips. “I want to eat you whole.” I look up at her. “Do you have any idea how hard it is to keep my hands off you?”

“You’re exaggerating.” Her color’s high.

I take her hand and press it against me. “Does that feel like a lie?”

She surprises me. Instead of pulling back, she presses harder, dragging her palm down once. The breath leaves me in a rush. Then she’s gone, only for a heartbeat. Her hand returns, bolder this time, cupping me fully through the fabric before her fingers find my zipper.

“Jessa,” I rasp, my voice already rough. “What are you doing?”

Her cheeks are flushed, but her eyes hold mine with a spark of heat and mischief I’ve rarely seen. “Taking care of my lover.”