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When I stepped onto the roof, I had to fight the urge to punch the air and do a victory lap. Only the fact that these old tiles could be slippery and I didn’t want to fall off the edge stopped me. But if I’d had my tail right then, you’d better believe I would have been wagging the shit out of that fucker.

The ladder creaked and Harvey’s face appeared at the top. “Okay, you’re good to go back to work, I guess, as long as you can get down again.”

This time I didn’t hesitate. I followed him down the ladder, and it was as easy as breathing. As soon as my boots hit the ground, Hunter was right there, beaming proudly. He rested one hand on my shoulder. “I knew you could do it.” He leaned in closer and murmured, “Meet you at your place after work and we can celebrate?”

I grinned. “I thought we already celebrated?”

“So? We can do it again.”

Hunter swooped in for a quick kiss, and my lips were still tingling when I strapped on my tool belt. I climbed back up onto the roof to start work, singing to myself as I did. Harvey rolled his eyes and said, “Didn’t miss your singing, kid. You sound like a cat with its head in a bucket.”

I smiled to myself and ignored him. I had plenty to sing about. I’d kept my job, reconnected my legs and my brain, and managed to start dating the sweetest, hottest guy alive in the process.

I was winning at life.

CHAPTER 14

HUNTER

Six months later

There was something vaguely intimidating about seeing a woman half my size and twice my age stroll into my house carrying three moving boxes stacked high while I struggled with one.

“Werewolf strength is a hell of a thing, ain’t it?” Luke’s father said quietly as we both watched his mom set down the stack of boxes.

“It sure is,” I agreed.

Luke’s dad and I shared a smile of understanding. I really liked Luke’s parents, and they liked me. Luke joked that sometimes they liked me more than him. It wasn’t true, but I had slotted into his family like I belonged there.

It helped that his dad was human, and we’d bonded over some of the weirdness that came with being with a werewolf, like having to replace the sheets because they’d been shredded by a stray claw or the sheer size of the grocery bill around the full moon. And yeah, being aware that the love of our life could snap us like a twig if they wanted to.

Luckily, Luke didn’t seem inclined to snap me like a twig anytime soon—and he was the love of my life, no question.

To be clear, it went both ways. I was addicted to Luke and he made my life better by being in it. He was a ball of not-quite-human sunshine, and I was stupid in love with everything about him—even his terrible singing. I’d blurted out a messy, post-fuck love confession about a month after we started dating and immediately panicked that it was too soon.

But he’d just beamed and said he loved me too, so that worked out. In fact, even six months into dating he always seemed delighted every time he saw me.

Which was why he was moving in with me.

I’d been spending most of my nights at his place anyway, ever since Dylan had started dating Chelsea—side note, those two were loud. So when Dylan had told me he and Chelsea were moving in together and casually added, “Maybe you can move your boyfriend in,” I’d almost broken my legs with the speed I’d run over to Luke’s place to ask if he wanted to move in with me.

I’d taken the blow job he gave me in the middle of his kitchen as a resounding yes.

I watched as Luke went past carrying two boxes, his throat gleaming with sweat and his muscles flexing, and wondered when his parents would leave so we could celebrate him moving in properly.

Luke must have been thinking along the same lines because he set the boxes down and said, “I think that’s it. Thanks for the help, but we’ve got it from here.”

“Are you sure?” his mother asked, emerging from the kitchen carrying a stack of bowls. “We can help unpack.”

“We’re good,” Luke said firmly.

She seemed to get the hint, and after checking there wasn’t anything else left in the back of the truck, they said their goodbyes, leaving us alone in the house.

The front door had barely closed when Luke backed me up against the wall and kissed me, slow and deep, and heat gathered in the pit of my belly. When he pulled back, I cupped his cheek and said, “I love you.” A thrill ran through me, just like it did every time I got to say that to him.

His expression transformed into something soft and warm, and a smile played around the corners of his mouth. “Love you too. Wanna fuck me until I can’t walk?”

And really, how was I supposed to say no to that?