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Yet, it did nothing to settle the many questions running through my mind about us. He’d given me a stunning and meaningful present, yes. To wear this cuff, with the Lupu wolf, was a kind of claiming, and I should be relieved by it.
But…I knew what few others did. To be genuinely accepted into his family and clan, a woman would’ve had that same exact head tatted on their skin. Permanently. The ultimate gift, the one that eluded me most, was for him to brand me as his forever.
While the necklace was striking, it fell short of his true mark of ownership.
I tried my best to take our time together day by day. Don’t focus on what you can’t change, I reminded myself. Focus on the time we have together. It was undeniably a step in the right direction, but it left me feeling a bit empty. It was as much a reminder of what I wasn’t as it was a statement of what I was. I knew he cared for me. But did he love me? It was too soon to expect so much, but I longed for it. I yearned for it all,dammit, and the Lupu wolf inked on my skin would’ve been the absolute answer I wanted.
Swallowing around the tightness of my throat, I smiled up at him.
“It’s the Lupu wolf,” I said, holding back the silly tears that burned behind my eyes. “I love it. Would you put it on me?”
I turned around and heard clinking sounds as he lifted the necklace. Then the cool weight of the jade and gold settled around the base of my throat. I kept very still for him to clasp it behind me, my fingers tracing the delicate indentations of the jade wolf head.
“You’ll wear it tonight,” he said matter-of-factly.
Shit, he assumed we’d be celebrating together, but not wanting to assume we would, I’d told Mother I’d stop by.
Glancing over my shoulder, I muttered, “M-my mother has something special planned at home. It’s family tradition. She makes mee sua from scratch. It’s a traditional homemade noodle soup she only makes on birthdays.”
It hurt to not invite him, but how could I when nothing was definite between us? He could feel my tension, and his warm fingers gently kneaded the tight muscles of my shoulders. The woodsy scent of his cologne, combined with the underlying hint of musk that was all him, wafted into my nostrils and I inhaled him deeply into my lungs.
Now I wished I hadn’t been a coward and had brought up my birthday earlier. In an ideal world, I’d bring him home with me, the way normal couples would. But we weren’t a normal couple, and that reminder was like a knife slicing through my heart. This was why I avoided thinking about my birthday. The more time we spent together, the more I yearned for something permanent. Like the wolf tat, like celebrating milestones. Fuck!
His warm breath by my ear brought on a shudder as he said, “You go to your mother’s house. Afterward, we’ll have a special celebration. Just the two of us.”
His fingers reached up and tangled with my hair. Fisting it, he pulled my head back as he slid his warm, moist lips up my throat and clipped my earlobe. “Make sure you don’t overindulge because I’ll be filling your belly with something special. Something that’s all me.”
I think I had a mini orgasm right then and there, just from his scent, from his hold on my hair, and those filthy promises falling from his lips.
With that, he released my hair and moved off the bed, leaving me feeling bereft. He walked into his closet and came back out, shrugging on a dark-colored jacket that was a perfect match for the blue of his shirt and tie.
“Stegan is on another assignment, and Nikki is off, searching for Tasa, so Tomas is with you today. Text me toward the end of your birthday dinner. I’ll be at the office, waiting for you.” He dropped a kiss on my lips. “We’ll go from there,” he finished, and was out the bedroom door in the blink of an eye. I flipped the bedcovers off me and padded after him, watching as he collected his laptop and slipped it into a briefcase.
I followed him to the front door and gave him a final kiss.
“Be my good girl and lock it behind me. I don’t want Tatum wandering in,” he ordered, and then, poof, he was gone.
Before stepping into the shower, I tried taking off the cuff, but it had a strange mechanism that was impossible to maneuver. Rats, I was stuck with this luxurious necklace around my throat for the day, and I had a sneaking suspicion he’d done it on purpose.
