Page 67 of Primal
Her eyes swam with tears again.
I shifted and winced. “Please don’t cry, baby. It kills me.”
She forced a smile through her tears, and I was certain she was the most beautiful female on the entire planet.
“I’m going to prove it all to you. I’m sorry you felt humiliated at the bar tonight. That was never my intention. I would never willingly hurt you. Not ever.”
“It’s okay.”
“No. It’s not okay, but I’m going to make it right.”
I kissed the bridge of her nose. “You said something else earlier, too. Something about throwing yourself into teaching because I don’t want to have kids.”
Her eyes grew bright again, and her lips trembled, but she sniffed and seemed to will the tears back.
“Fuck, sugar. You want to have kids? We’ll have kids.”
She stiffened, like she was bracing against something, but I pushed on.
“I wouldloveto have kids with you. Fuck–I can’t believe I said I was done with kids at the bar. Hank’s words surprised me. I just hadn’t considered it yet. You agree this all has happened so fast?”
A rueful smile twisted her lips, and she nodded.
“I was focused on winning your love. If you were a she-wolf, you would’ve known you belonged to me the same instant I knew. But mating a human is a different process. We have to follow your courtship customs. So that’s what I was focused on. Making you see what I already knew–that we’re made for each other. I didn’t get past my need to claim you. But yeah–I am definitely gonna put my pups in that belly of yours.”
Riley laughed, relief flooding her expression. “Pups?”
I nodded. “That’s what we call them.”
“Shifter babies,” she said with wonder. “They’ll be wolves like you.”
I considered it. “Hopefully. Not all half-breeds can shift, but they’ll be welcome in the pack regardless. As will you, of course. Even your dad.”
“I’m not ready yet for kids but someday.” She lowered her lashes, and her lips took on a sultry look. “But I’m all for practicing.”
I groaned as my dick grew rock hard. I was naked from shifting, and my cock prodded her belly. “Aw, sugar. Youaregoing to kill me.”
She smiled. “I don’t want that. But I do want to make you feel good.”
I caught her wrist as it traveled south. “Tomorrow,”I promised. She was too hard to resist, but I wasn’t close to fully healed to give her the attention she deserved. “Tomorrow, you can ride me all day long.”
She lifted her lips and stroked them over my mouth. “Oh, I’m gonna do more than that. I’m going to make you claim me.”
33
RILEY
We bumpeddown the dirt road to Cody’s cabin. Had it only been five days since he brought me here last? I was unconscious, then. Kidnapped by the man who the night before saved my life.
The late afternoon sun was bright in the sky, the weather a perfect late summer day. The windows were rolled down, and the breeze caught my hair. I had to keep tucking it back behind my ear, but eventually gave up.
It wasn’t the gorgeous scenery I saw. It was Cody. All Cody. The glorious older man who loved me. He drove with one hand casually atop the steering wheel,the other on my bare thigh. I couldn’t stop staring at him. His dark hair, that trimmed beard I loved. His eyes. Nose. Those broad, strong shoulders.
He’d showered earlier while I grabbed a pair of my dad’s sweats for him to put on. So he was driving bare chested. Bare footed. Bare everything except for the track pants.
“You keep staring at me like that, you’re going to give me a complex.”
“I’m wondering if I should tell you you have a boogie.”