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  “Grays--” She was cut short by a knock at the door.

  She peered past him and her eyes widened. “She can’t see you here. Not yet. Give me time to explain.” She was next to him in an instant, pushing him toward the closet.

  “She’ll know I was here,” he murmured. A vampire’s nose was almost as good as his.

  “Just hide. Please,” she hissed.

  Coco put her hand in the center of his back and propelled him as hard as she could. Feeling all those hard muscles beneath her fingertips only reminded her of their last encounter. He leaned back into her touch making it extra hard to steer him out of the bedroom. As soon as he was in the closet, he spun around, those gray eyes pegged her. He cocked an eyebrow, making her insides quiver. But she shut the double doors, knowing she’d have to deal with him later. Licking her lips, she crossed the plush room and opened the main door. Izzy stood on the other side, a frown set firmly in place on her china doll face.

  Her friend blinked once. Twice. “If you wanted to be with that… that animal, why did you not just tell me the truth, Coco?”

  “Izzy…” Coco’s heart hurt. “Come in, please.”

  Izzy breezed by, her platinum hair shimmering as she moved. “Well?” Izzy crossed her arms and pegged Coco with an icy-blue glare.

  “I didn’t want to upset you. I know you don’t like wolves--”

  “Of course I do not.”

  “You have every right to hate them, Isadora. I agree with you. I support that decision.” Coco could try to make Izzy see that all werewolves were not bad, but Izzy’s experience was still fresh and there was no reason for her to interact with, much less learn to trust a werewolf. Not yet. But one day…

  “But you still fuck him.”

  It wasn’t a question.

  “Yes.”

  “And you lie to me.”

  “I didn’t want to upset you.” Hadn’t she already said that? They were going in circles.

  “Being lied to upsets me.”

  Of course it did. Coco felt like scum on gutter water. “How did you find out?”

  “I discovered your lie when I saw you… with him.”

  “You weren’t supposed to see that. You were supposed to be at the spa with V and Avery.”

  “How inconvenient for you.”

  “Izzy…”

  They stared at each other for a good half minute.

  “You came here for a rebound man. For sex to make you forget Dmitri,” Izzy said at last. “But this… wolf. You do not look at him like he is your rebound man. He made you forget Dmitri, yes?”

  Coco chewed her bottom lip, positive that Grayson could hear every word. Her cheeks flushed and she felt a little sick to her stomach. But she would not lie to Izzy again. “Yes.”

  “You really like him, don’t you?”

  “Yes.” Coco glanced at the closet doors and had no problem visualizing the sinfully handsome werewolf standing behind it. Those gray eyes that had the power to hypnotize her. His voice could seduce her. His touch…

  She loved how he made her feel… so alive. So warm. Protected. But there was something more. Something unnamed, something she hadn’t put her finger on just yet. She’d come here to find herself again. But she’d found more. Found him. “There’s something about him,” she continued, “something I need to explore.”

  Izzy snickered. “I would say you have explored him thoroughly. Have you not?”

  “Have you ever felt that way?” Coco asked when Izzy turned to leave. “Like there could be something there, if only you’d reach out and touch it? Try it?”

  Izzy paused, arms over her chest, her small frame still as stone. “No.”

  “I should have told you this the other night. Explained it.”

  Izzy turned her head to the side, giving Coco her profile. Her silence made Coco feel worse. “I’ve known Grayson for over a hundred years, Isadora.” Coco’s eyes smarted but she was not going to feel guilty anymore. Her attraction to Grayson West was stronger than anything she’d ever known and she’d denied it for far too long.

  Izzy turned back and cocked her head.

  Coco took a step forward. “We met on the battlefield in France.” She let her gaze wander as she remembered. “It was the middle of the night. Deep in a forest. We had them on the run for the first time in what seemed like forever.

  “He came out of nowhere. Tall. Broad. Long hair and these intense gray eyes that bore right through me. We fought. Three strikes. And then he stepped back, his sword was raised.” Coco held her hand up, mimicking the position. “He stopped. His gaze wandered down my body. Then he circled me. Studied me. I tracked him. Studied him.”

  She squinted, remembering how he’d looked that night in the dirty threadbare clothing. Holes, tears, smears of blood. His blood? She still wasn’t sure.

  “There was something in his eyes. I’d never seen it before. And I haven’t seen it since,” she whispered, looking right at her friend. “It was like he recognized me, though we’d never met. He lowered the sword. I let mine drop to the ground. The moss was so thick it didn’t even make a sound. I can’t explain it. The connection I felt. But he saw me. And I saw him. We weren’t enemies in that moment, Izzy. We were just a man and a woman. I knew we were supposed to hate each other. I knew the blood on his blade was from my own kind. In that moment… it didn’t matter.”

  Her gaze wandered to the closet doors again and she swallowed. “It was like we were magnet and metal. He reached for my hand.” She placed her right hand over her heart. “Placed it over his heart. He was warm. And strong. And undeniably masculine. I didn’t feel like a warrior. I felt like… like a lady.”

  She glanced back at Izzy, saw her rapt attention. “He cupped my jaw. Trailed his thumb just here.” She brushed the spot with the tip of her index finger. “I held my breath. And I waited for him to kiss me. For a single moment, the battle faded into silence. I heard his heartbeat. Saw his breath in the cold night air. Saw the moonlight shining in his eyes. And I wanted that kiss more than I wanted to win the war.” Eyes watering, she blinked back the tears.

  Izzy said something in Russian. Then she clarified in French. “Coup de foudre.”

  Love at first sight.

  “Exactly,” Coco whispered. She turned toward the window.

  After a long pause, Izzy said, “I am happy for you, Coco.”

  Coco wanted desperately to believe her. But a dalmatian couldn’t change its spots, and Izzy couldn’t suddenly learn to like a werewolf. Coco didn’t expect her to.

  She let out the breath she’d been holding.

  The soft click was the only signal that Izzy had left. She turned back, staring after her friend. It was a start. A good start. She’d have to accept that. Tears dribbled down her cheeks and she swiped at them. How could she be happy and sad at the same time?

  The closet doors opened a second later and Grayson, still sinfully handsome in his suit, stared at her.

  “So I’m a rebound guy and a secret,” he said, his tone sarcastic.

  “No… Maybe at first, but not anymore. I’m through ignoring what’s between us.”

  She stepped forward but he held out a hand, stopping her.

  “How can I ever believe that?” He didn’t give her time to reply before he exited the same door Izzy had just gone through.

  Chapter Nine

  Coco raced after him, her heart beating faster than it ever had before. Hadn’t he heard what she’d said? After the whole rebound guy part? “Grays--”

  He came to an abrupt halt and Coco almost ran into him. Valencia and Avery stood on the other side of the room, their eyebrows raised at the sight of a man in their sanctuary. Izzy had her hand on the doorknob of the patio door.

  “You said you weren’t going to bring him here,” Avery said. Her tone was somewhere between censure and exasperation.

  Grayson shot Coco a look. The hole she was in was getting deeper by the second.

  “I changed my mind,” Coco said, tiltin
g her chin up ever so slightly. Either they accepted him or they didn’t. Either way, she needed to know. Sooner than later. Because Izzy was right. It had been love at first sight. It had always been him.

  “Coco, what’s going on?” V asked.

  Izzy skewed her lips to the side and let her hand drop to her side.

  “This is Grayson West. We met… during the war.”

  “And…” V crossed her arms over her chest.

  Coco glanced at Izzy. And then at Grayson. His eyes seemed to be asking the same question. And? And what? Who am I to you?

  Coco took a deep breath and decided that sometimes you just had to go for broke.

  From that breathless moment when she’d stepped into him their first night on the island. To that feeling of “home at last” the first time his lips touched hers. Every time she touched him she felt calm, comfortable, cared for. And the passion… She smiled. The passion between them was hotter than the surface of the sun.

  Just looking at him right now made her hot. And for a woman who’d lived her whole life in the cold, that was something extra special. “And I’m in love with him.”

  “You… are?” Avery sounded puzzled.

  A heartbeat passed. Then another. Why didn’t he say anything? Why didn’t he smile?

  “Well, congratulations,” Valencia said.

  “And I’m done denying it. I’m done hiding our relationship. I’m done with first dates. Lovers and proposals. I’m ready for my last date, my final lover, and a proposal I can say yes to.” She stepped toward him slowly, each step punctuating a word. She took his hand and laid it over her heart. “Believe in this. Believe in us. Believe in what we started all those years ago.”

  Coco’s gaze didn’t stray from his. Izzy would get over it. If Coco could put a war behind her, Izzy would learn to, at the very least, respect Coco’s choice. For the first time in a very long time, Coco felt like she’d made the right decision. There was no second-guessing herself. And that was very freeing.

  “We’ll give you your privacy,” V said.

  Coco heard them leave but didn’t watch them go. When the door clicked shut behind them, she stepped forward. “Grayson--”

  “You’re serious.”

  “I am.”

  “Thank gods.” His icy facade cracked and he pulled her into his arms. She sighed with relief as he swung her around.

  “This is crazy,” she whispered, clinging to him.

  “The best things in life usually are.”

  He put her down but didn’t let her out of the circle of his arms. She tipped her head back to look up at him. Raking her fingers through his hair, she smiled. “I feel like we hardly know each other.”

  “But we’ve known each other for a long time.” He frowned.

  “I was going to say… and yet, I know all the important things.”

  He ducked his head and kissed her neck. “Such as?”

  “You’re an incredible fighter. Powerful but smart. Quick on your feet. Good with your hands. But you can be amazingly…” she raked her fingers through the hair at the nape of his neck, “gentle.”

  “I think it’s time to show you how gentle I can be… in a bed.” He flashed a grin that made her pulse quicken. Then he threw her over his shoulder and stalked toward her room.

  She laughed and clutched the back of his jacket.

  “I think I’ll start--” He tossed her into the center of her bed. She grinned as she bounced. “By finding out where you’re ticklish.”

  He stripped. Jacket. Shirt. Shoes. Pants.

  “You don’t waste time.” She reached for the zipper at the front of her corset. “I like that.”

  She shoved her slacks down as he hopped from one foot to the other, shedding his socks. Then he knelt on the end of the bed, pulled her flip flops off, then discarded her slacks.

  “No panties?” he asked, an appreciative gleam in his eyes.

  “You were only going to rip them off me again…”

  He laughed. She loved the way his cheeks creased. Seeing him smile… it gave her hope for their future.

  “If it matters,” he murmured, crawling up the mattress toward her. She stared at his shoulders and biceps, rock-hard with muscle. “I prefer you…” He kissed the inside of her right knee. “Au natural.”

  “You would.”

  He grinned up at her and kissed her left knee. “In fact, I think I should keep you naked. All. The. Time.” Each word preceded a kiss as he moved his way north. “That will make having my way with you much easier.”

  “As if I’m not easy enough.” Her nails plucked sheets.

  “I think you’re perfect.” He dipped his head and kissed her pussy. Her legs fell apart, shamelessly.

  “Don’t--” She sucked in a breath as his tongue licked her slit, then teased her lower lips apart. Swallowing, she started over. “Don’t put me on a pedestal, Grayson.”

  She needed his mouth on her, was dying for an orgasm.

  He lifted his head, pegging her with an intense look. “I’m not. I thought you were perfect the first time we met. The way you moved, the way you looked at me.” He drew lazy circles on her abdomen with the tip of his index finger. “You weren’t scared. You didn’t shy away from your attraction. It nearly killed me to pick up my blade and keep going. Continue the fight. Knowing you were in harm’s way.”

  “I took care of myself.”

  “I hoped you would.”

  She reached out and brushed a lock of hair out of his eyes. “Are we crazy?” she asked after several silent moments. She felt a little crazy, as if she was still coming to terms with how she felt. But it was easy to see the difference between her feelings for Grayson versus Dmitri.

  “I’m crazy about you. Does that count?”

  She smiled. “Of course. I -- just -- I wasn’t looking for this and I want to make sure that it’s real and I’m not dreaming.”

  His smile shifted to a mischievous grin and then he ducked his head again. Anticipation was both a cruel and exquisite mistress. She stared up at the ceiling, her bottom lip between her teeth. A finger teased her pussy lips, spreading them. Then a puff of warm air heated her skin. She shivered.

  “Does this happen in your dreams?” he asked, just before his tongue went to work, spearing her pussy, licking her juices.

  “Yes…”

  “Naughty vamp.”

  He sucked her clit between his lips, and her hips came off the bed. Heels digging into the mattress, she held herself against the heat of his mouth. But he was having none of that. His hands controlled her movements, gripping her tightly.

  Over and over, she moaned. Her muscles ached. Closer. Closer. So… almost.

  “Not without me, beautiful,” he murmured, wiping his lips with the back of his hand.

  She reached for him, and he settled himself between her thighs. The broad tip of his penis nestled against her pussy as she closed her hands over his biceps. She was so on edge she could hardly breathe. Wanted that sweet release. Wanted a sip of his blood. A taste would make their joining perfect.

  A single thrust of his hips seated his cock inside her. “Mmm…”

  “I agree,” she whispered.

  His warmth seeped into her, surrounded her. She wrapped her legs around his hips, locking them at the ankles. The movement allowed him to go even deeper. But he didn’t move, rather, gritted his teeth. She watched muscles at his jaw tense and release.

  She smiled, a lazy smile of bliss and fulfillment. His weight felt good, right. So solid. So real. “I love you,” she whispered, feeling free as the wind. It had taken her a hell of a long time to get here. But she was sure about the feeling in her heart. Trusted the man inside her.

  “And I love you, my beautiful vampiress.” He kissed her chin, then the tip of her nose, then, at last, her lips.

  Another thrust brought her closer, made her tingle.

  She shouldn’t have teased him about his stamina that first night against the palm tree. Looking at him now, she
realized he could do anything he set his mind to. And she would likely pay for her teasing for a long, long time.

  “You should make this quick,” she said, squeezing his cock with her inner muscles. She tightened her fingers around his arms, urging him to move. “Won’t last long.”

  “Me either.”

  She was oh-so ready. “You kinda left me hanging, my handsome wolf.”

  “Mmm… I like it when you call me that.”

  She’d been calling him that in her heart… for well over a century.

  About time you started listening to it. His voice filled her mind. Then he pulled out. She tightened her legs, pulling him back inside. He nuzzled the side of her neck as he pumped his hips. Filling. Retreating. Faster and faster until they moved against each other in a frenzy.

  Her fangs lengthened and she ran her tongue over them. Taste. Just a taste.

  “Do it,” he ground out.

  Coco licked the vein pulsing in his neck, tasted a hint of salt. She waited until her insides tightened, coiled for release.

  He pulled out and as he filled her again, she sank her fangs into him. Rich, delicious blood ran over her tongue like a fine wine. She moaned against him, the pleasure intense and building every second until she felt full to the point of bursting.

  His teeth scraped the tender skin between her neck and shoulder. “Mine.” Then he bit her.

  The pain combined with her pleasure, exploding inside her. Weightless, she withdrew her fangs, her chest heaving. Bliss. Pure bliss. She coasted on the freefall, warm, spent, happy.

  She’d hardly noticed that he’d stilled inside her, his arms locked tight as he found his own release. When he was done, his head came up and he groaned, loud and long.

  Sex had never been like that. So sweet and yet so fierce. She traced lazy, abstract patterns across his back, savoring the sensations.

  “Is it too soon to do that again?” he whispered in her ear.

  She laughed, her heart full.

  In the wee hours of the morning, Grayson curled against her, his cock hard and ready. She rolled to her back and slung a thigh over his hip. He kissed her as he guided his cock to her entrance. The scissor position made it easy for him to touch her, caress and hold her.