Hunt Me! (I Crave The Chase) - Page 163
I licked him clean. Licked inside his mouth. Licked behind his ears, down his throat. Licked the sweat from the coarse hair in his armpits. Licked across his nipples, into his belly button, across the divots of his hips. Licked the curls at the base of his cock till they lay flat. Pressed his softening cock flat to his stomach, and then lapped around the root, then his balls, then under them, and into the secret soft skin there.
I licked every drop of sweat from his skin, enjoying him the way he was meant to be enjoyed. Licked every one of his scars.
And then I flipped him over and did the same to his other side.
After I’d lapped at his ass for a while, then up the line of his spine to the back of his neck, Jeffrey huffed out an amused, aroused grunt.
“Mutt—?” His voice was low and fuzzy. He was relaxed. I could tell because all he did was twitch when I reached down and gave his hole a little rub, just because I missed the way it felt.
“Mmm?” I nuzzled behind his ears, then into his hair, enjoying the fuzzy prickles. It was longer now than it had been when we’d cut it. His stitches had healed. His bruises were gone. My hard cock flexed against his ass cheeks, slotted between them as I gave him an aborted thrust.
I didn’t want to fuck again—content to groom and love him—but that didn’t mean I wasn’t going to enjoy pushing against him.
“Why won’t you fuck me?” Jeffrey’s voice was sleepy soft.
I stiffened.
“I mean…we’ve done pretty much everything else,” he added, voice low. He twisted a little so I could see one of his dark, pretty eyes. “So what…gives?”
I licked my lips, suddenly caught out.
I should’ve expected this.
Really, I’d been naive not to.
“I…” I didn’t know what to say.
“Is it because I haven’t asked you out?” Jeffrey asked, voice soft. “Like, on an official date.”
I nodded jerkily, but then immediately felt awful for lying.
“Oh, cool.” His smile was sunny—none of his usual tension was present. He was sweet. And his scent was fizzy-happy. “I thought it might be something like that—I just…I guess I got worried, you know? That maybe you didn’t…want to?”
“I want to.” I promised immediately because that was true. “It’s all I’ve thought about since the day I saw you.”
Jeffrey laughed, his body quivering as his eyes crinkled. “Okay. So it’s just…like, a formal thing then? For wolves.”
I could keep lying.
He was making it easy.
But my own words came to bite me in the ass. I was already lying to him about being his dog. I was withholding the truth about him being my fated mate. And I just…I…I just knew he deserved better.
“I don’t want to hurt you,” I admitted, voice cracking. Jeffrey frowned, some of the buzzy light in his eyes dimming. I nuzzled the back of his neck, curled my arms around him, and squeezed him from behind like he was a large, delicious teddy bear. “I’m terrified.”
“Why would you hurt me?” Jeffrey asked, voice muffled against the covers now that I’d smashed him into them again. “Does your knot hurt or something?”
“No. I mean—I don’t think so.” Fuck. I had no idea. “It’s not that.”
“Then what is it?” Jeffrey was still soft. Warm. Sated. He smelled like home. Like mate-mate-mate. “C’mon, sweetheart.” Jeffrey’s voice was gentle. I got the feeling he didn’t often use that word. In fact, it sounded foreign, almost like he’d never used it at all. At least…not like this. To soothe someone he cared about, soft and safe in his bed. “You can tell me. I tell you shit—like…so much shit.”
It was true, he did.
I was pretty sure I knew most of his secrets by this point.
And I had been pretty tight-lipped.
And that wasn’t fair.