Layla Nash - A Valentine's Chase (City Shifters: the Pride) (13 page)

M
y thoughts whirled
as Smith and I left the meeting with the strange monsters I'd summoned during the escape from BadCreek. We met in the depths of the forest, where the air was so still my skin prickled and I looked around for the trap. But it turned out the monsters only wanted to be inspired. I concentrated on them and imagined them prosperous and capable and dancing, and it seemed to be enough. I didn't really understand it, but it drained most of my energy until Smith almost had to carry me back to the car. Luckily, my cane followed me into the trees and rested against a giant oak until I needed it.

I didn't feel whole again until I walked into the hospital and found Rafe sort of awake, though he was still pale and wan. My vision blurred when his eyes opened and he reached for me, and I knew he was real. Knew he would be okay. He practically pulled me into the bed with him and I was only too ready to sleep next to him again. But the moment I felt him next to me, another need roared to life. I'd missed him so much, and part of me still doubted that this was real. So when I touched his stomach and his eyebrows shot up, I almost felt guilty. I needed to have him for myself, even knowing he wasn't entirely well.

Rafe chuckled, though, and his hand drifted down to grasp my butt, squeezing and kneading as I touched his thigh. My breath caught and I pressed my mouth to his, desperate to taste him. His lips parted and his tongue met mine, just as eager, and I drowned in him. His body reacted when I touched him, the heavy length of him growing and hardening as I stroked him, and I broke the kiss to whisper, "Are you sure you have enough blood for this?"

He laughed, then caught his side with a grimace. I retreated, uneasy, but Rafe shook his head and pulled me on top of him. "I have plenty. And if I don't, I'll get more. Don't stop now, girl."

I glanced at the door to his room, worried someone might interrupt, but I couldn't have stopped for anything in the world. I was an addict and he was my drug. I maneuvered the cast until I slid down his legs and kissed his stomach, still stroking him as I licked the tip of his growing cock. Rafe groaned and his hips lifted in a gentle suggestion. Sucking the head as I used both hands to drag his full length made him grab the bars of the hospital bed, and the monitors beeped faster and faster. I closed my eyes, reveling in the feel and the taste of him, all hard muscle and heat and lust. He wanted me. Wanted me so desperately and completely that he was half-dead in a hospital bed and still wanted to make love.

I took more of him, wanting to feeling as much of him as I could, and Rafe groaned again. He reached for my head and his fingers tangled in my hair. "Baby, slow down. You're going to kill me."

I broke away but kept stroking him, looking up at Rafe as he watched me, looking love drunk. I kissed the tip of his cock and his entire body twitched. "What was that?"

His other hand touched my cheek, tugged on my hair. "I love you."

"I love you too." I licked the full length of his cock and squeezed my thighs together as desire coiled low in my stomach. I wanted to feel him. Wanted him to fill me until there was no doubt he was real, and I was real, and we were real together.

Rafe made another desperate noise as I nibbled and teased, and he panted with effort as he reached for me. "Meadow, come here."

I wanted to finish him, wanted to show him how much I loved him, but couldn't resist those hands. I knelt over him, straddled his hips, and Rafe growled. He grabbed the waist of my pants and ripped, tearing the fabric apart as I writhed against him. My head tilted back as he tore away my panties and grabbed my thighs, pulling me closer. He gripped himself and stroked his cock against my slit, over and over until my hips rolled to meet him and I lifted myself up, trying to press him to me. The monitors went crazy as he slid against me, and Rafe grumbled more as he entered me but gripped my hips to keep me still. His fingers bruised me and I gripped his shoulders, trying to press him deeper.

Rafe's breath hissed in his teeth. "Look at me, Meadow."

I did, staring at his eyes as they flashed gold. I loved him. I needed him. And he was there. Rafe was there, holding me. I ached for him.

He exhaled. "You're mine. And I'm yours. Always."

"Always," I breathed, and sank down on him.

He split me open, filled me until I ached and moaned. I couldn't stay still but moved against him, rocking as gently as I could as the warm friction of his body drove me to madness. I needed him so badly. I eased over his chest until I could kiss him and his arms wrapped around my chest to keep me close, until my breasts crushed between us. He sucked on my neck, behind my ear, as his hips lifted to meet me in slow, easy thrusts. We moved together with rising urgency until I shivered and froze over him, clenching and tightening against him, and Rafe grunted. The monitors wailed as he jerked under me and I laughed, breathless, and kissed him.

My forehead rested against his shoulder as I struggled to breathe, little aftershocks rippling through me as Rafe's hands drifted to my ass to hold me close. I tried to sit up. "I'm crushing you, it's —"

"Don't move," he said, mostly a groan. He didn't even open his eyes. "Just stay here."

I adjusted how I sprawled over him and his body twitched. I flushed, closing my eyes as I hid my face against his neck. "I'm sorry. I really missed you."

"Don't ever be sorry for that," he said. Rafe stroked my back and managed to drag the sheets back up and over us. At least I still had my shirt on. He exhaled and the monitors started to slow, returning to something close to normal. "I missed you, too. God, I was so worried about you, Meadow, I almost lost my mind. I thought it might kill me."

I closed my eyes as the sweat cooled on my back and my heart thumped in time with his. I felt safe for the first time in a very long time. "I was so scared."

He stilled, but his hand returned to a long, soothing stroke from my shoulders down almost to my butt. Rafe waited, patient, and his easy strength gave me the courage to keep talking.

I still hid my face against his throat and took a wobbly breath. "They told me I had dreamed you up. I really thought I lost you, that you'd never existed, that we'd never be together. It hurt more than anything else I ever told myself, anything I ever doubted. It hurt too much to breathe, when I thought I lost you. And it all felt so real I knew it had to be true, but I didn't... I couldn't trust myself enough to see through it. I spent so much time convincing myself I was crazy that I almost believed them."

Tears burned my cheeks and dripped to his shoulder, and his arms tightened around me. Rafe made shushing noises, gentle and kind, as he held me close. The tears kept coming, though, until I almost couldn't breathe. And still he murmured nonsense words and waited, tracing shapes on my back until the grief retreated enough that the tears dried up. The self-doubt didn't go away. It didn't disappear just because he made love to me and told me everything would be okay. The minuscule voice in the back of my head that said it could be made up still whispered in my ear, but it was easier to brush aside with Rafe making that growly-grumbly noise.

And it gave me the courage to whisper, "I don't like feeling crazy. But I still feel crazy."

"You're not crazy." He took a deep breath, so I rose for what felt like forever, and turned his face to kiss me. "You're not. You're you. You're perfect. You're the other half of my soul and I've been searching for you my entire life."

I mumbled a curse as the tears started again and I tried to put my arms around him, too.

Rafe chuckled as his fingers traced down to my butt and gently teased down the inside of my thigh so I jumped. And he took my lip in his teeth with a gentle tug. "Besides. If you're crazy, you're exactly my type of crazy. So buckle up."

I laughed and squirmed, going up on my elbows to stare down at him. He gazed up at me, still stroking my thighs, and I tried to give him the fiercest look possible even though I wanted to grind against where his body hardened and pressed between my legs. "Don't call me crazy."

"Never," he murmured, hands a little bolder. He drew his knees up until my hips settled closer against him and I sighed, starting to move again as everything grew close and hot. "You're my muse, Meadow. You inspire me."

I inhaled a sharp breath as he entered me again, another smooth slide until he filled me completely, and I closed my eyes as ecstasy flooded through me. At this rate, neither of us would ever leave the hospital.

T
he doctors didn't let
Rafe leave the hospital for another week, regardless of how much he snapped and snarled. Owen, the medic and bear who he trusted, only said mildly that if Rafe stopped fooling around with his mate and let his chest heal, then maybe he could have left sooner. But Rafe wouldn't have traded those moments with Meadow for anything. It would have been nicer to have her in his bed at home, but being at the hospital added a degree of excitement that seemed to work for them both.

Meadow stayed with Smith while she looked for an apartment with Ruby, but Rafe didn't tell her he'd already signed the lease on the one she liked the best. Ruby and Carter and the pack furnished the place while he was still recuperating, and as Valentine's Day rolled around, he finally felt like everything fell into place. Rafe winced as he got out of his car outside the apartment building Meadow liked, though he struggled to hide it as he spoke to her on the phone. "I know it's Valentine's Day, but would you mind if we stayed in? I'll cook you dinner at my place."

"We don't have to do anything." Meadow sounded worried. "If you don't feel well, Rafe, just rest and we can have dinner later this week."

"I want to see you," he said, and meant it more than she would ever know. "I already bought you chocolates."

She laughed, and it was music that lifted his heart. Meadow said, "Well, when you put it that way, how can I resist? Ruby and I have a few more errands to run, but she says she can drop me off around seven. Does that work?"

"Perfect." And all by design. He'd called in some favors with Ruby, and she agreed to take Meadow out for a spa day and shopping and all the other girly shit he wanted Meadow to enjoy. Rafe nodded to the concierge as he limped through the lobby, waiting until he'd almost reached the elevators to say, "I'll see you at seven, baby. Love you."

"Love you," she said, and hung up. For a moment he hesitated, staring at the elevator buttons, then pushed the penthouse level. He had a lot of work yet before seven.

By the time Ruby called to say they were on their way up, Rafe still had a list of things to accomplish. He was only half dressed, the candles were only half lit, and he still hadn't started dinner. Plus, his chest ached and he couldn't breathe really well, which made everything more difficult. He knew Meadow wouldn't care if things weren't perfect, but he wanted them perfect for her.

So he managed to shrug into his favorite black sweater and pick up a bouquet of wild daisies and stand in front of the door just as it swung in. Meadow walked through, looking totally confused, and Ruby winked at him from the hall before she quietly closed the door behind Meadow. Meadow stared around the enormous apartment, filled with wildflowers and candles and chocolates, with her mouth hanging open, and stammered something that he could almost understand.

Rafe held out the flowers and a box of caramels. "Hey there. Happy Valentine's Day."

She stumbled forward, still limping with a smaller cast, and leaned against him, staring around the apartment as she hugged him. "What the hell, Rafe?"

He laughed and set the bouquet and candy aside so he could squeeze her close. "Surprise. This is our apartment. I'm shit for decorating, so I went with overkill."

"No kidding." She hobbled farther into the apartment, turning in a circle to try to take it all in. "What on earth did you do?"

"We needed a place to stay. Well, I needed a place to stay. I would love for you to live here with me." He cleared his throat and wandered after her, picking up the two glasses of wine he'd poured, and offered her one. "And since you and Ruby were looking at places, she said this was your favorite. I signed the lease, they moved everything in here, and here we are. Happy Valentine's."

He worried for a moment that he'd over-stepped and she would flee, would shove him away, but Meadow faced him and grinned. "It's perfect."

Rafe bent to kiss her, lingering as she yielded and he wanted to just carry her to the bed right away. But he pulled back and handed her the wine, starting to limp towards the kitchen. "But I'm supposed to make you dinner, and it's not even half way done yet."

She followed him, sipping the wine, but continued to take in the apartment as if she didn't quite believe it was theirs. Like she thought it was a hallucination. He tried to be sensitive to any tricks that might make her doubt herself, but Meadow only looked mesmerized, pleased. Excited. She picked up one of the vases of wildflowers to inhale from the blooms. "Where on earth did you get all these flowers?"

"I have very important friends," he said, and winked. "Well, I've got friends with greenhouses. The wildflowers remind me of you."

"Oh?" Meadow snorted and pulled a daisy from the vase, twirling it around her finger and eventually tucking it behind her ear. "You know daisies are weeds, right?"

"Misunderstood," he said, unable to hide his smile. He placed the steaks on the grill and checked the roasting vegetables before he wandered over to her. He gripped her waist and pulled her in for a more passionate kiss, tasting the wine on her lips, distracted by the gentle brush of flower petals against his forehead. He squeezed her ass. "And all of these wildflowers are strong. Hardy. They grow where they want, where there's nourishment, and they survive environments that would have killed lesser flowers."

Her hazel eyes sparkled with a hint of tears but more with joy, and he kissed her again. He could have spent hours kissing her. The casual jeans and sweater she wore hugged her curves and tempted him to skip dinner entirely. He tugged on the end of a few of her curls, bending to kiss her neck as he went on. "And these flowers are beautiful. Adaptable. They smell amazing, just like you."

She laughed and put her arms around his neck. "Flatterer."

"I only tell the truth," he said, a rough grumble. He wanted to press her up against the island, lift her up until she would wrap her legs around him and he could pull her jeans down and... He put aside the thought for a moment and turned the steaks. When he turned back, she'd retreated to the other side of the island, a wicked look on her face as she picked through one of the piles of chocolate.

She tasted it, biting into it slowly until he would have given anything to be that chocolate. Meadow made a yummy groaning noise that turned him on so much he actually got three steps towards her before he realized what he did. And then he had to adjust his jeans as his cock pressed painfully against the zipper. She smiled, eyeing him like a piece of beef, and spun on her heel to wander through the apartment.

Rafe gripped the counter to get control of himself, and focused on the food. He needed to feed her first. Meadow needed her strength, too. It took all his self-control to finish prepping the plates and carry them to the table, set romantically for two with candles and rose petals and more wine. By then she'd completed the tour and sauntered up to him and held out a piece of chocolate. His heart thumped an uneven rhythm at the look in her eyes.

His lips parted and hers followed, the smile growing along with the teasing light, and she placed the chocolate against his mouth. Rafe closed his lips around it but her fingers trailed behind. He ate the chocolate and kissed her fingers, then kissed her until she sighed and tugged on his hair. Rafe had to hold his side as his chest ached, and when Meadow retreated, the teasing replaced by worry, he laughed. "I'm not dead yet but I might need some protein before you get any naughty ideas in your head."

She grinned and flipped the dark hair over her shoulder. "You're the one who tried to get me drunk and tempted me with chocolate."

He could hardly concentrate enough to cut his steak, but distracted them both by asking about her day with Ruby. As Meadow recounted their adventures, including a small disaster at the nail salon, Rafe watched her expressions and counted himself the luckiest bastard in the city.

Meadow smiled into her wine glass after they'd finished eating and a comfortable silence stretched. "What are you thinking?"

"That I'd like to read your palm."

Her eyebrows rose and she almost laughed. "I told you not to make fun."

"I'm not, I'm totally serious." He reached for her hand and stroked his fingers across her wrist. "I want to read your future, Meadow."

The smile played across her lips but a hint of hesitation had her pull away. Her expression grew a little guarded, as if she'd read her own future and feared he might do the same. He waited, willing to be patient, and eventually she scooted her chair closer so he could hold her hand in his and stare down at her palm, exactly like she'd done in the bookstore only a week or so ago. He concentrated on breathing as his heart tried to break through his ribs and his mouth went dry, and he was suddenly lost for words. He swallowed hard and felt the delicacy of her small wrist, the dainty fingers with pretty polish, and tried to get his shit together.