A heavy sigh escaped him. “You’re right. You do deserve better. I honestly didn’t realize that I was reducing our relationship to that. The thing is, I’m relatively new at this, and I’m just taking my cues from you. I’m not used to being part of a couple, to having to make time for another person and constantly consider them—”

“Because you hold yourself back.”

“What?”

“You use your job as an excuse to avoid emotional intimacy. At first, I thought you knew, I thought that you’d open up a little now that we’re together. But you truly don’t realize that you do it, do you?”

He went to object to her claim, but he couldn’t. She was right. He did do that, and he had been doing it for a long time without even realizing it. Totally off-center, he buried his face in her hair, inhaling the familiar and comforting vanilla smell of her shampoo.

“I can understand why you do it. In all honestly, I’m not sure that I’d have been able to get into another relationship if someone I’d partly imprinted with had betrayed me and left me— and to be with my sibling. The fact that you’re even trying astonishes me. Especially when you obviously still love her,” she added, swallowing hard.

He lifted his head, frowning. “What? No—”

“I saw the way you were with her. You couldn’t take your damn eyes off her.” Her wolf growled at the memory.

Loosening his hold on her hands, he began massaging her palms with his thumbs. “I know I probably acted a bit weird, but it was just the shock. The last thing I’d expected was to see her. I felt nothing for her, Jaime. Nothing. My wolf wasn’t interested in her either.” Although her instincts told her he was being truthful, Jaime couldn’t quite believe that. “You gave her more attention than you did me. God, you didn’t even notice me leaving.” He winced. “Like I said, I was caught off guard, and she was telling me all about my nephew and, well, I was interested. Just like I’m interested in knowing Josh’s baby despite not having much of an interest in Josh himself. I don’t believe kids should pay for their parents’ mistakes.” She wondered if he was aware that he was talking about himself. “Yeah, well, your nephew sure looks like you.”

He knew what she was getting at. “He’s not mine.”

“You asked her?”

“No. But I know that Blane wouldn’t have kept him around unless he was sure the kid was his.

Besides, I’d have smelled the pregnancy on her before she left me. There’s no mistaking the smell of a pregnant shifter.”

Okay, he did have a point there. She might have thought of that herself if jealousy hadn’t been taunting her.

“I know I behaved like a dick tonight. It wasn’t fair to you that I let myself be distracted by thoughts of work—”

“—and Bitch Face.”

“And Bitch Face,” he allowed, stifling a smile. He had no idea how Jaime could think he wanted anyone but her. He’d assumed she knew how much he needed her, but then why would she?

He hadn’t told her, hadn’t even hinted at it. Instead, by working so much and so hard, he’d given her the impression that she came second to him.

It occurred to him then that if he didn’t give her those words, he really would lose her. “It’s a good thing that you care about me, baby, because I care about you. A lot. I’m not going anywhere. I can’t give you up, Jaime, and I won’t. Now that I’m aware that I’m holding back from you, I can focus on changing it.”

“I don’t think you can. You’re constantly stuck in Beta mode. You let your job define you.

Your job isn’t who you are, Dante, it’s what you do. There’s a difference, but you don’t see that.” He thought about that for a second and then sighed. “You’re right. Everything you’ve said has been right. Not that Rhett and the guys haven’t already said that to me a thousand times. I just never really thought of it as a problem. But that was when I didn’t have you to think about. You have needs and I’m not meeting them, and that’s not acceptable to either of us. Give me a chance to fix this, baby.

I’ll do what I can to ease my job commitments. I’ll start delegating more and making sure we get more time together and—”

“Don’t try to make huge changes,” she interrupted, touched by the gesture and feeling her anger begin to melt. “That’ll never work. And I’m not asking you to make big changes, I never did. I just wanted to appear in your schedule somewhere.”

“From now on you will,” he vowed, lifting his weight to flip her onto her back so that she could see the seriousness in his gaze. “When I plan schedules for me and the enforcers, you’re going on mine—right there in black and white. You were right when you said that sometimes I do stuff I don’t really need to do. I just have this…urge to be doing something, to keep busy. But I’ll work on it—no pun intended. I’ll finish at a certain time each evening, okay? I can’t say that I won’t be called out occasionally to do things or sort things out. It’s part of my job. But I’ll make time for you, for us.” As he stared down at her with a hint of desperation in his eyes, he seemed so lonely and lost.

He looked at her as if she was his lifeline, as if he really did need her. Jaime never would have guessed that this relationship was so important to him. Never would have imagined that he was prepared to make these kinds of changes to his life. She felt even more of her anger fizzle away.

When she didn’t speak, Dante felt himself beginning to panic. His wolf was equally anxious.

He dropped his forehead to hers. “I know I’m a little f**ked up. Don’t give up on me, baby. I’m not saying that things will suddenly be perfect. I’m a guy, and guys can be stupid. I admit I need the room to mess up a little. I can’t promise I won’t piss you off again, but I can promise you that I’ll never deliberately hurt you. Nothing is more important to me than you. Nothing.” Why did he have to say stuff like that and wear that vulnerable expression when she was trying to stay mad at him? Earlier, she had been resolute on the decision that their relationship was over. But hearing him say these things, knowing that he cared about her and was prepared to make so many changes to his life in order to make this work…It was hard to hold out against that. Oh and now he was delivering sensual licks to her neck, knowing perfectly well how it made her melt. “That’s a low move.”

He chuckled. “I’m not above using sneaky methods. You know, when I was five, my dad told me that if I hadn’t been the runt of the litter, I’d have made a good Beta. He said that even when I was a toddler I had a one-track mind, that if there was something I wanted, nothing would distract me from trying to get it. And now I want you. And I can promise you right now that if you tell me you still want to end this, I won’t leave you alone. I’ll do everything I can to wear you down. I’ll stalk you until you cry, panic, and give in.”

She tried not to smile in amusement, but it was hopeless. Trying to resist him was hopeless.

“You know, before you, I worked even longer hours and I didn’t make time for anything else.

Everybody thought I couldn’t possibly have been happy to work so hard, but I was. It wasn’t until you that I realized I hadn’t been happy at all. I’d been sort of content, but that’s not the same thing as being happy. Not really. You answer a kind of… need inside me that I hadn’t known I had. Do you hear me?

I need you. I’d never imagined saying that to another person. If you’d have asked me to choose between you or my job, I’d have chosen you, baby.”

As she saw the truth in his gaze, tears stung her eyes. She combed her fingers through his hair.

“You are so good with that mouth.”

He grinned, but he couldn’t relax until he’d heard her say that she wasn’t going to leave him.

“Does this mean you forgive me, that you’ll give me a chance to fix this?” She released a long-suffering sigh. “I guess so.”

As relief washed over him, his body seemed to unlock from its position and sag. Dante fused his lips with hers, taking her taste inside him, pouring his need for her into her mouth. He kissed a path down her chin and along her neck, letting himself drown in her scent. He rubbed his cheek against hers, wanting that scent on his own skin and wanting his scent on hers.

“But I won’t forgive you for hugging Bitch Face,” she added, snarling.

As his mouth twitched into a smile, he was glad she couldn’t see his face. He knew she wouldn’t appreciate him finding her jealousy amusing—and damn hot, for that matter.

“Don’t think I don’t know that you’re smiling.”

He lifted his face and nipped her lip. “It’s a smile of relief, baby.” She snorted. “Sure it is.”

“I swear things will change,” he told her in a grave voice.

Jaime wasn’t positive that they could, despite his good intentions. But it was important in relationships to accept the bad with the good, wasn’t it? He’d said he’d choose her over his job, but she didn’t want to ask that of him. She cared for him too much to do anything that would hurt him.

Maybe with the right support, things could change over time. “I don’t mind helping you with Beta stuff if you want.”

“Help?”

“I know it plays on your mind when you have things to do, and I see that it’s a big weight on your shoulders. I work at the sanctuary most mornings, but I still have my afternoons free.” Emotion clogged in his throat. “You’d do that?”

“I’m not saying I don’t think you can do your job,” she said quickly in case he became offended. “I’m just offering to help.”

“Even though it would mean that you’ll sometimes work long hours, too?”

“If you think it will be good for you, yeah.”

He honestly couldn’t believe this. Instead of giving him an ultimatum, she was offering to work alongside him. This female got to him in ways that he could never articulate. He brought his lips down hard on hers again, shooting his tongue into her mouth to dance with hers and kissing her hungrily, almost violently. An urgent need to be inside her hit him. A need to feel her cling to him, mark him, and come apart around him.

“Does that mean you like the idea of me helping? You could think of me as your secretary or something.”

An impish grin surfaced on his face. “You really shouldn’t have said that. It’s making me think some really dirty thoughts about f**king you on my office desk.” He lifted her leg, hooked it around his waist, and he dug his h*ps into hers, groaning.

She snorted. “As if I’d let you do that!” The breathlessness in her voice totally contradicted her words, but it was his fault for continuing to rock into her at a very seductive rhythm. She was still feeling needy from earlier, and this was making it worse. Jaime did love makeup sex.

“Oh you would,” he drawled, breathing hotly into her ear. “And you’d love it. Love it when I bent you over and tugged down your jeans so that I could see that gorgeous ass of yours.” Peeling up her dress to her waist, he snapped off her thong and slid his fingers between her slick folds. “I’d check to make sure you were nice and wet for me, just like you are now. Then I’d do this.” Jaime cried out when he plunged two fingers inside her. God, she’d needed that. Helplessly she moaned as he nibbled and sucked on her neck while slowly f**king her with his fingers. He kept his thrusts slow and shallow, enough to make her moan, but not enough to make her come. He was such an ass.

“I’d thrust them in and out and in and out until you couldn’t take any more.” With his free hand, he unbuttoned his fly and rubbed the head of his c*ck between her folds. “And then…I’d f**k you like I own you. Because I do.” Dante removed his fingers and slowly and deliberately pushed his c*ck inside her, wanting her to feel every inch of him sink deeper and deeper. Never had he felt a pu**y this amazing—so hot, wet, suctioning, and oh-so-tight around him. He was pretty sure that no one in the world had a pu**y this good. “Mine. All mine,” he said against her lips.

“Dante.”

“Shh. I’ll take care of it, baby.” Very, very slowly he withdrew, and then he slammed into her.

He’d hoped to go slow, but…“Fuck, I need this.” Then he was pounding into her with deep, branding thrusts. A territorial growl escaped him. This amazing female was his. This body that he constantly craved was his. He paused briefly to rise to his knees and hook her legs over his shoulders, allowing him to go even deeper with each violent thrust. He knew the cries that tore from her throat were a mix o f pleasure and pain. He knew exactly what line between the two that she rode, and he gave her exactly what she wanted.

Surprising a gasp from Jaime, he abruptly bit down on her nipple through her dress. He sucked it hard and plucked at it with his teeth over and over. “Dante, I’m going to come.” Good, because he wasn’t going to last much longer. Not when the panic he’d felt at losing her was still riding him. “Bite me, baby. Bite me hard.” Rearing up, she sank her teeth into his shoulder through his T-shirt. He growled. “Yeah, that’s it.”

Jaime sensed the desperation in his movements, because it was the same desperation she was feeling. Desperation to reconnect and be sure that they were there with each other and that everything was okay. Feeling his claws digging into her thighs, leaving marks of possession, she snarled in the back of her throat. It didn’t surprise her when a powerful fist knotted in her hair and pulled hard.