Tonight, Gypsy was his, in whatever way he could claim her, and as often as he could make it happen.
Giving her the information about the recording device her mother had brought to the meeting would wait. Not long, but it would wait.
...
Pulling the Jeep into the small parking lot of her apartment, Gypsy parked, activated the roof and waited until it was secured before turning the motor off.
She drew in a hard breath, even as the scent of her need intensified, along with her confusion.
She wanted him, yet she didn’t know why she wanted him. Why she was burning for him.
Stepping from the vehicle, he moved to the driver’s side, opened her door and waited until she slid from the seat, swallowing tightly.
“I have a car coming for me in two hours,” he told her, his lips quirking into a grin as her gaze flashed up to him. “Rest assured, sweetheart, what I want will take far longer than two hours to even get close to finishing. You’re completely safe for the night.”
He made a mental note to send Dog the message to pick him up at the appropriate time. He had a feeling it wouldn’t do to allow her to catch him in even the smallest white lie.
“I haven’t figured out what made you decide you should even be here,” she told him, though she turned and led the way to the stairs leading up to her apartment. “You’ve just totally destroyed any peace I have when I go out at night now. Every Tom, Dick and Breed will think he can go home with me now.”
Oh, he didn’t think so.
He’d make sure every Breed who considered it knew the hazards and informed Tom and Dick of the claim already made on her.
“I don’t think it will be the problem you’re imagining,” he told her, though, as she unlocked her door, her fingers tightening on the knob in preparation of turning it.
His fingers closed over hers slowly, stopping her.
Gypsy stilled, her head down, breathing hard. The warmth of her spread from her back to his chest, his entire body aching to feel her in ways he knew she wasn’t ready for.
“I want you,” he told her. “Until I ache with the need for you. But I won’t take from you, Gypsy. I want nothing that isn’t freely given. Nothing that you don’t want just as badly as I want it.”
She paused for long seconds, obviously battling not what she knew he wanted, but what she wanted as well.
“I believe you.” She finally nodded, but that hint of fear still lingered in her scent. “Sometimes, what a person wants isn’t always best for them, though.”
He released her fingers, allowing her to turn the doorknob and push the door open before he carefully, casually maneuvered himself inside the apartment ahead of her.
His senses registered everything in less than a heartbeat. The animal genetics that raged so strong inside him were closer to the surface tonight, even before he’d left the hotel.
The scent of her permeated the apartment, sliding over his senses like a sensual caress. There were more subtle, softer scents. Those of her family, perhaps friends. There was no scent of sex or male intimacy. No other man had placed his mark on her territory as he intended to place his tonight.
“The light switch is on your left,” she told him, waiting, her irritation edging along her scent now.
His lips quirked as he reached out and flipped on the light before drawing her inside.
“Sorry, habit,” he assured her. “Some habits are better not broken, no matter the situation.”
She nodded, moving into the apartment and closing the door behind her, automatically stopping to lock the deadbolt as well as the heavy chain lock between the door and the frame.
“I’ve lived here since I was eighteen,” she told him, though he swore he could feel something that she was leaving unsaid.
“Your sister still lives with your parents?” he asked, following her from the small foyer into the combination kitchen and living room.
“The apartment downstairs.” She gave a little shrug of her shoulders. “She moved into it last year.”
The apartment was large, open and roomy. Large windows dominated three walls, while the other held an open door that revealed her bedroom and a large, neat bed.
She turned on several low lamps before moving into the kitchen.