Wild Invitation A Psy Changeling Anthology - By Nalini Singh Page 0,72

- as they appeared too rough to touch Grace. He knew differently, knew he'd never hurt her. "There." Keeping hold of her hand, he brushed his thumb over her skin.

She shivered, but didn't pull away.

"I shouldn't keep it. It's too much." Her skin was so soft, so appealing to stroke that he did it again. "It's normal to give flowers during courtship."

"I can't lie," she admitted with a delighted smile that hit him straight in the heart, "I love it already. I'll wear it all the time."

God, but he wanted to cover that luscious mouth with his own, taste her long and deep. Slow goddamnit, slow.

"Will you come for a walk with me?" he asked, keeping his eyes scrupulously off the bed he could glimpse behind a shoji screen patterned with shoots of green bamboo. "We can sneak out through the access tunnel to the back entrance." Though he wanted everyone, particularly the unmated males, to know she was off-limits, Grace wasn't the hard-ass he was, would find the attention difficult to deal with.

Smile turning a little shy, she said,

"Let me tie back my hair and change." The thought of her silky-skinned and naked beyond the thin barrier of a single doorway annihilated his attempt at good behavior. "I think you look edible." Since he'd already blown it, he surrendered to need and took a deep breath, barely resisting the urge to nuzzle at her throat. "Peaches. You smell like lush, ripe peaches. Can I take just a little bite?"

Grace's skin glowed with color, but instead of shying or backing off in fear, she pointed to the door. Grinning because his submissive wolf had just proven she could handle him fine even when he was bad, he went. "I'll be waiting."

GRACE leaned against the door after Cooper exited, taking jerky breath after jerky breath. God, he was dangerous - even more so when he turned on that rough charm.

"Can I take just a little bite?" Swallowing her whimper, she put herself in motion, changing out of the sweats she'd thrown on at Cooper's knock and into jeans paired with a soft cashmere cardigan in a rich raspberry shade that felt exquisite against her skin.

If she planned to play with a wolf as strong and aggressive as Cooper, she had to learn to cope with the fact that he was going to push. Hard. It was in his nature.

"I did cope," she muttered, tying the laces on her boots with jagged moves after quickly braiding her hair. "I didn't turn tail and run, did I?" No, she'd made her opinion plain...and he'd listened.

The big, teasing wolf who outranked every single person in the den had obeyed her silent order without the least protest.

It was a gift as wonderful as the whimsical bracelet on her wrist.

Hope a rich spice in her blood, she walked out to discover he'd moved to the end of the corridor, was chatting with Shamus, who - from the container in his hand - had made a run to the kitchen to pick up a slice of key lime pie. While Grace didn't know the senior soldier well, she'd become close friends with his mate, Emma, after meeting the sweet maternal dominant at the book club Vivienne organized once a month.

So she knew the pie was Emma's favorite, as was lipstick in a particular shade of vibrant red, a trace of which marked Shamus's jaw. It made Grace smile, seeing how crazy they were for one another.

"Off for a walk?" Shamus asked with an inquiring glance when she halted beside Cooper.

Cooper answered before she could become flustered. "I thought I'd point out one of the evacuation routes to Grace in case of emergency."

Shamus threw back his head in a belly laugh, his thick brown hair catching the light. "And I was about to say it was a romantic night. Have fun." Waving good-bye, they waited until he was out of sight before entering the narrow access corridor that led to a rarely used exit. Though kissed by a cool wind that promised rain, the night was as lovely as Shamus had said, the satin black of the sky dotted with what appeared to be a million stars.

Cooper's hand closed over hers.

"First, so I'm not a liar, there's the start of the evac route." He pointed northeast.

"Okay?"

"I already know the routes," she said, heart thudding at the skin-to-skin contact. "It's part of the welcome-to-the-den module for submissives."

Submissives were the ones charged with evacuating the pups should it ever become