“That wasn’t what I was doing.” But it was. Maybe he hadn’t meant to undermine her and her ability to take care of herself, but he had. If she had gone all Beta female on his ass and tried to use that authority to boss him around or crush his opinions, it would have sincerely pissed him off. Unless it happened in the bedroom.

When he parked the car in the lot, Jaime turned to him. “Look, I know that this whole overprotectiveness thing is part of who you are and is so much worse now that we’re newly mated, but you can’t try to dominate me into doing what you want.”

“I’m sorry, okay.” He reached out and cupped her nape, rubbing it soothingly. “I believe we both agreed that I was going to f**k up a lot.” Pulling her to him, he gently meshed his lips with hers, relieved when she didn’t tense. “But I can’t apologize for wanting to protect you. I’ll always want to do that, and I’ll always try to, even when you don’t need me to.” Sighing, she relaxed into him. “I know. But I’ll still get pissy with you every time.”

“That’s okay. You’re hot when you’re mad.”

Growling, she shoved him away, ignoring his laugh, and hopped out of the SUV. He was at her side before she could progress more than three steps. Then, still laughing, he was kissing her, curling his arms around her. When she playfully struggled, he caged her wrists with his hands and backed her into the SUV, pinning her hands above her head. His cocky smirk made her growl.

“Now this looks familiar.”

“Yes, I remember that night when you used my lust to punish me.” He brushed his lips against hers. “No, baby, that wasn’t about punishing you. That was me losing control. I’d wanted you since the second you came here, wanted this mouth and this delectable body. The idea of you with another guy was torture, and I snapped.” Deciding to put him out of his misery, she said, “I wasn’t actually dating Shawn, you know.” He stilled. “What?”

“Well, I had years ago, and he wanted us to start things up again, but we didn’t actually do it.”

“Why didn’t you tell me that?”

“Because it was more fun to watch you hyperventilate.”

Smiling, he nipped her bottom lip. “I should spank you for that, but I’m too glad to know you hadn’t let him touch you again to care.” The again part had his mood souring a little. He saw by her expression that she’d sensed it.

“What is it?”

He let his forehead rest against hers. “I wish I’d known who you were to me sooner. That way no one else would ever have had you. Because of the way my brothers always treated me, I erected some pretty tough emotional barriers when I was a kid. Not so much to protect myself, but as a way of fighting back. Building those walls meant that the ass**les could do whatever they liked, but they’d never break me, never hit me where it truly hurt. The hell of it is that if I hadn’t been so emotionally guarded, I might have been more open to you back then, might have recognized you for who you are to me.” He’d felt protective of her, intrigued by her, but he hadn’t ever considered that she might be his mate. “I’d have had you with me all this time. I’d have been the first and only person to ever touch or be inside you. Maybe I could have even protected you that night from those wolves.”

“Hey,” she said softly, “I didn’t realize either.”

“How could you have? My guardedness would have blocked you from sensing it. You might be a little walled off now, but you never were as a kid.”

“Did I give you permission to beat yourself up? Look, you’re not the only one who wishes we’d known back then. Just as you’d have been my first and only, I’d have been yours, which means you would never have half mated with Bitch Face and I wouldn’t be having homicidal urges. But… you would also never have become part of the Phoenix Pack. No matter how much you objected to Trey’s banishment, you never would have left with him if it meant leaving me behind. Can you honestly imagine never having been a member of this pack? Never being Beta?” He lowered his head, sighing. “Some things happen for a reason, Dante.”

“You’re more important to me than a position. I hate that I’ve been without you all these years.” Never would he be without Jaime again. Never.

“I’m here now.”

“And you’re staying. Even though I’m going to mess up repeatedly, and even though I still keep tripping over your damn shoes, you’re staying.”

“Hmm, I’m not so sure. Maybe you could convince me by finishing what you started right here a few months ago.”

His playful smile matched hers. “Now that sounds—”

“Dante!” called a voice that had both him and Jaime cringing.

He didn’t move his gaze from Jaime when he replied. “If there’s something you want, go to Trey or Tao.” The idiotic woman didn’t. Still, Dante didn’t move from his position against Jaime, refusing to let this female take his attention from his own mate.

“Sorry to interrupt.” She didn’t sound sorry. “I just wanted to ask if you—”

“Look,” began Jaime, wanting to be rid of Laurie and wanting to rub reality in her face,

“unless you get off on watching, you might want to scamper. As you can probably tell, we’re both hot and horny, and Dante’s about to Google my Yahoo and Twitter my cli—”

“I’ll, um, I’ll catch you later, Dante.” She was gone in seconds.

Shaking with laughter, Dante kissed Jaime softly. “Google your Yahoo, huh?”

“Oh yeah.”

“I’d like to try out the whole ‘Twitter your clit’ first. I remember wanting to taste you last time right here, like this.” He dropped to his knees, tugged down her jeans and panties, and proceeded to make her come four times before finally thrusting inside her and taking what was his, growling her name when she marked him again.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Dante wouldn’t have guessed that Laurie had developed suicidal tendencies since they parted, but apparently she had. Why else would the odd female have repeatedly leaned across the table toward him at breakfast, trying to engage him in conversation? She had been careful not to touch him, but only barely. Anyone could tell that Jaime was close to snapping her in half, yet she persisted. He could have spent some time alone with her to try to figure out her game, but he knew that would be hard for Jaime, and he didn’t want to be around the confusing woman anyway.