“Yeah.” She seemed so hesitant that he thought she might be concerned about his intentions.
He couldn’t blame her one bit. Even though he’d like to think his intentions were perfectly honorable, his wolfish half was enjoying the intimacy between them a whole hell of a lot more than he should have been.
Still, she wasn’t trying to get away from him, and she fit so nicely against him that he wanted to take advantage of the moment. He wondered why she would take a vacation here all alone though, his cagey wolf side instantly coming to bear. What if she was involved with the male wolves who were spying on him? Maybe she’d been sent to do a different mission up close and personal—not just watch from afar.
“My name is Rafe.” He didn’t want to give his last name in case she’d heard of his wealth. But if she was with the men who had him under surveillance, she already knew who he was. If she wasn’t part of that group, he didn’t want his wealth to influence her. It had a way of instantly changing the dynamics. Not only that, but no one except for his friend, his brother, and a few other wolves he did business with knew they all were wolves. He liked to keep it that way. Otherwise, he could see single she-wolves stalking him next.
“I’m Jade. Thanks for your help. Do you think we’re safe now?” The twinkle in her dark eyes and the soft smile on her shimmering pink lips said she knew he was holding her close for reasons other than her safety now.
“Almost.”
That earned him a bigger smile.
He smiled back. Well, hell, even if this whole thing was a setup, he had to admit he was enjoying the connection between them too damn much to care.
“So…do you do this often?” She had a sweetly alluring voice that he enjoyed hearing over the gulls and breakers closer to shore.
“Rescue ladies in distress? You bet. But never one quite like you.”
“A wolf, you mean.”
“From Amarillo.” His body was reacting way too much to hers. He hoped she wouldn’t notice, though he suspected she was noticing everything about his body as much as he could feel her nipples pebbling against his chest. Not that she seemed like the kind of woman who scared off easily.
“I think the current’s strength is dwindling,” she said, but she still didn’t make a move to pull away.
“You might be right. Are you doing anything for lunch?”
Her brows lifted marginally. “I have a date with the Crab Shack.”
“Alone?”
She chuckled. “Yeah.”
“Mind if I join you?”
“What if someone else needs you to rescue him or her? I’d hate for you not to be here when disaster struck.”
“I’ve done my rescuing for the day.” He motioned to Derek, who was standing on the shore, arms folded across his chest, and smiling at them. “It’s Derek’s turn next.”
“Friend of yours, I take it?”
“Best.”
“Part of a pack?”
“Nah. Just my brother, Derek, and me. But we’re not a pack. You?”
“Yeah, but they’re back in Amarillo.”
“They’re not worried about you being out here all alone, getting into trouble in the ocean?”
“I’m sure they’d think I’d be just as safe playing in the water as I thought I’d be.”
“I take it you don’t have a mate. If you were mine, I’d damn well be out here with you.”
She laughed.
He waited for her to confirm she didn’t have one. He wasn’t getting mixed up with a mated wolf no matter how much he enjoyed being with her like this.
She was still smiling when she shook her head. But he swore her smile was a little pinched this time. He’d lived too many years not to be able to read people, though he couldn’t read her well enough to know why the mention of a mate bothered her.
He couldn’t believe someone as delectable as she was didn’t have a mate already. Unless she had lost him and the mention was troubling her. “Ready to have lunch? I think I can get us back in safely now.”
She laughed. “I just bet you can.”
He smiled at her.
“What about you? Have a mate?”
Her expression had turned impish. But he wondered—did she already know who he was? He would love to say something about being one of the most eligible bachelors around, just to judge her reaction, but he curbed the inclination.
He shook his head.
As soon as they moved out of what was left of the rip current and into the breakers, a wave hit them. Before they could react, the briny sea carried them both under. He instantly lost hold of her and panicked but broke to the surface to search for her just as she tumbled into him. Again, he grabbed hold of her, telling himself she needed his support or at least a way to stop them from banging into each other, even though it was more than that. As a wolf, she was damned intriguing, and he was determined to know her whole story. Was this a chance encounter or something more?
“You do know how to swim, don’t you?” Wolves normally did.
“Yes.” She paused in the surf and sneezed. “Sorry, some of the water went up my nose.”
“A hazard of playing in the surf.”
“But a fun hazard.”
He got the impression she meant because of his rescue. If she was perfectly innocent of any deviousness, he hoped he could get to know her better.
Letting go of her, he swam with her toward the shore. As soon as he reached shallower water where he could stand on the sandy bottom, he felt something slice into his foot, pain erupting immediately. Hell.
He dove and felt around on the ocean floor until he found a broken seashell half buried in the sand. He dug it out, came up out of the surf, and threw the shell out to sea as far as possible so no one else could cut themselves on it. He was instantly annoyed with himself for getting injured—not that he could have seen the shell or avoided it in the stirred-up water. Still, he was glad Jade hadn’t been the one to step on it instead. Lifting his foot to head in, he saw a wave headed their way and quickly grabbed Jade to rescue her. It pulled them both under, and they were washed ashore. Her soft, wet body was planted against his. His body was as hard as it could get.
For a moment, she just looked at him, and then she leaned in and kissed him softly on the lips. “Thanks for the rescue. Again.”
Hot damn! He would suffer any indignity for another kiss like that.
She seemed to be going for just a short, sweet kiss on the lips, but he slipped his arms around her shoulders and pulled her down for something hotter, more wolfish, more of a thank-you.
For a second, she hesitated to respond.
“I’ve been injured,” he said, hoping for sympathy.
To his delight, she pressed her lips full on his mouth and their hot, wet bodies melded together, their pheromones spiking. The kiss was better than any he’d ever had. He hoped she was going to be here for a long time, because he definitely wanted to get to know the she-wolf better.
* * *
This was so wrong, and Jade hated the deception. She hadn’t planned to get herself sucked out to sea, and it would have been frightening if the hot wolf hadn’t rescued her. Rafe Denali. After missing her chance yesterday to run into him at the farmers market, she had been trying the beach again. She’d been here a number of times already, walking the shore in front of his palatial mansion on the cliffs and trying not to look as though she was checking out his place, but he’d never been out while she was here. She’d begun to think he never sat on his patio.