We’d only dig in a little deeper. And while I didn’t know jack about love, this was the kind of guy I might fantasize about having for keeps.
Which wasn’t possible.
No, I had to walk away now.
“This was fun, but this isn’t an everyday thing, Rand. It can’t be.”
“Why not? Didn’t you have fun?”
He wasn’t being logical. I went around to the foot of the bed, found my jean skirt. I stepped into it and shimmied it up my legs. “It’s not about fun. I mean, it was definitely fun. But I know you don’t want something long term.”
His brows dipped. “I want forever, Red.”
That made me freeze. My breath caught. My heart skipped a beat. But he was lying to me. Strange—Rand didn’t strike me as a liar. He was smooth but didn’t give off the player vibe. It offended me he would try to lead me on. “No.”
He pushed all the way up to sitting, his gorgeous torso on display. How did a guy get abs like those? It wasn’t from any gym around here.
“No? What the fuck, Red? What do you mean no?”
Now he was pushing me into a direction I’d never wanted to say. I’d sworn Uncle Adam to secrecy. I knew Rand kept his being a shifter a secret, and he was pushing me to say it aloud, to voice the one thing he never wanted uttered.
I found my blouse, slipped my arms through it with more effort than required. “I mean, you’re being bossy again. Telling me I’m having an orgasm this morning whether I want it or not.”
His mouth opened, and he held up a hand. “Cool your jets, darlin’. I’m not making you do anything. I’m a generous guy. When it comes to you, I want to make you happy. I want to hear you call my name in that breathy way again. I don’t care if it’s on my mouth or my dick.”
“Why?” I asked, running my hand over my face.
“Why what? Why do I want you to come? Because I’m a generous lover.”
I sighed. “Fine, I’ll give you that. But why me? Why do you want it every day?”
“Why don’t you?” he countered.
I tossed my arms up. “Because we just met. I don’t know you.”
“You know quite a bit about me, darlin’, just like I know a hell of a lot about you.”
His gaze dropped to my chest, the fact that I hadn’t buttoned my blouse.
I tried to calm down enough to get my fingers to work the buttons.
“I told you before, Red, you’re mine. I’m a possessive fucker.”
“I saw that clearly last night.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
He sat there all sexy and rumpled. And confused.
This was it. There were only so many lies I could come up with to skirt the truth. And he was telling them, too, which bothered the hell out of me.
“I know, Rand.”
There, I said it. After fifteen years, I said it.
“Know what?”
I turned around to search for my shoes.
“Know what?” he repeated.
When I didn’t answer, he moved to me, took my arm and spun me back to face him. He stood before me. Bare. His dick was hard and bobbed between us, but he was looking at me with such confusion, such intensity, he clearly forgot he was aroused.
“Know what?” he asked, this time with a little snap. His patience was at an end.
“What you are.”
He stared.
“That you’re a shifter.”
His eyes widened slightly, and the grip on my arm tightened, but it wasn’t painful.
“What are you talking about?” he asked, clearly trying to fake it.
I sighed, let it out. “I saw you. That summer when the tractor fell on you.”
He dropped his hand, went to the bed, sat on the edge.
“I told Uncle Adam. He knew, told me what you were, what all of you at Wolf Ranch were. Are.”
Rand looked over, surprise on his face. “Old Man Sheffield knew? All that time?”
I nodded. “His first and only love was a shifter from your pack named Maggie. She couldn’t be with him because he was a human. So yeah. I know. I know there’s no forever for us.”
He lurched up from the bed, holding both hands out. “Hold up. That’s where you’re wrong.”
Something fluttered in my belly. God, I didn’t know how badly I wanted to be wrong. My legs trembled where I stood, as if my body believed this conversation was far more important than I’d given it credit for.
“First of all, it used to be pack law that we couldn’t mate with humans, but that’s no longer the case. What really guides us is fate.”
I wanted to roll my eyes, but he appeared dead serious.
“A shifter catches the scent of his or her mate and knows them immediately. It’s biology. There’s no choice or question involved. I don’t know whether your uncle was Maggie’s fated mate, but I do know you’re my mate. You’re mine, Natalie Sheffield.”