Page 32 of Bullied Pretend Mate (Silverville Firefighter Wolves #3)

The moment Maeve sinks down onto me, the lingering pain in my body finally disperses, leaving nothing but the clean, simple pleasure of her body.

She rides me, throwing her head back and gasping, giving me a great show as she does. I keep my hands on her hips, thrusting up into her to get deeper, realizing I never even asked her how long I was out for.

It feels like it’s been ages. Like it’s been far, far too long since I got to touch her. To be this close.

“I missed you,” I whisper when she leans down to kiss me, and I feel my knot start to grow when she runs her lips over my skin, grazing her teeth over the mating mark. It tingles, like it always does, and I tip my chin to the side, giving her better access to my neck. “Do it, Maeve.”

And she complies, her teeth digging into me, more ecstasy radiating out from that spot than anywhere else on my body, even where she’s tight around me, her hips still moving in little spurts as she bites down, then pulls back, licking lightly along the marks.

“May I?” I ask, eyes locked on the spot, wanting nothing more than to get my teeth in her, too. My scent is already starting to fade from her, and I want to remedy that right now.

I want to mark her until the day that it’s permanent, then I want to keep marking her, again and again, for the rest of our lives.

“Yes,” she says, breath gasping out of her. “Please.”

So I sit up, tucking her into me, and, buried inside her, I bite down into her neck, my knot swelling to the point of no return.

She shakes around me, gripping me tightly as the first orgasm takes her, working through her body.

At this point, I have her figured out. The first orgasm is just a warm-up, loosening her and getting her ready for what’s to come. The second starts to feel nice, and the third one is when she really feels it. If I can get to a fourth, that’s usually when she calls my name.

The fourth one is always my favorite.

Unless, of course, I get to carry her to the shower, clean her up, and take her again.

Now, I flip her over, my knot still inside her, and draw her to the edge of the bed, holding her legs and driving into her, watching her mouth open into a perfect O as I get deeper, the knot continuing to grow, applying pressure in places she’s never felt before.

“I don’t know how to describe it,” she said once, trailing her finger along my chest after we’d finished one night. “But it’s like your dick is just shaped for me.”

And I’d laughed because we were always making each other laugh.

We’re going to keep doing that. No matter where I have to move or what I have to do to stay with her, I will. Maeve is my future, and all I have to do is make sure she understands how sorry I am about the past.

Now, she throws her arm over her face, her perfect tits rising as she arches her back into me. I keep the pace but drop my fingers to her clit, and she comes apart for me, pussy walls tightening.

This time, apparently, I’m only getting her to two orgasms, because I release inside her, the first push of my knot breaking loose. She sighs, relaxing into the bed, and I gather her up in my arms, kissing her and tucking her wild curls behind her ears.

“Only two, huh?” she murmurs, looking up at me.

“Hey,” I defend, laughing so she moves with my chest. “I’ve been out of it. For how long?”

She blinks at me. “Two weeks.”

I take a moment to digest that, then squeeze her and nod, dipping down so I can catch her mouth with mine.

“Well,” I murmur, not taking my eyes off her. “Seems like we have a lot to catch up on, then.”

She laughs, and I swallow the sound, kissing her until I’m impatient for my knot to finish, to be able to get hard all over again for her.

When she pulls back, it’s with a little whimper, her dark eyes meeting mine. “Hopefully you’re not busy,” she says roughly. “Because I’m pretty sure my heat just started.”

The sound of that sends lust rolling through me, and I grab her, pushing her onto her back and adjusting myself so my knot presses into her. She gasps, and I run my lips down her chest.

It feels like nothing to me, but I’ve heard some guys can get omegas to come from the knot, so I want to try.

“Actually,” I whisper, kissing my way up the swell of each of her breasts. “I just found out I’ll be super busy. Like, every single night.”

***

A week later, I wake up to an empty bed.

When I walk out of the bedroom and into my kitchen, I find Maeve sitting at the breakfast bar, a bagel forgotten beside her, her laptop open, the blue-white light shining off her face.

She’s been staying at my place since her rental lapsed, and we’ve been looking for a new apartment together.

“Heard anything?” I ask, flipping on the light and watching her wince.

“No,” she mumbles, hitting a key on her laptop, probably to refresh a page again.

Yesterday morning, she took her samples in and paid an exorbitant amount to overnight them to Hollerand. She knows they’re not going to give her an answer—good or bad—this soon, but that has apparently not kept her from staring at her inbox.

“Come on,” I say, opening the fridge and grabbing a bottle of water, passing it over to her. “I have something that will take your mind off it.”

Ten minutes later, we’re walking hand-in-hand down Main Street. When I stick my free hand into my pocket, it sweats around the key there, and I breathe in, convincing myself I made the right choice.

The sun is just starting to crest the horizon, painting the town golden. I spent the final two weeks of summer in a coma, so now the leaves are starting to change, and it’s cool in the mornings, even if it’s still relatively hot during the days.

When we walk past the bakery, they have a pumpkin spice muffin front and center, and the scent of it drifts out into the street. The coffee shop has followed suit, and the apothecary on the corner has hung little spiders from the window, adding to the spooky look.

People usually think of the East Coast during fall, with all its foliage, but Colorado is very pretty, too.

“What’s wrong with you?” Maeve asks, glancing up at me and squeezing my hand. My heart is beating harder the closer we get.

“Nothing,” I say, clearing my throat.

Yesterday, Xeran officially appointed me as the head of Unit Two at the Silverville Fire Department. It’s more responsibility, and you’d think that feeling would help me feel more confident now, with this.

But I’m desperate to impress Maeve, and worried that she’s not going to love this as much as I think she will.

“Where are we going?” she laughs when I turn down the street and walk exactly one block away from the town square, the park with music on Friday nights, the Italian restaurant she loves.

Close enough to enjoy, but hopefully with just enough distance to have a little bit of peace and quiet when she wants it.

“Felix?” Maeve asks, and I turn to her, clearing my throat and stopping in front of a five-story, brick building.

“Suspend your disbelief for me, okay?” I ask before turning and punching in the code.

“I don’t think that means what you think it means,” Maeve says, shaking her head.

The door lets us in, and we walk inside, me leading her to the elevator. When we step into the elevator together, Maeve gives me a knowing look.

“Are you surprising me with an apartment?”

I’m mostly confident it’s the right move. Mostly confident that she’s going to appreciate the initiative, given how busy she’s been with work recently.

“That depends,” I say, shaking with anticipation for the real surprise. “Would you be pleased, or pissed?”

“I guess I’ll have to see the place first,” she quips, stepping out of the elevator and into what is our new apartment.

A huge, open-concept loft. With two bedrooms, a massive kitchen, and two bathrooms. Exposed brick and large factory-style windows overlooking Silverville.

Maybe there was a time that Maeve wouldn’t like a view like that, but I see her melting now, clearly pleased with that aspect.

“A room for your studio,” I say, opening the door into a sunlight-drenched bedroom, then pushing open the other door. “And, for when you’re done with work, a room for mine .”

Tugging her in close, I watch her giggle at the joke, feel her laughter under my fingers. After the rest of the tour is done, I stop and look her over, swallowing down my apprehension.

“Well?” I ask, “What’s the verdict? Go easy on me, because I already signed the lease. That was part of me stepping up, accepting more responsibility.”

“I love it,” she says, though I can tell she wanted to draw out this moment. She steps forward, throwing her arms around me. “And I know it’s cheesy to say, but I love you .”

“That’s great,” I force out, hands starting to shake from the nerves. It’s a silly thing because she and I are already mated, but I need her to say yes to this. “Because I think you’ll have to for this next part to go well.”

When I drop to my knee in front of her, she starts crying, just like in the movies.

“Maeve Villareal,” I whisper, knowing she’s going to love and hate that there’s nobody here to capture the moment.

It’s another thing I took the gamble on, but since so much of her life is public, in front of the camera, I didn’t want to sacrifice this for it, too.

“You are the love of my life. And, seeing as how we’re the world’s best wedding judges, I think it’s only fitting that we have one of our own. Will you marry me?”

She wipes the tears away from her face, sucks in a sharp breath, and jokes with a shaking voice, “I don’t know—I might have to check with my assistant—”

Shaking my head, I rise to my feet, wrapping my hand around the small of her back and drawing her into me, kissing her deeply in the middle of what is soon to be our new home.

“I think I’m your assistant,” I murmur against her lips, taking out the ring and sliding it on her finger. “And I say yes, so that settles it.”

“Okay,” she says, smiling tearily down at the ring on her finger. When she looks up at me, her eyes shine with unshed tears, and her cheeks are bright. I can see our entire future spreading out in front of us. “Yeah, that settles it.”