Page 34 of Can’t Help Growling in Love (Harmony Glen #9)

Chapter

Twenty-Three

JUNE

“It says here that newly mated couples usually wait to exchange bites during their first full moon together,” I tell Asher.

“Aw, that’s kind of sweet. Like waiting for marriage until they have sex.

But it’s just a few weeks’ wait if the full moon happens every twenty-eight days.

And they probably have sex straight away, right? ”

I realize I’m talking to myself when Asher doesn’t answer. I try to shuffle around to look at him, but his grip on my waist tightens slightly, as if warning me to stay in place.

“Asher?” I pat his hand, then his knee. “What’s up?”

He shudders behind me and loosens his fingers. “Nothing. Sorry, what were you saying?”

I drop the book on the bed beside us and turn fully, straddling his hips.

“I asked if newly mated couples have sex before their first full moon together.” Then I palm his cheeks with both hands and peer into his golden eyes.

“But I can sense there’s something you’re not telling me. Will you let me in?”

His hands find my ass, as if he can’t keep them away from me.

I wiggle closer, until my pussy rests right above his cock.

If I lowered myself, I’d make perfect contact.

He’s been hard since he joined me in bed, and I don’t want to tease him if he’s not in the mood for sex, but he might be, if he opens up to me.

Asher scrunches his eyes shut and drops his head back against the headboard. “I don’t want to tell you. I don’t want to push you into a decision you’re not ready to take.”

I bite my lip, wondering if I should push him . But whatever has him this tense must be important, so I nudge him in the chest. “How about you give me all the facts so I can make an informed decision?”

His golden gaze rests on me for a long moment before he says, “I don’t know if I’ll be able to keep myself from biting you on the night of the full moon, so if you’re not ready to take that bite, you’ll have to stay with a friend or at a hotel or something.

” He grips my waist harder, as if the thought of me being away is sending him into a tailspin already. “And I’ll do what I usually do and?—”

“No.” I blurt out the word before I can stop myself.

He frowns at me. “What do you mean, no?”

I press my palm to my forehead, trying to sort through my jumbled thoughts. “Okay, that was a completely instinctual response. I think—I think I need to stay with you.”

Asher’s eyes widen. “Is the bond making you say this?” He drops my waist as if burned. “Fuck, June, is it?—”

“Stop.” I take his shoulders and give him a gentle shake. “Stop this right now. No one is making me do anything. Do you feel coerced into wanting me?”

At a slow shake of his head, I drop my hips lower, letting him feel how wet I am—how wet I’ve been since he first touched me under the covers.

“Look. We’re both new to this,” I tell him.

“Maybe this instinct is simply helping me cut through the bullshit. I want to be with you, so what’s the use of waiting?

If I make this decision now instead of next month, I can spare you the need to spend the full moon locked in your basement.

The hesitation comes out of my human upbringing, right?

Because it’s too soon to be so serious about someone I’ve known for a matter of weeks.

But if we were both wolves, this wouldn’t even be an issue.

We’d be planning our snacks for the night, not whether or not one of us needs to be chained downstairs. ”

He lets out a surprised laugh at this. “I don’t put on chains. Is that what you thought? I have a comfortable room with lots of mattresses and blankets and a reinforced door that locks automatically when the moon rises above the horizon.”

“Oh.” I sit back on his legs, feeling slightly silly. “Right, of course you do.”

He takes my chin and tips it up so I’m forced to look at him.

“June, we can’t ignore the fact that you’re not a wolf.

You’re human, and it’s as normal for you to follow your human instincts as it is for me to follow my wolf ones.

If this is too soon for you, we’ll work around this.

You can decide next month, or the one after that. ”

I close my eyes and mentally list all the cons of spending the night with him.

There’s the issue of the biting itself, the pain, the blood, the possible infection.

Will the wound scar, and is that the point?

A visible mark of being mated? I’m sure one of the books scattered around the bed holds that answer.

But all those questions fade in comparison to the most important one.

Am I ready to commit to Asher forever?

A pulse of want deep in my chest is the answer to that.

“Yeah.” I grin as the happiness bubbles over, spreading through my veins. “I’ll stay with you. I want this, Asher.”

He stares at me for a long moment, his eyes wide with shock, surprise, and a dose of awe. “You’re sure?”

“I’m sure.”

Asher kisses me, crushing me to his chest with his strong arms. I return every kiss and caress. My body molds to his, and I gasp at the pulse of pleasure in my belly.

He pulls away for a second. “We’ll have to make sure you’re ready.”

I blink at him, dazed from the kiss. “What?”

“You need to be able to take my knot.” He reaches down and slips his fingers between my legs. “It’s bigger than three of my fingers. I don’t want to hurt you.”

He brushes my clit, and I jerk in his lap.

“Oh, wow.” I drag in a shuddering breath. “Yeah, that’s a good idea. I mean, good thinking. Great, even… oh .”

I let my forehead rest against his shoulder. He slowly works me apart, pushing his finger deep inside me. He adds another to stretch me, and the sensation is incredible.

I roll my hips, chasing the contact. “Why don’t we try the real thing?”

Aher freezes. “Right now?”

“Only if you want to.” I meet his gaze, as serious as I can be with his fingers still inside me. “I’d love to, but it’s absolutely your call.”

“Yes,” he growls. “Of course I want to. June, I’ve wanted to since I first scented you.”

“Okay.” I nudge his hand lightly to get him to pull back, then reach down for his cock. “We need to go slowly, okay? Would you like to be on top?”

He shakes his head, his hands finding my hips. “This is fine. Yeah. You on top is great.”

I grin at his hurried words but don’t allow him to rush me, no matter how eager he is. He’s never done this before, so I want to do it right. I know we’ll have a lot of sex in the future, but I want this first memory to be a fantastic one for him.

“Tell me if anything feels off,” I murmur. I wrap my hand around his shaft and pump slowly, moving my hand from the base, where the knot is already swelling, to the sensitive tip leaking precum over my fingers. “Anything at all.”

“Feels amazing,” he admits roughly. “Keep going.”

I swipe my thumb over his cockhead, and he shudders. When I lift my hips and notch it to my pussy, he lets out a ragged groan, as if the small contact alone is enough to undo him.

Taking a deep breath, I bear down slowly, doing my best to relax my inner muscles and take him in.

But he’s big. My body accepts the tip, then freezes at the intrusion.

“Holy shit.” I wiggle my hips and sink half an inch lower, then stop again. “This is going to take a while.”

Asher leans in and runs the tip of his nose over my neck.

He licks and kisses the sensitive spot, then continues up, toward my mouth.

His kiss is deep and unhurried, as if we have all the time in the world.

I cling to his shoulders and return it, gasping against his mouth.

Another inch of his length slips inside me.

“Keep going,” I tell him. “It’s working.”

He grins, breathless and beautiful. “Yeah? You like it when I suck your tongue, baby? Would this also help?”

He palms my tits with both hands and swipes his thumbs over my nipples. They’re sensitive from before, and I jerk in his lap, fighting the sensation. But he pets me slowly, patiently, and with each tug of his fingers, I relax further, melting over him.

I squeeze my inner muscles around him. He hisses and stops moving, his eyes scrunched shut.

“Stop, stop.” He moves his hands to my hips and holds me in place. “I’ll come if you keep doing that.”

I can’t help but smile. “That’s the point, isn’t it?”

He shakes his head firmly. “Not before you.”

Glancing down between us, I realize I’m only about halfway down his length. “Uh, that might not be a bad thing.” I brace my hands on his chest and lift my hips a fraction, then press back down. “You’ll stay hard even after you come, right?”

“Yeah.” Asher’s voice is a ragged groan. “Smelling how wet you are does that to me.”

“Your cum will help,” I explain. “I’m wet, but unless you’ve got lube…”

He looks stricken, as if he was supposed to think of this. “I don’t.”

I take his face between my hands and press my forehead to his. “It’s okay. We’ll get it tomorrow. But for now…just let go.”

I move my hands from his cheeks to his shoulders and roll my hips experimentally. It’s a little strange because I can’t slam down over him like I want to, but I work myself up and down, taking a tiny bit more with every descent.

“June!” His fingers twitch on my hips. “I knew you’d be so hot inside. Oh, gods, this feels so good.”

Asher’s praise unlocks a part of me I never knew existed. Pride—for him and for myself—explodes in my chest, and I take him deeper on the next stroke, my pussy growing wetter.

“Oh—oh fuck! ” His hips twitch up as he fucks me from below. “Don’t stop, don’t stop?—”

I wrap myself around him, trembling. “I won’t. Let go. Come for me, Asher.”

With a shout of surprise, he jerks underneath me, and his hot cum floods my insides, shooting deep into my pussy. Asher groans, burying his face in my neck, and trembles, hips rocking up, up, as if he wants to reach as much of me as possible.