He wrapped his hand around hers. “Come, sleep. I can’t function properly tonight without getting more rest.”

“How much do you remember about yourself?”

She looked so hopeful, he hated to disappoint her. “Just bits and pieces.”

“You don’t really remember your last name, do you?”

He shook his head and began pulling her turtleneck up, his desire to see more of her wreaking havoc with his need to keep his distance. Her smile was contagious and although he thought she might try to stop him, considering the way she’d been dressed the night before, she didn’t.

“You don’t remember if you’re married or have a significant other?”

“No, sorry, Tessa. I wish I did, but those memories still elude me.” However, he hoped that the fact he couldn’t recall, meant he didn’t have a mate.

Tessa’s brows raised. Yeah, she was wondering where he was going with this. Not that he didn’t wonder himself enough for the both of them. He stared at her white lace bra, her nipples darkened against the fabric, mesmerizing him.

She unbuckled her belt and slid her jeans down. Teasingly tiny, white lace bikini panties showed off a wealth of silky skin. Every inch kissable.

He wanted to take her right then and there. But he couldn’t. Not until he knew for certain whether he was mated. Until that time, he was free to pleasure human women. But once he was mated with a lupus garou, the bond was for a lifetime. No divorce. No ending the mating unless one of them died.

He pulled Tessa into bed, determined to bury his lustful intentions until he knew for certain whether he was attached or not. Covering them with her comforter, he held Tessa tight, her back against his chest, breathed in the smell of the wind in her hair, the fragrant scent of her skin, her soft heat captivating him. Although he only planned to sleep, her titillating touch aroused a throbbing need he couldn’t fulfill.

Tessa saw the longing in Hunter’s gaze, knew he wanted her. And she wanted him also. But she loved the way he was reluctant to take the relationship further until he knew for sure if he had someone. Maybe he wasn’t attached, and with the way his memory was returning, it might not be long before he knew the truth.

She melted in his heated embrace, snuggling closer. She swore he let out a muffled groan against the back of her head as he tightened his hold on her, his hard and aroused body fitting snuggly against hers. She had never felt so protected in her life, and she didn’t want the sensation to stop.

“Rourke really respects you,” she said under her breath. “He doesn’t have many friends, mostly because he always sees a story in anything anyone does and it either irritates people or makes them nervous, which causes them to shy away from him. But he really likes you.”

“He’s all right.”

“Hmm, well, I can tell you like him, too. He might not be of the same caliber as your rough and tumble Navy SEAL friends but he’s not so bad.”

“Oh?”

“Not for me—as a boyfriend. But as a friend for you. That’s why you invited him to stay.”

Hunter grunted. “To watch over you while I look for the intruder. I couldn’t leave you alone unprotected, worried he’d sneak into the house while I was searching for him outside.”

That’s what she thought, but she wanted to hear him say it. She kissed his arm. “Night.” Even if it was midday.

“I wasn’t a Navy SEAL.”

“Maybe not, but you are now. And the way you react to situations, cook like you’re used to living out of doors, have such an uncanny awareness of danger and how to deal with it, you must have trained in military or police operations. So you might as well be a Navy SEAL. It fits with the beach scene anyway. Maybe you’re really an Army Ranger or Special Forces or a member of a specialized Swat Team.” She shrugged. “Doesn’t matter.”

“Would to me if I were trained in one of the other fields.”

She turned her head, his lips curved, and she gave him a small smile. “But it doesn’t suit our first meeting half as well.”

He ran his hand over her hair, then combed the strands with a silky touch. “Do you think a Navy SEAL would have ended up where I did? Flat on my back, half dead?”

“You were flat on your stomach, half dead.” She sighed, loving the feel of his fingers sweeping through her hair and wished they could take the relationship further. “Only a Navy SEAL or some other highly trained professional in survival tactics would probably have endured the ordeal.”

His hand drifted to her breast, his touch blazing a trail of heat across her skin.

Her nipple tightened, begging for release from the lacy bra. She’d never known anyone as sexy as Hunter, so sure of himself, but sensitive, too.

“I wish I knew for certain if I had a significant other, Tessa.” He wrapped his arms around her and growled. “You’re way too intriguing.”

“Hmm, I hope you’re unattached, Hunter.” She closed her eyes and breathed in his masculine scent, coveting his heated embrace. And I hope you plan to stick around for a long, long time. But she feared the way her luck was going lately, there wasn’t much chance at that. Even now she envisioned a wife and a couple of small kids sitting by a fire, waiting for Hunter to return home. She groaned inwardly.

No way did she ever want to be a home breaker like her father had been.

After he’d been sleeping for a couple of hours, Hunter’s fingers swept across Tessa’s breast. Just a whisper of the most tantalizing touch. Was he asleep? Oblivious to the way he was sending her heart into overdrive? Making her wet in anticipation? Her nipple tingled, but she didn’t move a muscle, listening, trying to discern if he was awake and had felt her up on purpose, or was asleep and it was just an accident.

His hand rested on her breast this time, the palm in contact with her taut nipple, his caress tormenting her. He was awake, the cad. Then he moved his hand lower, rubbing his thumb across the sensitive nub in a slow, sensual caress.

Lulled into sweet ecstasy, she didn’t respond, afraid he’d stop if he knew she was awake. He stroked her breast, and then as if the sensation couldn’t have been more erotic, he slid the lacy cup down, exposing her. She took in a sharp breath. His hand molded to her breast, and she wanted to scream, “Take me, oh godly one!” She didn’t even know him! He didn’t even know himself, for heaven’s sakes.

Did he remember he wasn’t attached to another woman? Please, make it so. She took his roaming hand and kissed it.

“I knew you were pretending to be asleep,” he said, the timbre of his voice dark and seductive.

Her body heated with chagrin. Caught in the act. She smiled to herself. “I thought you were asleep, at first.”

She was dying to ask if there was someone special in his life, but was afraid to learn the truth—that maybe he still didn’t know, but he was too horny to care, or he did have someone, but he was still too horny to care.

“I can’t promise anything,” Hunter warned, pressing a kiss against her hair with a feather-light touch.

His action sent a shiver of expectation down her spine. “Are you free?”

“There’s no one.”

She let out a heavy sigh.

“I still can’t promise you anything long term.”

“I’ll take whatever I can get,” she teased, but she was afraid he might have heard the regret in her voice. She tried again. “Really slim pickings around here.”

“You haven’t been with a man in a long time,” Hunter said, as if he knew her whole blamed, pathetic lifestyle.

But she couldn’t lie to him. She figured he would see right through her.

“I’ll try to be gentle. It’s been a good long while for me, too,” he admitted, his voice already husky, his fingers encircling her breast in a slow caress.

As much of a hunk as he was, she didn’t believe it for a minute. But forget gentle. She wanted him to devour her whole.

His hand shifted to her shoulder, and he rubbed her with a tender motion, as if he was waiting for her to make up her mind.

“I’ll try to be gentle, too,” she said.

His lusty chuckle heated her blood. Boy, had she found a pile of treasure when she went to gather wood on the beach yesterday afternoon.

Hunter unfastened her bra, and then slid the straps down her arms, every move he made deliciously sensual. No man had ever undressed her before, and the sensation sent a delectable heat skittering through her. He brushed aside her hair, exposing her neck, then licked the super-sensitive skin, his warm breath fanning her. He turned her around, his gaze hot with wanting. And then he bent his head, pressed his mouth lightly against hers, his fingers tracing her arms downward, the skin tingling with his action.

She placed her hands against his naked chest, noting the tension in his hard, lean muscles, his skin tan, no longer bruised or cut, the smattering of dark, curly hair trailing to the waistband of the sweats— enticingly provocative.

Although the room was icy cold, his touch heated an internal flame so white hot, she wanted to ditch the covers and expose every delectable inch of him for her viewing pleasure. But he made no move to pull the covers aside, instead dipping his fingers underneath the top edge of her panties, teasing her skin, back and forth.

He brushed his lips against her mouth, making her want more, and drew his fingers upward across her stomach, blazing a trail to her breast. All her bones dissolved as she melted to his touch, his fingers kneading her swollen breast. A wet ache between her legs commenced, and she tugged at the drawstrings on his sweats. Not waiting for his reaction, she jerked the pants down to his thighs.

His arousal sprang free and he half-groaned or growled. And lost control of his slow and measured seduction, as if she’d finally given her mountain man permission to ravish her like a woman in need and not treat her like she was a delicate flower.

He kicked off the sweats and slid her panties down her hips and lower, his tongue penetrating her mouth, conquering, decisive, as if the invisible bars of the cage holding him back had vanished. Pressing his knee between her thighs, he opened her to him, his fingers slipping downward through her short curly hairs, all the way to her womanly folds. His smoldering expression changed subtly, a hint of a smile tugging at his lips.