Case gave her a wry smile. "That could take all night love. Why don't I start out by telling you about the most important stuff and things that apply to you and I?"
She scrunched up her face, thinking. She looked so adorable he had a hard time resisting the urge to pull her into his arms.
Instead he pulled her towards his bed and sat down, setting her beside him.
"Start talking." She said.
"What do you want to know first?"
"How does the mating thing work?"
"It's basically the same thing as soulmates. As a werewolf, I saw you and instantly fell in love with you the moment I saw you. As time goes on those feelings will just intensify. The wolf in me is what originally tied us together, yes, but the human part of me is already falling in love with you. When we first met you didn't feel the pull as strongly as I did, but it was there. Wasn't it?"
She nodded her head yes. "Why did I feel a pull?"
He grinned. "One, because I'm so sexy no woman could resist me."
She rolled her eyes. Damn if he wasn't right. Arrogant, but right.
He continued, "And two, because some part of you knew then that you were mine."
At his words she felt this wonderful twisting in her stomach that she really wished she could understand. Why was it that part of her found his need to possess her so incredibly tantalizing? It was the twenty first century, after all, well past the age of cave men toting women off to their lairs.
He kissed her lips gently. "And as I said, those feelings will only get stronger. But because you aren't a werewolf, I'm going to have to do everything I can to make you fall in love with me and everything I can to make sure no one takes you away from me."
She blushed and looked down.
"Love." He said firmly. She lifted her eyes up to meet his. "What are you thinking, Jem?"
She swallowed. "I don't understand why you want me."
He had her pulled onto his lap a second later and he hugged her tightly against his chest.
"Who wouldn't want you Jem? You're sweet, kind, sexy, stubborn, and I love everything about you. And that is me talking, not just my inner wolf."
"What feelings come from you and what feelings are just the wolf?"
He gently cradled her face between his rough palms. "My love of you, and who you are as a person, are from me. The protectiveness and possessiveness are mainly my wolf, but part of that is me also."
She smiled. "So, bottom line, where do you want this to go?"
He kissed her passionately.
"That you will have to wait and see. I wouldn't want to ruin the surprise."
She pulled away from him, glared, looking very frustrated.
"Case...that just sucks."
He threw his head back and laughed.
"I have a life to live, Case. I didn't expect this. I didn't plan on feeling what you are making me feel."
She jumped out of his lap and began to pace his bedroom. He jumped up also, clenched her slender shoulders gently in his hands. His heart was beating wildly. "What do I make you feel?"
She stammered, "Feelings I didn't know existed. I feel like I am falling in love with you half the time and the other half you drive me crazy."
"A good crazy or a bad crazy?" He whispered, trailing his lips from her cheek and down her neck. Her pulse jumped crazily.
"Definitely a good crazy." She pulled his mouth onto hers and kissed him for all she was worth before she pulled away and said, "But it is all so new. And I don't know what I want, Case."
He growled. He obviously needed to work hard at making her realize that what she wanted and needed was him. "I'm going to show you that what you want is me, Jem. All in good time."
She wondered what he meant by that, but she knew that there was no point in asking him. He wouldn't give her a straight answer.
"I'm going to go get my bag." She said.
"I'll get it. The bathroom is right through there, you can go ahead and shower and I'll leave the suitcase in the bathroom."
She nodded and he quietly left the room.
She was in his shower. The thought was driving him crazy. He wanted to go to her and make love to her until she was so caught up in him that she could think of nothing else. But he knew that that would be a mistake; he needed to give her time. He wouldn't risk upsetting her, and he needed to know her and what she wanted better.
So he softly opened the bathroom door, laid her suitcase down, and quickly returned back to his bedroom. He sat down on the side of the bed and waited for her to join him.
Ten minutes ticked by. He glanced at his watch; 10:30. Jem would need to go to bed soon. She had school; how he wished she was already graduated. He hated not seeing her for eight-hour time periods.
He pulled his shirt and jeans off and pulled on a pair of sweat pants before he climbed into bed. He watched as Jem emerged from the bathroom looking so sexy it took all of his willpower just to be good.
Jem looked at him and blushed, glancing away from him as she climbed in the bed beside him, making him want her even more.
He pulled her to his chest; he loved holding her like that, loved the feeling of possessiveness and protectiveness that welled up in his chest. He would have to be content with just holding her. For now.
Jem's thoughts were in a riot. She didn't understand how this had happened. It had always annoyed her how people dated for a few days or a week and claimed they were in love; how could you possibly know that fast? Then a week later there would be a new partner that person was "in love with." She had scoffed at the numerous love affairs and sexual encounters of some of her classmates, wondering how they could be so stupid.
Yet now she was falling in love with Case, hard and fast. She wanted to be with him, and she knew that the feelings were not going away.
She just felt right with him.
But she would not have sex with him.
She wouldn't be able to get her father's words out of her head. "Slut." "Whore." "Don't be like your mother." She flinched at the thought, burying her head against Case.
She wondered how much longer she could hide her emotional scars, and if Case would want to be with her once he knew.
She couldn't lose Case. She just couldn't.
His hands caressed her back lovingly and she drifted off to sleep despite her spinning mind.
