been in her memories and knew exactly how his mate and that perfectly gorgeous young man had spent their time while he was away. The visuals made him hot whenever he thought of the two of them together. The few times he’d been with Matt, he’d slipped into the younger man’s memories as well, and Millie was always there, front and center.
Matt might be with Deacon and Daci now, but that one night with Millie had changed the boy. Millie’s innocent and loving nature had given Matt a newfound confidence, a more powerful sense of self-awareness, an ability to finally tap into the qualities that made him such a fine young man. Ric felt a sense of pride whenever he was around Matt, as if he’d had something to do with the young alpha emerging from a kid they’d all tabbed as hopelessly beta.
“You did have something to do with it, you fool.” Millie was actually laughing at him now. “You set us up.” She jabbed Ric in the chest with her finger.
He grabbed her finger and nibbled on it. “Are you complaining?”
Shaking her head, Millie pulled her finger free. “Not at all. I’m just wondering when you intend to set us up again.”
He wrapped his arms around Millie and pulled her close. “I imagine that can be arranged. However, you might get Deacon and Daci along for the ride.”
“I’m not complaining.” She raised her head for another kiss.
Ric sensed someone coming at the same time Millie pulled away. Both of them turned toward the pathway that connected Millie’s cabin with the two where the younger Chanku lived.
“Speak of the devil…” Ulrich chuckled and raised his hand to wave at Matt.
Millie jabbed him in the ribs and Ric pinched her bottom as they turned to greet Matt. Both of them were laughing when he stopped at the foot of the steps to the deck.
“Did I interrupt something?”
“No.”
“Yes.”
Millie glared at Ric and burst into giggles. “In your dreams, Ric.”
He shrugged and grinned at Matt. “You can’t blame a guy for trying. What’s up?”
“I just got a call from Logan. Tia’s on her way to Montana to have her baby at the clinic. Logan was checking to see if we could watch the sanctuary so you and Millie could be there when the baby comes. I told him it wasn’t a problem, that the five of us could handle things here. I hope that’s okay?”
“Better than okay.” Ric glanced at Millie. She still looked undecided. He ignored the stubborn tilt to her chin and turned to Matt. “In fact, I’d like to leave in a couple hours if we’re going to get there in time, but I need to take care of a few things in town, first. Do you mind keeping Millie company while I’m gone? I hate to leave her alone.”
He sensed Millie’s shock and Matt’s surprise, but he kissed Millie fast and stepped away. He passed Matt on his way down the steps before either Matt or Millie could say a word. He was still grinning like an idiot when he backed the jeep out of the narrow drive and headed toward town.
Millie could hardly look Matt in the eye. She was going to kill Ric. Eviscerate him, at the very least. Slowly, and very, very painfully. How could he possibly think a juvenile stunt like—
“Millie?”
Her head snapped around and she glared at Matt. His eyes went wide and she reined in her anger with Ric. It wasn’t Matt’s fault that her mate kept throwing her at the poor kid. “I’m sorry, Matt. What?”
He flashed her one of his absolutely drop-dead gorgeous, sexy smiles and nodded in the direction Ric had just gone. “How long do you think before he’s back?”
“At least an hour…maybe more.”
Matt shrugged. “Beth and Nick are checking the compounds. Deacon and Daci are cleaning pens near the parking lot and said they’d be gone for a couple hours. I finished up the work in the office. I’m sort of by myself, and if Ric’s gone, how about…”
Millie sighed and shook her head. “You know he set us up, don’t you?”
Matt took the steps two at a time and grabbed Millie’s hand. “Of course I do, and I owe him big time. C’mon, Millie. I’ve missed you.”
He looked her up and down with such blatant and carnal intent she felt her sex swell and dampen, merely from the naked desire in his gaze. How could this absolutely gorgeous young man want her, a woman old enough to be his mother?
And how could the man she loved above all others be so generous, so willing to encourage what, in spite of accepted Chanku morality, Millie could only think of as an illicit affair?
Who was she to argue? Matt held his hand out. Millie placed her palm in his, and when he tugged her through the open door to her cabin, she followed.
She couldn’t have stopped grinning if she’d tried, though when Matt shut the door and closed the two of them inside the cool, dark room, she trembled. Would she ever get over her hang-ups? Her sense that this was somehow wrong, that it would anger Ric to know she fantasized about sex with a younger man?
Was that part of the attraction? The feeling that somehow she was doing something illicit, something truly bad, after forcing herself to be such a “good girl” for so many years?
Matt’s big hands cupped the sides of her face. “Quit analyzing, Millie. Ric and I have talked about this. He told me he wants us together on occasion. He wants you to have the chance to discover all those parts of Millie West that you’ve buried for your whole life, and he wants me to gain a little more confidence with women.”
“With me, Matt?” She turned and kissed his palm. It was rough and callused. A man’s hand, though she thought of him as a boy. A beautiful boy who, with his packmates, worked very hard to take some of the responsibilities of the wolf sanctuary off her shoulders. She raised her chin and smiled at him. “I find that hard to believe. How could sex with a woman like me give you confidence?”
He laughed, but there was a delightfully strained tone to the sound. “You’re kidding, right?” He shook his head and reached for the hem of her shirt. “You’re gorgeous. You’re the most generous lover I’ve ever known, and you never make me feel like I’m totally inept.”
He tugged the shirt over her head and tossed it on the couch. Then he reached for the front hook of her bra, but he kept talking. “It’s like with Daci. I know she loves me, but when I’m with her, I’m with Deacon, too. I love both of them, but sometimes when we’re all tangled up and screwing our brains out, I’m thinking of you, of the night we spent, just the two of us. You made me feel so special, like I could do anything after that night we had together, Millie.”
He separated the clasp and lifted the bra away from her breasts. Slowly, he nudged the straps over her shoulders. A draft of cool air brushed her nipples and they ruched into tight buds. Millie licked her lips to keep from moaning.
And Matt kept talking. “I’d never had any self-confidence with women. Not ever, but you responded to everything I did. You showed me where to touch, how to touch…” He laughed and tossed her bra on the couch beside her shirt. Then he reached for the snap on her jeans.
“That was so amazing. Nothing seemed to shock you, but at the same time, you acted like it was your first time, like I was teaching you, even though I knew it was the other way around. You taught me so much that night, Millie. I’ve thought of you ever since. I know you’re Ric’s and that you love Ric, but I wanted a chance to do this again. To touch you again when it’s just the two of us. Just you and me.”
He tugged her jeans over her hips and her panties went with the soft denim. She was barefoot, and it was so easy to lift one foot and then the other so Matt could help her out of her jeans, but that left her naked while he was still fully dressed.
Why did that make her even hotter? What was it about wearing nothing but the admiring gaze