The fact that she’d been considering every possible way to be alone with the ruggedly sexy man since she’d nearly jumped him by the quarry lake might have had something to do with it. A lot to do with it, actually. Not that it mattered. She was chicken when it came to letting a man know what she wanted. But tonight, somehow, she wasn’t so chicken anymore.

He hooked his finger on the collar of her T-shirt and tugged enough to peer underneath.

“Looking for something?”

He let it go. “This shirt’s ruined. And I need to get to the wound.”

“Oh. Okay. So what do you want-”

A hard yank and he ripped along the seam from the collar to her shoulder before she finished the sentence. It jerked her whole body and made her heart leap into her throat.

The most provocative thing about her shoulder was her bra strap, but he stared at her exposed flesh like a man starved, male hunger flaring in his eyes. His hands held the torn edges of her shirt as though he struggled with conflicting thoughts, his chest rising and falling with deliberate breaths.

Excitement flooded through her system, tightening muscles, quivering through her belly and drenching the channel of her sex. “Far enough or are you planning on ripping it off me completely?”

Not that she’d have a problem with that.

Her hands fisted her sweats on her thighs. She held her breath. Tried not to imagine it. She met his gaze. Was he thinking the same thing? He hadn’t answered, his face sober, brows furrowed in concentration.

After a deep breath he tore off a piece of gauze, dousing it with disinfectant. When he turned back to her, he was the picture of self-control. He dabbed the sopping pad against the torn flesh where she’d been bitten.

He could’ve stabbed her with a hot poker and made it hurt less. She hissed. “Son of a Cheech and Chong.” So much for the adrenaline masking her pain.

He shrugged. “Yeah. This may sting a little.”

“Y’think?”

“Sorry.” He stepped toward her to see the backside of her shoulder. His leg pressed against her knees so she opened them to allow him closer. The position pushed the bulge at his pants zipper against her knee and let her know his unaffected demeanor was only surface deep.

She swallowed hard, fighting the powerful urge to reach down and coax his semi-hard cock to rock hard and ready. She licked her lips, then bit the inside of her cheek. The need to touch him was nearly irresistible. What the hell was wrong with her?

Gray was sexy as hell, smelled like man-on-a-stick, with a voice that could melt butter and a body that could probably fuck her blind. But she’d never been this ripe and ready in her life. Besides, she barely knew him and what she did know about his life was twisted to say the least.

“It looks bad now, but it’ll heal quick.” He straightened, balling the bloodied gauze between his fingers. “I’m sorry about this. Really. But if you’d listened to your grandmother for once…”

“Hey. Let’s not get into each other’s family dynamics. Okay?”

He tossed the ball across the room toward the toilet and hit the wastebasket beside it without touching the rim. He stepped back and hooked his hands in the tears of her sweats at her calf. A quick yank and the material ripped. With no seam to follow the tear was uneven, ending well up over her knee.

“Confess. You like doing that, don’t you?” She was trying to lighten an uncomfortable moment, but the rawness in her voice made it sound more like a come-on.

His small laugh was tight in his throat. “Yeah. Right,” he said like he was joking-but not really. He took off her sneakers and socks then grabbed another wad of gauze soaked with disinfectant.

He knelt. His big hand smoothed soft as silk down her leg, careful to miss her wound. He felt over her heel and along the bottom of her foot then back to her ankle. The sensation sent a warm shiver to the top of her head and down to settle between her thighs.

He cleared his throat and started talking as though he hadn’t just caressed her for no good reason. “Joy is my mother-in-law.” He brought her foot to rest on his knee. Eyes alighting to hers he said, “It’s going to sting again.”

She nodded, clenching.

He cleaned the wound as he talked. “ Lynn is my wife’s sister. Rick and Shelly are Lynn ’s kids. Their father, Shawn, wasn’t…one of us when the twins were conceived. They’d had an affair. He was married with no intention of ever leaving his wife and somehow in Lynn ’s mind that’s my fault. He’s not good enough for her. That’s just the way I feel.”

He shook his head and grabbed more gauze. “Anyway, after my father-in-law was killed by a rancher in Utah -”

“Killed? You mean murdered?”

Gray paused for a second to look at her. “Yeah. The guy caught my father-in-law killing his sheep. It’s a common problem with wolves in that state. There were rumors. They couldn’t prove any of them were werewolves. The fucking ranchers started using silver bullets just to be on the safe side anyway.”

Werewolves? A chill raced down Maizie’s spine despite the sweat sticking her T-shirt to her chest. The implication was pretty clear but too bizarre to accept. Combined with everything else-Granny’s beloved silver wolf, more human than animal, and Gray’s family, more animal than human and the wolf she’d met in the forest-maybe the bizarre was possible. Either Gray’s father-in-law was mistaken for a wolf. Or he was one.

No. Werewolves don’t exist.

Gray stood, tossing the balls of gauze. “His death left me as the oldest male. I kind of slipped into the alpha role without even realizing it. They’re my responsibility now, Joy, Lynn, the kids. That’s how it works. It’s my job to see to their needs, food, shelter, clothes…sex. The last is really only an issue with Lynn, and then only because she knows the law and wants to make me pay for her disappointment.”

He looked at her as though trying to gauge her reaction to the last. Maizie was still rolling around the word alpha in her head. “Sex? You have sex with them? All of them?”

“No. I could, but I haven’t. Except… Lynn. Once.” He looked to his hands, rubbing at the bloodstains along his fingers. “We have different instincts. It’s not like a human family.”

Human? “I have to go.” To hell with her sexual fantasies about Gray and the first real chance she had of making them come true. This night had just shot into the red on her weird-O-meter. She tried to scoot off the counter but Gray stepped in front of her, his hands grabbing her hips, holding her to the spot.

“You can’t, Maizie. It’s not safe.”

“Why not? Frankenstein and Dracula waiting somewhere out there for me too? Or is it just your family I have to worry about? That was them, wasn’t it? They’re the wolves that attacked me, almost killed me.”

“Yes. But I don’t think they meant to hurt you. Not really. The wolf in us is still a wild animal at heart. Unpredictable. Ruled by instinct.” He sighed. “Listen, I know this seems strange-”

“Strange? No. We passed strange about three days ago.” She squirmed, trying to break his grip, and trying not to feel the ripple of excitement at being so easily restrained by him.

“Okay. We won’t talk about it anymore tonight. Promise. Just…stay. Please. I need you to stay here tonight.” He sounded sincere, as though it meant everything to have her here with him. Why? What did he want from her?

Her mind filled with possibilities, the ripple of excitement grew. Her hands wrapped around his forearms, feeling the steel corded muscle under the gentlemanly dress shirt. Her breath shuddered, she closed her eyes.

As though he could hear her thoughts, smell her rising lust, Gray’s fingers flexed on her hips, clenching the stretchy fabric of her sweats on either side. He stepped closer, wedging his hips between her legs. One easy yank and he pulled her to the edge of the counter, her groin flush with the full hardened shaft of his cock.