The Maverick Pride Tales - Chapter 197: Chapter 197

Shit.
It was already half-past three, and Megan hadn’t shown up. Cole was tearing his fucking hair out like some pansy ass bitch, wearing out the rubber mats covering that part of the garage floor with his incessant fucking pacing.
Where was she? Was she standing him up?
He growled in frustration. He knew he’d fucked up, playing hot and cold with her, but that wasn’t his fault. Fine. Maybe it was. But what the hell was he supposed to do? He’d never felt his way about another person before in his entire life.
“You wanna stop all the fucking pacing, dude?” Phoenix growled from where he squatted on the floor, adding air to the back tire of his favorite hog.
“She’s not coming.”
“Who’s not coming? Oh! The tall girl from the bar—ahh!”
Cole had his Pack mate by the throat and off the floor in the bat of an eyelash. Megan wasn’t just some fucking tall girl. She was perfect. And his Wolf really didn’t like Phoenix or anyone talking about her size. Like at all.
“Um, hello?”
Cole froze. It was her. She walked into the garage, pulling a cart behind her. Her amber eyes were wide as she viewed Cole standing in the middle of the floor choking his long-time friend and Pack mate like it was normal. Phoenix was slapping at his arm, and Cole looked from him to Megan twice before he dropped the fucker.
“You’re here,” he said, and his Wolf howled in victory.
The dumb animal was completely fucking love struck. Her sweet scent filled his senses, and Cole wanted to run right to her. He wanted to hug her close, kiss her sweet lips, and bury his nose in the crook of her neck just to breathe her in. But he didn’t move from the spot where he was suddenly rooted. Cole needed to let her get used to the fact his position on finding a mate had done a complete one-eighty.
“What the fuck, bro?”
Phoenix gasped for air, holding on to his neck as he tried to catch his breath. But he wasn’t important. Cole practically shoved him out of the way as he walked over to Megan.
“Should I come back another time?” Megan asked.
“No! Why? Oh, he’s fine. Just Pack stuff. Anyway, um, come on over here,” Cole said, guiding her to where he cleared off a worktable for her.
“Ookayy,” she replied, clearly not believing him, but that was okay. As long as she stayed.
“You look really good,” he murmured, taking her appearance in with one look.
His gaze lingered on her long legs in the faded jeans she wore. They were torn up at her knees and thighs, revealing tantalizing swatches of creamy white skin. Cole growled, he couldn’t help it. She took off her jacket and his temperature went up another ten degrees. The woman was wearing another one of those sheer long-sleeved bodysuits, this one in navy blue, with a cutoff t-shirt that had the Sublime logo across her perfect boobs.
Fucking. Hell.
She was hotter than sin. Since Cole already knew what she looked like beneath her sexy clothes, that only made matters worse. His cock strained against the thick denim of his jeans, but he ignored it and waited for her to finish putting the pieces she’d brought and her portfolio on the table.
“Hey, you paint? Wow, you’re good, girl,” Phoenix said, joining them.
He was still rubbing his throat, glaring at Cole who just shrugged, while Megan started to discuss her work. He looked down and was tongue tied. Holy. Fuck. She was good.
“This is a sample of some basic flames. That’s pretty much what everyone wants on their bikes, you know,” she said with a shrug. “I have some pictures though of some other stuff I’ve done. Skulls and roses. A green dragon. Blue dragon. Um, silver wolf,” she murmured, lifting a photo of an enormous silver wolf she’d painted across someone’s Harley.
Jealousy threatened to fill Cole for one split second, but that was quickly replaced by pure pride in her art and her skill. Among the photos were some sketches and paintings as well. Her style was brilliant, and her use of colors and textures was exquisite. Cole was not a connoisseur of the arts, but he knew tattoos and he knew custom motorcycles and she was good. Better than good. she was awesome.
“I do those for inspiration,” she explained, and he could tell from her posture she was nervous.
“These are great, lily,” he murmured, catching her gaze and marveling at the uncertainty he saw there.
“Really? You’re not just saying that?”
“Why would I just say that? Come on, you know these are great, right?” he asked, and sucked in air between his teeth as he looked at the photo of the silver wolf on the Harley.
“Sorry, um, no, I don’t mean sorry. Geez. I mean, um, thanks. It’s hard to accept compliments sometimes,” she mumbled.
Her cheeks were bright pink, and she tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. Cole couldn’t stop himself if he tried. He put a hand on the small of her back and leaned down and kissed her cheek.
“I mean it, lily. These are incredible. Thank you for sharing all this with me. You should be proud of yourself. I sure as fuck am,” he told her.
“Where did you learn to do this?” Thor asked from out of nowhere and Cole startled hard.
“Fuck!”
“What?” the big, bald bastard asked, shrugging his shoulders as he lifted one of the small panels she’d brought entirely done in different styles of flames.
“Where did you all come from?” Cole asked, looking around stunned.
Sometime in the last five minutes when he’d been lost staring into Megan’s gorgeous Tiger bright eyes, his entire Pack had turned up for this.
“Oh, I’m self-taught. Daddy and I repaired a bike, um, this one actually, when I was in high school and I did the design work,” she said, and yes, his woman was holding up the photo of the motorcycle with the silver wolf on it.
A wide, shit-eating grin spread across Cole’s face and this time, he kept his arm around her as she showed off her artistic skills. Pride and happiness buzzed in his veins and Cole smiled so much, his face actually fucking hurt. Everyone was oohing and aahing over Megan’s designs, asking her questions and offering praise. By the time he was alone with her again, Megan had filled the next three months in her appointment books with requests for custom art from his Pack alone.
“This is unbelievable. I thought for sure I was going to have to get a job waiting tables or something until I got my business off the ground.”
“Not bloody likely with this lot. Half those appointments are from clients we have across the country. Word will spread, and we’ll all be busy as bees,” he told her with a grin.
He wasn’t sure when exactly the awkwardness started. Maybe it was when she seemed to notice they were alone. Megan packed up her things and loaded the cart. Snow had started falling outside and an inch already covered the ground.
“Okay, well, I’ll be going,” she murmured, turning away from him.
“Hey, I was hoping you would have dinner with me,” Cole said, feeling like a fool.
“Cole, I don’t know if that’s a good idea. I have dinner with you, we wind up in bed, and I don’t know what’s real and what’s pheromones,” she began, and he felt her hurt like it was her own.
“Hell, we’re Shifters. Everything is pheromones,” he growled, rubbing the back of his neck. Yep. He was definitely fucking this up again. “Look, I know I messed up, lily, and I’m sure I will do it again.”
“That’s not exactly the kind of argument I’d use when trying to persuade someone to hear your side.”
She frowned at him, but her expression told him she was amused by his cockiness. Cole had that shit in spades. He herded her backwards until she was trapped by the shelf behind her and him in front. He leaned down, inhaled her scent and when he opened his eyes, he knew his Wolf was staring through them. Sexy little she-Tiger didn’t even realize she was purring. Her whole chest reverberated with it, and he closed the distance, needing to feel that vibration for himself.
“Fuck, lily, you smell so good,” he growled, staying her hands with his firmly clasped around her wrists.
“You’re confused⁠—”
“I’m not. You do smell good, tiger lily. You deserve honesty. So, I’m going to give you that,” he said, and inched closer so their lips were almost touching.
A tremble wracked her body, and Cole closed his eyes needing a moment to calm himself. All he wanted was to be inside her. To stamp himself on every inch of her lush frame. To feel her tight, wet, sex sheath him, squeezing him so good, when she came, screaming his name.
Yes. Need. Want.
“I could take the choice from you right now, lily. I could take the decision to stay or go right out of your hands. You know it. I know it.”
“The hell you could,” she replied, trying for fierce but she sounded needy and breathless. So damn sexy.
“I could start touching you, like this,” he growled, running a finger down her neck, and dipping it beneath the collar of her shirt. The tops of her breasts heaved with every breath and he drew tiny little circles across her flesh, softly, gently.
“I could kiss you until both of us are gasping for air. I could start loving on you, lily. I could make your body sing for me, and you know you would beg me to stay tonight.”
“You cocky sonovabit⁠—”
“But I’m not gonna do any of that,” he said, interrupting her and removing his touch from her sweet, warm body.
Cole stepped back. It almost fucking killed him, but he did it. One step, then another. She whimpered, swaying slightly on her feet, and he totally understood. He was the same. Needy and lost without her. He’d been stupid and mouthy the night they met, but he was going to prove himself. Even if it hurt like hell.
Mate. Mine.
“More games?” she asked, eyes narrowed.
“No games at all, tiger lily. If you want me. If you want to stay the night with me, then you have to tell me. You have to show me. For now, I’m just asking you to let me feed you. Have dinner with me tonight? Just dinner. I swear I won’t even kiss you unless you ask me to.”
She seemed to mull it over for a minute. Her phone buzzed, but she ignored it. Finally, after what seemed like eons she nodded.
“Alright. I’ll eat with you. But only if we cook together.”
Cole smiled, barely refraining from letting out a whoop of happiness. She was going to have dinner with him! Yesssss!
“Um I feel I should warn you, Megan, seeing as how we are being open and honest,” he began, following her out the door.
“What?” she asked, allowing him to take her car keys and the wagon with her things in it from her hands.
“I can’t cook for shit.”
“Wow. You weren’t lying,” Megan said as Cole set a plate with a half-burnt steak and a perfectly cooked baked potato in front of her. “You really can’t cook for shit.”
“I told you I couldn’t,” he growled, frowning at the barely edible looking piece of meat.
“How’d you get the potatoes so damn perfect?” he asked, taking a bite of his own loaded grown in Idaho goodness.
“Cats do everything betterrrrr,” she teased, purring at the last.
Cole mock-growled and tickled her until she was screaming for him to stop. They decided to eat in the living room, sitting on the floor side by side with their backs against the sofa as they watched some reality TV show where amateur chefs battled for stardom. It was ludicrous and the things they cooked looked disgusting, but Cole had never had so much fun.
Megan really was the perfect woman. He’d never allowed himself to simply be with someone who was not his Pack before. Now, he hoped she would be. Someday. Soon.
His Dire Wolf was positively smitten, and his human side was in complete agreement. She was everything he never knew he wanted. Smart, funny, desirable, talented, and so damn easy to be with. Yeah, relationships were work, as this one proved, but there was an old saying if a person loved what they did it never felt like work.
That was this for him. He was like eighty-nine percent in love with her already, and all he wanted to do was show her. And not just because she’d show him her boobies, but more because of the way her eyes sparkled when he gave her compliments and did something nice. Right now, she was sitting sideways, her legs across his lap and Cole was massaging her feet.
“Oooh, that feels good.”
“Bet it does. You got some hooves on you, girl,” he teased and she gasped, mouth open.
“Did you just call my dainty size elevens hooves?”
“Dainty? These things? Like boats,” he growled, tugging on her ankles, and tickling his way to her belly.
He’d pushed the coffee table out of the way before they started this little tickle-wrestling match, and good thing, too. Megan was super strong, and gorgeous as fuck. He was shamelessly using this as an opportunity to feel her luscious body squirming beneath his.
“Ooh, you weigh a ton!”
Megan squealed as he pinned her to the ground. His hard cock was pressed right against her heated sex, and he couldn’t help the tiny flex of his hips, reveled in her quivering response.
“Am I crushing you, lily? I can move,” he grunted, but her hands were on his hips and she was pulling him closer.
He leaned down, brushing her nose with his, rubbing his cheek across hers. Fuck, he wanted her lips so damn bad, he was practically drooling. But Cole made a promise.
And he intended to keep it.