At first, they ran and were just having a great time, and then they began play fighting, nipping each other, tussling with each other, biting, growling, having a blast. He couldn’t believe his timing in meeting Hanna like he had.

  She liked to play rough, but he was easy on her, not wanting to injure her.

  She suddenly stopped playing and lifted her chin and howled at the moon. He smiled at her and howled with her. Now he knew her lovely wolf voice. They’d missed the wolf-howling competition, but this was just as much fun.

  Then she tackled him again—when he was off guard. Phoenix wanted to laugh. They were suddenly joined by other wolves, and he could smell Carol’s and Ryan’s scents, Max’s, and the others he didn’t know. But they greeted him and Hanna, welcoming them to the wolf pack, and he was really glad to be part of a pack after not having been for so many years while moving around with the army.

  Hanna nudged Phoenix and then raced off. He chased after her and figured she was heading to the house.

  As soon as she barged through the door, he followed her inside, and they raced to the bedroom. She shifted and shut the door behind him.

  He shifted and pulled her into his arms and began to kiss her.

  Her hands were all over his back, her body rubbing against his growing erection, their mouths fusing together with long, dreamy kisses. Her green eyes had darkened, and she kissed his neck and cheek. He pulled away to kiss and lick her taut nipples, her breathing growing ragged.

  He breathed in her sweet, wild scent: the fresh woods, apple cider, and cinnamon. Their tongues tangled together again, stroking, passionate, wanting more. Her hands ran through his hair, and he combed his fingers through hers, their bodies rubbing against each other.

  “I knew you were hot the first time I saw you,” she whispered, licking his chin.

  “Did you ‘see’ me like this then?”

  “Hmm, in my dreams that night after the pub incident.” Then they were kissing again, and he slid his hand down her backside and pulled her against his thigh, raising her leg a bit over his.

  He began stroking her between her legs and she was groaning. He stopped and she moaned, but he wanted her in bed with him. He released her and jerked back the covers, then swept her up in his arms and set her on the bed. He followed her there, stroking her again, and she was practically purring as she arched against his fingers. He enjoyed this with her, everything he’d done with her, but this ended the night perfectly.

  * * *

  Phoenix was all lean muscles, his erection reaching out to her, and she wanted him to bury himself in her, but for wolves, it was a mating for life. So for now, they had to be satisfied with going as far as they could without consummating the relationship.

  His strokes on her feminine nub were magnificent, his tongue entering her mouth and dueling with hers intoxicating, and she was wet with arousal. He smelled musky and feral, a wild wolf ready to mate. Heat filled every cell in her body as he kept stroking her nub until she felt the end coming. Relief, anticipation, expectation, and then mind-blowing release.

  “Ohmigod, yes!” She kissed him and he kissed her back, as if she was the most important wolf in his life.

  She rubbed her body against his steel-hard erection.

  “Are you ready?” she asked, as if she needed the confirmation.

  “Hell yeah. For you, yeah.”

  She chuckled and began to stroke him, his breath hitching. She was kissing his mouth at the same time, his hands gently combing through her hair. He had such a wonderfully, kissable mouth, and his hands were strong yet gentle too. His body was taut with need, beads of sweat forming on his brow. She smiled, loving how she could make the tough Green Beret sweat.

  She ran her free hand over his nipples, then leaned over and licked one and gently nibbled it. His hand tightened on her hair, and he lightly groaned. Then she kissed his other nipple and licked it.

  But she didn’t let up on stroking his erection. The way he was tensing, she knew he was about to come, his face grim, his green eyes darkened, lust-filled, and then he exploded.

  “Hmm.” She kissed him soundly. “Should we check the shower next?”

  He chuckled darkly. “Yeah.”

  She’d heard Carol and Ryan head for their bedroom earlier, so she and Phoenix grabbed some nightwear, and naked, they raced each other to the bathroom. They were trying to be quiet about it, but they were laughing when they got there.

  This was just what she needed in her life. A hunky military guy.

  Chapter 7

  A month later, Phoenix was serving as a private investigator for Ryan in his firm and loving his job. He’d had a four-year criminal justice degree when he went into the army, and now he could finally use it for something. He and Hanna were trying to agree on an apartment to rent, so they were still at Ryan and Carol’s house. The McKinleys were glad to have them stay there, but Phoenix and Hanna needed their own place.

  Phoenix had decided they were getting a house, instead of bothering with an apartment, if Hanna would agree to it.

  She was working as a communications member of Ryan’s team, and she was loving her job too. Best of all, they’d had so much fun with the pack activities. It was nearly Thanksgiving, and Phoenix had lots to be thankful for. Hanna topped his list.

  He left the PI office and headed over to the mayor’s office to pick up Hanna for lunch and drive her to the house he thought she might like. She’d shown him pictures of homes that really appealed to her, but they wouldn’t know until they actually walked through it whether the home was the right fit for them.

  Ryan was releasing her early from work, though she didn’t know it, so she and Phoenix could look at homes. He was getting tired of their indecisiveness in finding an apartment. Phoenix knew they couldn’t decide on one because they really needed a home, one with a wolf door. A place near Carol and Ryan’s vast acreage. Someplace where they would feel safe as wolves. They could always go to the pack land and run no matter where they lived, but wouldn’t it be better if they could just run through a wolf door and be in the woods?

  There was one place that would border pack land once Ryan had bought up more of the land, and it had just gone up for sale.

  “Hey, honey,” Phoenix said, “are you ready for lunch?”

  Hanna smiled at him. “I sure am. I’m starving.”

  “Okay, great.”

  She got into his car, and he drove her out toward the pack’s land.

  “Wait, there aren’t any food places out here.”

  “There’s a house that I wanted to look at with you. It’s on the border of the pack’s territory.” He was certain Ryan was hoping they would buy it to keep the pack’s territory more secure, but no one else in the pack needed a home. Phoenix had even wondered if Ryan and the pack had had anything to do with the people wanting to sell the property.

  “Really? Is it what we wanted?”

  He motioned to his phone. “You can look at all the pictures and the specs of the place.”

  Hanna lifted his phone and found the house he’d been looking at on the Google search. “Oh, this is nice.”

  “With my salary, retirement, and savings…”

  “And mine,” she said.

  “We can get it, if it suits us.”

  “The property butting up to Ryan and Carol’s property is great, and it does have ten acres with it,” she said.

  “Just think, anytime we want to run as wolves, we can. No driving to the pack’s lands.”

  She sighed. “We have to feel connected to the house. We’ve looked at so many apartments, and all of them were—”

  “On top of other apartments. That’s not how we live.”

  “Okay, well, I hope this is it then.”

  When they finally reached the property, they found a pretty log home, about twenty years old, treed property, a wraparound deck, big windows, and a two-car garage.

  “I don’t know about you, but I like the look of the house and the property already,” Phoenix said, hoping they could agree on something.

  “Don’t mention you like it to the owners.”

  He glanced at her after he parked.

  “So we can get them to come down on the price.”

  He smiled and took hold of her hand and squeezed. “Right.”

  Then they got out of the car and headed for the front door. “It’s for sale by owner, so the owner said he’d be here when we wanted to look at it.”

  “Okay, great.”

  They walked up to the front door, and Phoenix smelled Hanna’s nervousness.

  “I want to like it. I really do,” she whispered. But she was frowning.

  “What’s wrong?” He hoped she wasn’t already feeling bad vibes about the house.

  “I smell a familiar scent that I’ve smelled before.” Then she snapped her fingers, and just then the door opened and she said, “Joe.”

  When Joe, the human who had stood her up her first night in town, saw her, his jaw dropped.

  Phoenix was frowning at the two of them, having no idea what was going on.

  “Hey, uh, I’m sorry about missing seeing you at the pub that night. Something came up.” Joe sounded like he hoped he hadn’t screwed things up with them buying the house because of that little incident a month ago. “Then I heard about the motorcycle gang incident there, and I was glad I hadn’t gone.”

  She arched a brow.

  “I mean, well, sorry.”

  Yeah, the guy was sorry all right.

  “Can we take a look at the house?” Phoenix asked, ready to sock the guy for standing Hanna up. He figured if he hit him, it wouldn’t help in asking Joe to reduce the price of the house if Hanna loved it.

  They looked at the large living room area and the stone fireplace, and Phoenix was already thinking of setting up a Christmas tree near it the day after Thanksgiving, if they could get moved in that quickly. The place was devoid of furniture and household goods, so it looked like it was ready for the new owner to move right in.

  “So why are you selling the place?” Hanna asked, looking over the kitchen.

  “My mother died years ago, and my dad just died. I inherited the property three months ago, but I had to have it probated, sell everything else off, and then put the place up for sale.”

  “I’m sorry about your parents,” Hanna said.

  The cabinets in the kitchen were honey oak, and the appliances all had wood-grained paneling. The counters were granite and the floors tile. And they even had a wolf door. Well, large dog door, but it would be their wolf door.

  At least Phoenix was ready to settle in. All his furniture was in storage. Hanna had moved her household goods into the same storage unit, so they would just need some muscle to help them move it all, and they would be all set up in their very own home.

  One wall in the den was covered with built-in bookshelves, a nice touch. The master bedroom had a walk-in shower and a Jacuzzi tub. Hell, Phoenix was sold on the house already.

  But Hanna was looking into closets and frowning, glancing out the windows and frowning. She hadn’t said one nice thing about the house. He was dying to buy it.

  “She and I haven’t agreed on anything so far,” Phoenix said, sounding like this was another lost cause. He hoped his words would convince Joe to push to sell it to her by lowering the price.

  “It’s not exactly what I want,” she said, peering into the fridge. “I mean, we’d have to replace all the appliances.”

  “They’re only two years old,” Joe said, sounding exasperated.

  “She loves to cook, and she knows just what she wants in a home,” Phoenix said, though she really hadn’t cooked much, not at Carol and Ryan’s house. Carol and Ryan both loved to cook.

  Joe folded his arms. “Okay, make me an offer.”

  He’d listed the property at $295,000. Phoenix was going to offer $280,000, but Hanna took hold of Phoenix’s hand and said, “We’ve got some other homes to check out.”

  Phoenix looked at her in disbelief. What if some other interested couple saw the property and bought it outright? He would still be dreaming about being with Hanna in this house, making it a home for Thanksgiving.

  “Two hundred and eighty thousand,” Joe said.

  Hanna looked at the kitchen again, frowning, and let out her breath in exasperation. “Two sixty-five and you have a deal. I can use the money we didn’t spend on the asking price to renovate the kitchen, and you aren’t going through a real estate agent, so you don’t have that cost.”

  Joe rubbed his bristly chin. Phoenix knew he was dying to sell the house as much as Phoenix was dying to buy it. But would he drop the price that much?

  “You think about it. We’re going to look at the other homes now,” Hanna said and pulled Phoenix toward the door.

  Hell, if they missed the opportunity to buy this house and the land that went with it—

  “Okay, two seventy.”

  “When can we move in?” she asked.

  Joe smiled. “Now, today, any time. I just need a down payment—”

  “Let’s get a contract written up. We have the funds for a home, so we’ll be good to go,” Phoenix said, relieved beyond measure. “We can move in now, if you allow it, and we’ll get the title transfer and all the other paperwork done as soon as we can.” He knew it could take thirty to sixty days to close on a home, but they weren’t taking out a loan, and Ryan had told them one of their wolves owned the title company, so they’d expedite the transfer of title.

  Hanna smiled at him and squeezed Phoenix’s hand. He realized she’d played both of them. Here he was a PI, and she was a con artist! He loved her.

  Chapter 8

  Hanna and Phoenix were so excited to move in that once they had paid the down payment, signed the contract, and had the appointment for the title company, they were ready. Joe had deposited the check and left them the keys to the home, glad to be rid of the property after the house was signed over.

  Phoenix called Ryan with the good news. They needed pack help to move their belongings to the house, but the title company had already let him know that they were closing next week. The pack couldn’t be happier that the property would belong to pack members.

  “I’ve already made arrangements for a moving van, a driver, and a bunch of guys to help you get moved.”

  “Thanks, Ryan. For everything,” Phoenix said.

  “Thank you for adding that land to our property. You can be one of our outer guard posts.”

  Phoenix laughed.

  “But really, thanks for buying it. And I know you’ll love being there.”

  “We will.” Phoenix rubbed Hanna’s back.

  She was smiling up at him. When they ended the call, she laughed and twirled around with exuberance. “It’s ours. Don’t you just love it?”

  “I love you. And yes, I love the house too. I didn’t think you cared for it all that much.” He pulled her into his arms and hugged her.

  “That was the ploy. Pretend it wasn’t exactly what we wanted and we were going to look at other places that might suit our needs better. But oh, this is just beautiful.”

  “No renovations on the kitchen then?”

  “No way. We probably will need to get some furniture, but I couldn’t have said that to help convince him to reduce the price on the house.”

  “True. You really like it?”

  She kissed Phoenix. “Yeah. I know you were totally exasperated with me when you thought I didn’t like it. I could smell your tension and saw it in your face. It was a good thing Joe didn’t recognize it.”

  “It wouldn’t have mattered. All that mattered was what you wanted. He was sure you wore the pants in the family.”

  She laughed. “We both do. Come on. We need to get our bed moved here and then we need to—”

  “Mate?”

  Smiling, she nodded. “I was beginning to think we would never agree on a place to live and this wouldn’t work out between us.”

  “Are you kidding? An apartment? No. We needed a home in the woods. And we’ll make it our home. I love you.” He was even thinking about when they had kids and how this would be perfect for them. The home had five bedrooms and three and a half baths. Perfect for a family. And no more moving. He was ready to settle down permanently.

  “I agree. And I love you too. Let’s go and get our stuff.”

  After moving their belongings to the home, they spent the rest of the afternoon setting up their house, but they didn’t have any groceries to make dinner. It would still take them days, weeks, to get everything the way they wanted and to find things too.

  “Let’s go to the pub where we met and celebrate,” Phoenix said, “and we can buy some groceries in town after that.”

  “Let’s invite the pack, in case we have trouble again there.”

  He laughed. “It wouldn’t be a celebration without them. Besides, if any motorcycle gangs show up, we’ll be safe. I’ll invite my family too.”

  That evening, they had dinner and drinks at the pub with close to thirty pack members, several of whom had brought them housewarming gifts. Both Hanna and Phoenix were overwhelmed by the generosity of the pack. Michael and Carmela were there, too, promising them a housewarming gift in a few days.

  “We’ll have everyone over for a barbecue one of these days,” Phoenix said, though they needed to get set up for it first.

  “In the spring,” Ryan said. “You two need to get your household set up the way you like it.”

  A couple of motorcyclists drove up and parked at the pub, and Phoenix and Hanna eyed them speculatively through the window, but they didn’t belong to any gangs and grabbed a booth inside. Hanna sighed with relief. Not much later, Joe drove up in his blue pickup and entered the pub with a woman. When he saw Hanna and Phoenix, he almost looked like he wanted to leave.