14. Henri

Waking up with him holding me close brought a happiness I'd never known before. It was everything, and I never wanted it to end. He'd been so amazing the night before, showing me all of the love and patience I needed, while at the same time not making me feel coddled. Not once did I feel any pressure to do more.

I rolled over so that I could see his face once his breathing pattern told me he was awake. He smiled, his face beaming, mirroring the same happiness I felt.

"Did I wake you?" He pressed a kiss to my cheek.

"No, I woke up on my own." I hugged him closer. "I think I'm ready for more." I was pretty sure I was ready, but without any experience, I didn't want to promise something and then chicken out. At the same time, I needed him to know where my mind and heart were headed.

I knew I was ready for that kind of love… the physical kind. Just thinking about it had the lower half of my body stirring. It was a huge jump given how completely sheltered I'd always been, and with that came a bit of trepidation but not about Cole being the right one or this being the right time. It was more about me being good enough for him.

"There's something we have to do first," he said, kissing my forehead and climbing out of bed.

Relief and curiosity washed over me. The relief surprised me a tiny bit because I very much did want this. But also—jumping right in was huge.

"Get ready for the day." He was bouncing on the balls of his feet. Whatever he wanted to do, it was a good thing.

"What do I wear?"

"Doesn't matter," he replied, smiling.

I wasn't sure what hint he was attempting to give, if any, but I dressed quickly. If he was this excited about it, I was too.

He took my hand and led me through back corridors, away from prying eyes. It felt like a covert operation, and eventually, we came out in a huge garage. Seriously, there were more cars than a car dealership. This was coming from someone whose father collected cars.

"We're gonna take this one," he said, pointing to the most beat-up car there. "That's Molly's old car. When she got a new one, she left it here in case I ever ‘needed it'."

I had a feeling she didn't mean for sneaking out unseen with his new mate, but I wasn't going to interrupt.

"Don't worry. It's not the first time I've used it. She knows sometimes I need to go to my place."

"Okay," I said, because what else was there to say? He wanted this to be a surprise or he would've given me all the information. As hard as it was, I tried to honor that.

We got inside the car. "Just keep your head down while we're going. Hopefully, no one will notice." Nothing sketchy there. Nope.

"Okay," I repeated, still unsure of where we were heading.

He drove and drove, the entire time keeping his plans close to the vest. Eventually, he pulled off onto a little dirt road. Had this not been my mate, I might've been worried. Each mile we drove had us farther and farther away from society. It reminded me of the vampire movies Lavender loved so much.

"This is my family's land," he explained as a clearing came into sight. I had a feeling his family was like mine and had a lot of land in a lot of different places. "I want us to shift together."

My fox perked up at that. "I can't wait."

We parked in a clearing and both shed our clothes as soon as we exited the car. Once my fox got word that I was going to let him come out and play, there was no holding him back. I wouldn't try, even if it meant not being able to fully appreciate the show in front of me.

I watched as Cole took off his shirt—he was gorgeous, the epitome of perfection. I wanted to close the distance between us and trace the planes of his muscles with kisses and licks. How he could love chocolate as much as he did and still look like this was impressive.

Once his shirt hit the ground, I took off my own. I didn't feel as big and powerful and sexy as he was, but he looked at me as if I held the world.

I took off first, happy when his bear chased after me. There was something so primal and at the same time playful about being his prey. And after he caught up with me, we did the game in reverse. It wasn't an unusual thing for shifters to do. But with Cole, it was different. It had a sexy edge to it.

We ran and played and ran some more. Cole was bigger than I by a ton in this form, but I was spry, and in the end, both of us won multiple rounds. Although, was there only one winner? I would argue that our beasts both won each and every time by just having this carefree time.

When it was time for us to go, we made our way back to the car and shifted back. I didn't even pretend not to look; he was stunning and mine. There was no reason on this green earth to ignore that.

I crossed over to him, wrapped my arms around his neck, lifted up on my tiptoes, and kissed him. This kiss was different from the ones we'd had before. This was not a public display out of expectation, and it was no tentative peck. This kiss might've started out sweet, barely a brush of the lips, but it quickly grew deeper, stronger, more passionate. It was everything I never knew a kiss could be and more.

"Take me home, alpha. Take me home."