Own Me (The Wolf Hotel, #5)(4)
With a grin, I open my mouth and suck hard, tasting the saltiness.
A sexy smirk curls Henry’s lips. “How far my innocent little farm girl has come.”
CHAPTER 2
“Remind me why we didn’t stay at Wolf Cove, Victor?” Henry calls out, stirring me from slumber. I’m still nestled against his chest where I settled in, his arm slung over my shoulder. I drifted off, listening to his heartbeat and his deep voice as he caught up on business calls.
“That’s a good question, sir,” our driver responds cordially.
I blink away the sleep and refocus on the countless streetlights outside, blurred by drizzle. Horns blare from every direction. “Are we almost home?”
Henry brushes stray hairs off my forehead before pressing a kiss against my temple—such an uncharacteristically sweet gesture, especially compared to the filthy things he did to my body an hour ago. “Two blocks away. You’ll be in bed within ten minutes.”
“So will you.” I smooth my palm over his curved chest before my fingertips crawl across the ridges of his abdomen.
Henry’s sigh is full of contentment as he weaves his fingers within mine, and we wait quietly for our car to navigate the city’s gridlock. Finally, Wolf Tower comes into view ahead, a grand looming edifice, the tallest mixed residential and hotel building in the city.
Henry’s body tenses. “The reporters are already here?”
“I don’t think they ever left,” Victor says.
Sure enough, a small horde lingers beneath umbrellas near the entrance, armed with cameras.
“Not when the Wolf name keeps gifting them such lucrative headlines,” Henry mutters bitterly. Between William Wolf’s sudden death and then Scott Wolf’s involvement in it and his subsequent demise, Henry has been caught in a media swirl for weeks. The mine collapse was the brittle on the crème br?lée. And now there are highly publicized pictures of the two of us kissing in the moments after he stepped off the helicopter, covered in dirt and blood, which will stir all sorts of new questions about New York’s most eligible bachelor’s relationship.
I can feel myself about to get sucked into the swirl.
Henry must feel it, too, because his arm tightens around me in protection. “Take us straight to the underground,” he demands, his voice hard.
“Certainly, sir. Already planned on it.”
“Please and thank you,” I add after a beat.
Victor’s eyes catch mine in the rearview mirror, the corners of his crinkled with a smile.
Henry leans in to whisper in my ear, “You wouldn’t dare be implying that I don’t have manners, would you, Abigail?”
I used to quake when he used that even tone with me. Now I snuggle against his chest. “Never.” He has exceptional manners when he chooses to use them, but he’s also accustomed to people jumping at his every command.
“I didn’t think so.” He leans in farther until the light stubble along his jawline grazes my skin. “But I like those words on your lips. I think you’ll be using them later.”
His promise stirs a mental image and a memory that ignites my core.
We pull into the valet entrance, waiting for the cars ahead to move. Photographers have their cameras aimed at our windows, calling out Henry’s name. It’s all a pointless production, thanks to the impenetrable tint.
I fish my phone out of my purse and turn it on for the first time since we landed.
The moment it starts chirping, I wish I hadn’t.
“She’s asked Reverend Enderbey to marry us!” I cry, seeing red as I scroll through Mama’s messages. All thirty-two that she sent since I hung up with her before leaving Alaska this morning.
“Sullivan.” Henry nods his thanks as the security guard steps aside to allow us into the elevator. The lineman-sized giant was waiting to greet us when Victor parked the car. “Would he fly to Alaska to officiate?”
“I don’t know, but she’s already booked the church for our ceremony.” My thumb swipes at the screen as I speed-read. “And she’s called the rental company for our reception in the barn! And—oh my God—she’s asked three of my cousins to be my bridesmaids!” It keeps getting worse the farther down I go.
Henry’s chuckle reverberates.
“This is not funny!”
“Are you surprised? She knows she can’t stop you from marrying me, so she’s found a new way to try to gain control.”
“I knew she’d want to have a say on things, but I didn’t think she’d have our whole wedding planned before our plane landed. And all this? This was supposed to be Jed’s and my wedding. She’s just swapped out the grooms.” Which is especially surprising, given Mama was convinced Henry was the devil himself walking the earth until only recently.
“I am definitely not Fuckface,” Henry grumbles.
I hold up my phone to show Henry the picture of Mama’s wedding dress, pulled from storage and hanging in my bedroom in Greenbank. “Ready to be sized for me.”
He frowns. “Is that a bow?”
“One of several.”
He shakes his head. “Rethinking city hall yet?”
I groan.
Sullivan whistles before flashing a gap-toothed grin. “Gotta say, I thought my mother was demanding, but sounds like you’ve got your work cut out for you, Ms. Mitchell.”