Trust by Viola Rivard Page B

sharp intake of breath.
    “Did I hurt you?” he asked, running his thumb along her jaw.
    “The first time always hurts.”
    “I’ve never been with a virgin before,” he said.
    He looked pensive, and Taylor wanted to ask him if he liked it and if she’d pleased him, but she held in her questions, not wanting him to know how insecure she was about it. There was one thing she needed to know, though.
    “Are we going out now?”
    Alder’s brows drew together. “You want to leave right now?”
    “No,” she said with a laugh. “It’s an expression. I guess what I mean is, are we going to be in a relationship?”
    Taylor couldn’t believe that she was asking this question after they’d had sex, and she suddenly felt like a teenage girl on prom night.
    “I already told you,” Alder said, looking affronted.
    She arched a brow. “I don’t think we’ve talked about this.”
    He leaned down to nip at her ear. “I told you that I’m the only male who will ever be inside of you.”
    Taylor gave him a light shove. “You said that during sex. It doesn’t count as a discussion.”
    “There’s nothing to discuss,” he said, giving her a smug look. “You’re mine now.”
    She turned her head away, not wanting him to see how amused she was. “Don’t I get a say in that?”
    Alder grabbed her chin, making her face him. He gave her the most charming smile she’d ever seen.
    “Fine. Tell me you don’t want to be mine.”
    “Touché,” she murmured, wriggling from his grasp.
    “What does that mean?”
    Taylor cuddled up against his chest. “It’s French for ‘I give up’.”
    Alder pulled the furs up, covering her to her shoulders. She lay in his arms, wishing she could slow her brain down and just enjoy the moment.
    “I’ve never been in a serious relationship before,” she said against his chest. “Have you?”
    “Yes.”
    It wasn’t the answer she’d wanted to hear and she had to remind herself yet again that Alder didn’t start existing when she met him. A man like him would have no shortage of women vying for his affection. An image of Beka floated across her mind, but she brushed it away.
    “Did you love her?” she asked.
    “Isn’t that what it means to be in a ‘serious relationship’?” His tone was conversational and she hoped that meant that whatever relationship he’d had, it was long in the past.
    Another thought came to her, and she blurted it out before thinking. “Wait, you don’t love me, right?”
    He chuckled. “I’m not touching that question, Taylor.”
    That was definitely for the best.
    She moved to get closer to him, frowning when she felt an uncomfortable wetness between her thighs. Then, something else occurred to her.
    “Alder?”
    “Hm?” His voice sounded muffled, and she looked up to see him resting against the furs, his eyes closed.
    “I’m not on the pill or anything.”
    Yet another thing that would have been good to mention before having sex. She was on a roll tonight.
    His eyes stayed closed. “What pill?”
    “Birth control,” she said. “We didn’t use any protection.”
    “You can’t get pregnant right now,” he told her.
    “How do you know that?”
    He opened one gold eye. “We can smell when females are fertile.”
    “Oh, that’s a relief,” she said, turning her head back into his chest.
    After a few minutes, tiredness overcame her racing mind and she fell asleep in his arms.
----
    T he only thing Alder wanted more than to go to sleep beside Taylor was to couple with her again. She had only just fallen asleep and he was already stiffening again. He could smell his scent bleeding into hers and it made him crave her even more.
    His mate.
    The mere act of coupling didn’t make them mates, but in a few weeks, or maybe even days, she would be fertile, and then he would stake his claim. In the meantime, he would have to figure out how to convince her that he was worthy of siring her pups. That would be no small task.
    It would, however,