Series: Werewolves of Wall Street Series by Renee Rose
Total pages in book: 62
Estimated words: 59360 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 297(@200wpm)___ 237(@250wpm)___ 198(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 59360 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 297(@200wpm)___ 237(@250wpm)___ 198(@300wpm)
“I…I’m not sure this is a problem I can solve.”
Aubrey scoffs. “Do not sell yourself short. You’re Madison-fucking-Evans. You already brought this crypto billionaire to his knees. Now make it work!”
I smile.
“Seriously. You’re on a Greek Island. Please go live it up. Have great sex. Enjoy the scenery. Make him give you your job back with another raise. This is your oyster. Pry it open and take your pearl.”
I laugh. “You’re waxing poetic today.”
“I’m a little jealous. Not that I’d want a rich dude to jet me off to an island, but it seems like you’re being rewarded for a lifetime of hard work and proving yourself worthy. So drink it up!”
My chest feels lighter. “I will. You’re right. I’m probably just tired from the jetlag. Thank you for talking me off the ledge.”
“Any time. Also, I love you. But I gotta run. Call me if you need to!”
“Love you–bye!”
I end the call just as Brick walks in through the door.
“Ready, love?” He holds a hand out to me. It’s shocking how giddy and breathless I get hearing him call me love. “I think you’re going to like the dinner I have planned for you.”
Brick
I lead Madi down the beach to the place where I had the staff set up a table for two, surrounded by blazing torches that light the table and keep Madi warm and reflect fire on the water.
“This is lovely. Thank you.”
Madi’s eyes are warm as I pull out her chair to seat her. There’s something softer about her–like whatever she was bracing against has been removed.
If only I knew what it was.
“This sure beats New York in December.”
“It does.” I uncork the wine and pour us each a glass.
Madi’s skin glows in the light of the setting sun and the glow of the torches. I want to forgo dinner and devour her again.
“Did you book this entire place?”
“I own it. So yes. This way I can fully focus on you.” And have you close by and protected when I go to the pack games.
One of the staff brings out our salad plates–traditional Greek salad with the most perfect sheep feta ever created.
Madi devours it, pleasing my wolf.
The next few courses consist of more Greek cuisine–fresh-caught and grilled sea bass, dolmades, rice, and the light, flaky baklava for dessert.
“I got you something.” I pull a small jewelry box from my pocket.
“Oh.” Madi’s eyes round as she splits a glance between the box and my face.
“I made a mistake denying what you meant to me. I went mad. I didn’t have a chance to…propose before I marked you for life.”
“Propose.” She sounds stunned. This isn’t quite the moony-eyed reaction I was hoping for.
“Claiming you was the shifter form of a proposal, but I should have given you this first.” I crack the box open.
Inside is a giant baguette cut rectangular emerald, surrounded by tiny diamonds that continue around the length of the slender band.
Madi stares at it but makes no move to take the box.
I pry it from the container and reach for her hand.
She pulls her fingers away. “Hang on. Brick, the reason you didn’t propose before is because we were nowhere near that level in our relationship. Just because you marked me doesn’t mean we just skip ahead to marriage.”
Damn. Clearly Madi doesn’t understand that I’m way past marriage. She’s mine. I’m hers. There’s no other option for us, except the miserable form of anti-mating my parents lived out, which I’m not willing to reenact.
But she’s human. She has no idea what the marking means. And if I look through her eyes, I can see that I jumped the gun with this ring. I’m anxious to seal the deal with Madi and floundering.
“Okay.” I put the ring back in the box and pocket it. “I’ll make you a deal.”
The corners of her lips tick up. My beautiful mate loves a challenge. “What deal?”
“You run from me. I’ll chase. If I catch you, you wear the ring. It doesn’t have to be an engagement ring. We’ll call it a late Christmas gift.”
Madi downs the rest of her wine. “Do you mean run and chase literally or figuratively?”
I arch a brow. “Run, Madi.”
“Now?” She slides her chair back in the sand.
“I’ll give you three minutes’ head start. Then I’ll be on the hunt–and you’ll be my prey.”
Madi bolts from her chair and runs barefoot down the darkened beach, her flip flops left in the sand under the table.
I close my eyes, savoring the vibration of my wolf readying for the hunt. Knowing that I will catch my mate, that I will master her, and that she will love every minute of it heightens the experience. I remain perfectly still, listening to the waves crash against the shore, drowning out the fading sound of Madi’s foot falls.
I wait until she’s had ample time to put distance between us. Perhaps to hide.