Operation Saving Daniel (Entangled Covet) by Nina Croft Page B

raging hard-on from the memories at least once a week. In the past, he’d tried to tell himself that it was because she was his first. Everyone remembered their first. But he knew it was more than that. The wolves had a legend that everyone had a true mate, though most never found them, some found them and lost them…
    He peered into her face. She was blinking. Oh God, she was going to cry again. Then he remembered it hadn’t been real the last time. Still, he needed to answer her question.
    “More experienced than you,” he settled on. He couldn’t believe he was talking about sex with Sophia to Lissa. It seemed a little surreal. Especially considering he was making the whole thing up. He’d never had sex with Sophia and God forbid he ever would.
    Her gaze flashed back to his. “I’m more experienced now.”
    A jolt of rage and jealousy shot through him. Inside him, his wolf howled—he wasn’t happy about the idea either.
    That night, she’d said she wasn’t a virgin, but she’d been sweet and innocent and he’d gotten the distinct impression that it was very new to her, that they were discovering pleasure together.
    “You said you weren’t a virgin—”
    “Did I? Of course I’m not a virgin. I am twenty-eight, and anyway you know I’m not—I slept with you.”
    “I meant that night on my twentieth birthday. You said you weren’t a virgin. Who had you been with?”
    She regarded him suspiciously. “Are you taking advantage of the fact that I am slightly inebriated to find out all my deep dark secrets?”
    “Do you have lots?”
    “No. That’s sad isn’t it?”
    “So who’s this guy you slept with before me?”
    “You remember your mother employed someone to clear the back garden the summer I was seventeen?”
    Daniel searched his memory.
    “That dickhead?” He couldn’t remember but he’d bet the guy had been a dickhead. Though really Daniel was quite aware that he wasn’t going to like whoever it had been.
    “He wasn’t a dickhead. He was a student.”
    “Did you seduce him as well?”
    “No, he seduced me.” She grinned. “But I let him. I was curious and he was sort of hot.”
    Not something he wanted to hear. He tried to remember the boy, but he’d been away most of that summer, and he came up blank.
    “Was he better than me?”
    “No he wasn’t. No one has ever been better than you.” She sounded mournful and it so mirrored his own thoughts earlier.
    “So you’ve tried a few?”
    “One or two.” She peered at him closely while swaying on the stool. “Why are you asking?” Something must have occurred to her, something good if her expression was anything to go by. “Are you jealous?”
    He didn’t answer, because she really didn’t need to know how jealous he was. But he had no right to be jealous. She wasn’t his to be jealous of.
    When he didn’t reply, she pushed herself off the stool and wobbled toward him. He thought he should back off but he was leaning against the counter and had nowhere to go. She stopped only inches from him and her sweet perfume drifted into his nostrils. He closed his eyes for a second, but she was still there when he opened them. Resting one palm flat on his chest, she gazed up into his face.
    “You don’t have to be jealous,” she said. “There’s absolutely nothing to be jealous of—I’ve never really wanted anyone but you.”
    Her eyes widened as though she couldn’t believe she had said that. He couldn’t believe it, either.
    “Oh God,” she said.
    “What is it?”
    “I feel a little…woozy.”
    Then her eyes fluttered closed, and she fainted. He caught her as her legs gave way and scooped her up in his arms. For long seconds, he stood with her clasped against his chest. Her eyes remained shut but the pulse beat rapidly under the skin of her throat. She felt right in his arms, too right, and he headed for the stairs.
    When he got to the top, he paused. He didn’t know which way to go, but a door opened across the