He let his eyes flash wolf, communicating directly with Jaime’s wolf. Little by little, the tension left Jaime’s body, and he knew her wolf was calming. “Better, baby?”

“If you like your wrist attached to your arm, you might want to release me.” He smiled at that. Even if he could get her wolf always to instantly submit with the dominant move, which was terribly unlikely, he would never get Jaime to do it. Placing his free hand beside her head, he leaned over and nipped her mouth. “You like it when I hold you like this.” Okay, yeah, she did, Jaime could admit to herself. But admit it to Popeye? Not a chance. She snorted derisively. “It’s cute that you really believe that.” He smiled against her mouth before claiming it with his own. She went lax, giving him what she knew he wanted and smiling at the sound of his groan. Then, in a move he’d only recently taught her, she flipped him onto his back and straddled him. “You dropped your guard. Tut, tut, tut.”

Grinning lopsidedly, he shaped her waist with his hands. “It’s a habit with you. How can I not get distracted by this delectable body that’s all mine? Seeing it all hot and sweaty is the highlight of my day.”

“I can say the same about you.” She would actually be disappointed when the training was over. At present, she was guaranteed to spend a few hours alone with him each day. The guy worked practically all day, every day. As such, sometimes these few hours were the only quality time they managed to have. She still saw him at mealtimes, but they were surrounded by the rest of the pack and he was still in Beta mode then, so it wasn’t the same.

She understood that he had a lot of responsibilities, and she was proud of him. But was it such a bad thing that she missed him when he was gone? In fact, she missed him when he was there, because even when he was with her, he wasn’t always completely there. His mind could sometimes be on things he needed to do or hadn’t done, and his cell phone was like a hotline.

Although she had been prepared for it, she hadn’t really realized until recently just how much of an effect his dedication to his job would have on their relationship. She’d hoped to teach him how to find a work/play balance, but it was proving difficult. Why? Two reasons. One, Dante didn’t seem to think the lack of a balance was a problem. Two, she had realized that, on a subconscious level, he didn’t want to find that balance.

It had taken her a little time to figure out why, but eventually she’d deduced that Dante actually had intimacy issues. Not sexually, but emotionally. It wasn’t really such a surprise, considering that the woman he had loved and imprinted with had betrayed him. But it was difficult to know that the person she cared about avoided any chance of feeling the same, even if it wasn’t on a conscious level.

Mattering to him wasn’t the same as him caring about her. Knowing that she was second in his life was hard, particularly because he came first to her.

“So how will you be spending your evening?” he asked.

“I have a poker game to go to.”

“Poker, huh?” He smiled, knowing she’d win simply because she hated to lose. Even when she lost, she didn’t count it. “Who’s playing?”

“Me, Shaya, Gabe, and Dominic.”

“Dominic,” he echoed with a snap of his teeth. “He spends a little too much time with you for my liking.”

She ignored his odd tone. “Friends tend to do stuff together.”

“Yeah, and ‘stuff’ is fine when it isn’t a guy flirting with you all night.”

“If you could call it flirting,” she said with a snort. “Dominic would never trespass, and you know it.”

He did know it, but it still pissed him off that while he was away from her she was with that pervert, who would happily make moves on her if the path was clear. Okay, it was more that he was jealous that he couldn’t spend as much time with her as Dominic could.

“You could come to the game, too.”

“I can’t, baby. I—”

She held up her hand. “You don’t have to explain. I know you’re busy. It was just a thought.” The more understanding she was, the worse he felt whenever he disappointed her. “It’s Josh’s birthday party tomorrow. We could go if you want.” No doubt it would be a big event, since Josh had recently taken over as Alpha of the Bjorn Pack after the death of Trey’s uncle.

“I wouldn’t have thought you cared.”

He shrugged, smoothing his hands up and down her thighs. “Being honest, I’m not particularly interested in rebuilding my relationship with him. Too much has gone on for that to be possible. Plus, he actively encouraged Trey’s banishment. But I’ve heard that his mate’s pregnant. Maybe it would be a good idea to shove all our shit aside. I’d like to know my niece or nephew.” Oh, he was just way too cute. Not many people would be able to put aside the kind of crappiness that existed between him and Josh. Jaime doubted that she could’ve. Although Josh had really only followed Blane’s example, it was no excuse, in her opinion. He had his own mind, his own will, and he should have used it. He should have protected his baby brother. “Any opportunity I can find to spend some time with you, I’ll take.”

Although she’d said it with a smile, Dante had sensed the slight sadness there. He sat upright and folded his arms around her. “I know we don’t get much—”

“This is your job, I get that.”

Dante sensed her melancholy and sighed inwardly. He wondered if she had any idea just how much she’d changed him over these past few weeks. Before her, there were times when he’d gone almost three days without sleep or with just a brief nap in his office chair. Now every night he went back to his room, because he knew she’d be there when he did. Welcoming him, holding him, giving him attitude, and making him laugh.

She also drove him insane. He could never find a damn thing in that room among all that clutter. The number of times he’d tripped over one of her shoes and nearly broken his neck was unreal. She’d jumbled his neat and orderly room just as much as she had his neat and orderly life. For the first time, he’d wondered if maybe his life had been too orderly—or dull, as Jaime liked to think of it. She brought color to his black-and-white world. If someone had told him before now that he would like to complicate his predictable world, he’d have snorted.

The sound of his cell phone beeping snatched him from his thoughts. He reached over to his jacket, which was on the ground beside Jaime’s, and dug out his cell. Seeing that he had a text message from Trey summoning him to his office, he gave her an apologetic smile. “Training’s over for today, baby.”