Surrender To Me (Wolf Hotel, #4)

by Nina West

“He was supposed to die of cancer, not while fucking a twenty-five-year-old,”

“I’m sorry for your loss.” His eyes shift to Henry. He isn’t so adept at hiding the anger in them as his brother. “You son of a bitch.” “Now, now....” “You have the nerve to bring your whore to his funeral?” All amusement slips from Henry’s face. “Call her that again, and you’ll be joining Dad in that box,” he warns, ice in his tone. But Scott isn’t so easily deterred. “You lied right to his face about fucking her.” “I told him about Abbi before he died. My conscience is clean. How’s yours?”

“Are you fucking kidding me? The nerve!” I blurt out, a touch too loud. “Well... you have Miles, so... you’re good. You don’t need another assistant.”

“I do have Miles,” Henry agrees, taking another long sip. I can’t read his tone, and that makes my paranoia begin to grow. I drop my voice to remind him, “And she accused you of rape.” “She did,” he says too calmly.

“I don’t need a new assistant, and she accused me of rape, and I know you wouldn’t be okay with it, so, no, there’s no way in hell Kiera’s coming back to Wolf in any capacity.” “Oh.” I breathe a sigh of relief. “You handled her well.” “I humored her to get her the hell away from me. I wasn’t going to cause a scene here.” His lips curve into a sexy curve. “You, on the other hand.... I thought you were going to claw her eyes out.”

Henry grins, the first real amusement I’ve seen on his face in days. “You sure you don’t want your job back?” “I’m positive. The boss can be a real tyrant.” “A tyrant.” He leans in closer to me, and drops his voice. “Tell me... what kinds of things did he make you do?”

After a moment of awkwardness, she turns to me and holds a hand out. “I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name earlier.” “Um....” I glance at Henry’s stony face. “It’s Abbi Mitchell.” “Hi Abbi. I’m Crystal McGuire.” She meets Henry’s gaze. “I’m Henry’s mother.”

“I thought you missed feeling me inside you,” he whispers, his eyes at least showing a flare of heat now as they focus on my breasts, as he adjusts his hips. “I do.” He closes his eyes and lets his head fall back. “Well then, here I am, inside you. So, let’s fuck.” This isn’t my Henry, but this is the Henry I get right now—one that’s hurting over the death of his father and the surprise visit by his mother. The closed-off Henry.

“But what do you want?” “I want you to experience enough to know what you want. So you never have any regrets later in life.” “I already know what I want. You. Only you, Henry. Always.”

“What are you doing?” “Reminding myself what’s important.” “My underwear is important?” “No. You. You’re important,” he murmurs, smoothing my hair off my face. “Giving you what you need is important. Keeping you happy.” My heart swells. “I’m happy as long as you’re in my life, Henry.”

“You don’t know him. You left him when he was eleven years old.” “You don’t think Henry’s cold? Hurtful?” Her blue eyes shift from her own reflection to mine. I see the challenge to deny it in them. “When the person deserves it.”

“He’s also passionate and caring, and thoughtful. And honest. And he has more integrity than anyone I’ve ever met.”

“And he’ll never make you his priority. I hope you realize that.” She smooths another coat of lipstick over her lips. “Take it from me, you will find yourself gravely disappointed otherwise.” “I don’t expect to be his priority. I just want to be in his life. I just want to be able to love him and have him love me. Something you’re clearly incapable of, because it sounds like the only person you’ve ever made an effort to love is yourself. And maybe you’re right and Henry is just like his father. But I’m nothing like you. I’m not with him for his money or his power. He could give it all away tomorrow and work on my farm, and I’d be just as happy.”

“Or he could keep working day and night for Wolf. I’d never ask him not to, because I know how important his family’s business is to him and I admire his passion for it. And I don’t expect to be the most important thing in his life, or that he gives me all of his time. I already know that I won’t get that, and I’m okay with it. And I can’t wait to have children.”

“Lots of children. Not because I want to control Henry with them, but so I can listen to them laugh and hold them when they cry, and love them. I want to make them feel like they’re the most important people in the world, because they are. I will give everything, sacrifice everything for them, and for Henry because I’m so madly, deeply in love with him.”

I don’t want to spend any more days without him. I would die if anything ever happened to him. Is it even healthy to feel this way about another human? I can’t say for sure, but it’s the truth. And I can’t keep it in anymore. “I love you.”

“I can’t remember the last time I used those words. With anyone.” I run my hands through his thick mane, pushing the strands that have fallen forward back off his face. “But you can feel them, right?” His long lashes flutter with each blink. “Every damn day.”

“We met the estate lawyers today, to read my dad’s will. There were some surprises.” “But I thought it was going to be straightforward.” “So did I.” Henry pauses, studying the drink in his fingers for a long moment. “My dad left me everything.” My mouth drops open. “Well, not everything. He gave Scott the house in Cape Cod. But he left his last shares of Wolf Hotels to me, and Wolf Gold, plus all of his investments and the rest of his assets.” “Wow. That’s... a lot.” Henry’s in shock, I realize. “You have no idea.” “I really have no idea,” I agree. “So that’s why Scott hit you.”

“Did your dad give any explanation?” “He did. He wrote a letter, stating his reasons, that the lawyer read out loud.” Henry takes another sip of his drink, winces again. “Scott isn’t his son.”

“Yeah. It’s all in the letter. That’s when all kinds of truths came out and he started wondering about Scott. He looks nothing like a Wolf. So he kicked her out and we were sent off to boarding school. My dad agreed not to pursue legal action as long as she left. He didn’t want it getting out in the press. And he agreed to raise Scott as his own, to call him a Wolf. He figured Scott shouldn’t be punished for what my mother did.”

“It’s all beginning to make sense now.... Why my grandparents gave me all of their land; why my dad insisted that I run Wolf Hotels. Why he didn’t wait to give me the hotel, but he held on to controlling shares of the mine. It wasn’t just because I’m the more capable one or because I was the one who truly appreciates Alaska. It’s because I’m a true Wolf and Scott isn’t.”

“Sounds like you need to find people you trust, too.” “I don’t trust anyone.” I stifle my eye roll as I pull my legs up onto the couch, getting comfortable. “You trust Belinda. You’re sending her to Barcelona.” “Yeah, she knows what she’s doing,” he admits, reluctantly. “I’ll bet there’s at least a few more of her working for Wolf. People you pay a lot of money to, so they can do things like... oh, I don’t know... run hotels.” He mock frowns. “Are you telling me how to run a multibillion-dollar company, Abigail Mitchell?” “Me?” I press my hands to my chest. “I would never even attempt to do that. I’m just here to look pretty.”

“So what do you want to do?” “Not think.” He reaches for the TV remote, his calloused hand smoothing over my bare knee as he hits the power button. “Watch the ball game, call for pizza, and fuck you right here, on this couch.”

“You trust me, right?” “Right.” “And I trust Margo. If she’s helping you, it’s because she believes in your product line and she thinks you have something people will want. And because she likes you.” Tossing his toiletries kit in, he tugs on the zipper of his suitcase. “She is one of the most honest and transparent people you will ever meet. Take her advice and her help, and run with it. She’ll get you set up. Call me before you make any big decisions and don’t sign anything without passing it through my legal team, but otherwise you’re in good hands. She’ll get your business off the ground better than I could.”

“Why does it matter so much to you, anyway?” He sighs, almost with exasperation. “I’ve already told you why. Because I want you to have something in your life that’s yours, that you can feel proud of.”

“I might need to borrow a suitcase from you, just to get all this home. I didn’t realize how much clothing I bought.” “They’re in the hallway closet.” Henry is halfway out the bedroom door when he stops, frowns. “Why don’t you just leave it here? There should be some room on the left side of my closet.” “Really?” “Yeah. You shouldn’t be living out of a suitcase when you’re in New York, anyway.” He regards me carefully. “Leave whatever you want. Toothbrush, razor... whatever.”

He chuckles. “I thought you were looking into correspondence?” “I have. I’m starting two courses next week. Jed’s taking them with me. We can study together.” “Great.” Henry glowers. “Make sure Fuckface doesn’t get any ideas.” “Don’t forget that Fuckface is the reason I was able to go to France with you.” “Because your mother wouldn’t let me hire help for the farm.”

“I’m madly in love with you, Henry Wolf. I can’t stop thinking about you. Wanting you. Needing you. Every part of you.”

“Why the fuck would you wear tight jeans to see me?”

“Dresses, Abbi. Skirts. Make it easy for me.”

“I thought you weren’t in the mood,” I mock, looking down to see his hard length jutting out. He hooks his arms under my knees and hoists my legs back, testing my flexibility as he opens me up to him. “I changed my mind.”

“I had you in France, whenever and however I wanted you, and then in New York, and then nothing for almost three goddamn weeks! I don’t like it,”

“I’m done with this long-distance shit. I’m done with phone calls and texting, and watching you touch yourself over a fucking tiny screen.”

“We need to figure out another plan, because I can’t take this anymore.” “Sure. Whatever,”

“God, I hope no one came up those stairs,” I mutter, the embarrassment of Jack and Miles hearing any of that burning my cheeks. “I told them not to step foot on here until I signalled that they could, or they’d be looking for new jobs,”

“Did you mean all that before? About being done with the phoning and texting and—” “Ignore me. I’ll be fine.” “Are you sure?” The last thing I want is for Henry to decide this isn’t worth it anymore. That he’d rather find a woman who’s free to follow him around the world. To be there whenever, wherever he needs her.

“Did you get any grief for coming out to see me?” “No, oddly enough. Mama’s been a lot better lately. I think she might be coming around.”

I frown, eying the empty golf carts. “Where are the other.... I mean, did anyone else bring their wife or girlfriend... or whatever here?” How does Henry classify me, exactly? We’ve never talked labels, and the last time we had the relationship talk, it was, “let’s see where things go.”

“Am I dressed appropriately?” “You’re with me. You can wear whatever the fuck you want.”

“How are you feeling today?” “Still a little sore,” I admit. “Hmmm... I’m sorry about that.” “Are you?” “Depends.” His lips twitch. “Will I be able to fuck you tonight?” I keep my voice light and indifferent, even as I feel his words right between my legs. “Probably not until tomorrow. Or even the next day. I guess we’ll see how I feel.”

“Do you really want to play this game, Abbi?” “Maybe.” He reaches over to slip his hand beneath my skirt, settling it between my thighs, inches away from my panties. “You’ll break long before I do.” “I think you’re wrong.”

“For how much?” Henry sucks back half a bottle of water, his throat bobbing with each swallow. A thin sheen of sweat coats his forehead. “Fifty G’s.” “As in fifty thousand dollars?” I shake my head. I don’t know why I’m still surprised by how these guys throw their money around. “Relax. It all goes to charity. Loser pays out of their personal account, in addition to whatever their company is already sponsoring.” I guess that’s at least noble. “And I take it you’re winning?” “Of course I’m winning.”

“So, what aren’t you good at?” “Nothing.” I roll my eyes. “Come on. There has to be something. Tell me.” His lips twist with amusement. “Maybe one thing.” “And what’s that?” He tosses another stone over the water. Six skips this time. “Relationships, according to every woman who’s ever tried to pin me down.” “I think you’re doing okay.” Though his words give me pause. Is that a warning to me not to try? “Do you, really?”

“I have a home, but I’m hardly there. You see me a day or two at a time, and have to drop everything in order to do it. I work from the moment my eyes open until they close, and that will never change, Abbi. I am who I am. I enjoy who I am, and my life.” “I know that. I’m okay with it.” “You may think that now. But one day you won’t be.” “You can’t know that.” “I’m never wrong.” “You are about this,”

“My mother couldn’t handle it.” “I’m not her, Henry. She is a horrible, selfish woman who thought she could change him. She wanted to control him. I don’t want to change or control you. I love you just the way you are.”

“I know you’re not her, Abbi,” he says softly. “You could stand to be a bit more selfish. People walk all over you because of it. I walk all over you because of it.” “No, you don’t—” “I wanted you in Barcelona. I wanted to phone and demand that you fly out to be with me, to sleep beside me at night. I was going to guilt you into dropping your family and your life and come to me, even though I knew what a difficulty that would be for you. That is the definition of selfishness.”

“But you didn’t do it.” “No, I didn’t,” he admits. “But I wanted to.” “And I would have come, happily. Because I wanted to sleep beside you at night.” “Is that the life you want, though? Chasing me around the world to ...

“I’m not used to feeling this way. Of wanting someone this much. You’ve brought something to my life that I didn’t even realize was missing.”

“I’m getting the signal.” Henry gives his mouth a wipe with his napkin and then reaches under the table to lightly squeeze my knee. “You good?” “Yes. Of course. I’ll just be thinking about how best to collect my winnings.” I smile sweetly at him. He leans in to whisper against my ear, “Just remember, I have much darker proclivities than you do and many ways to exact revenge.”

“You just said you were going to kill him in front of four people, plus whoever else heard. You can’t go in there, and you’re smart enough to know you can’t, so stop being stupid and let Dyson and the police do their jobs! Do not throw your entire life away because of what he might have done!”