Free Dakota's Claim by Jenika Snow

knew members of the club talked about shit like that, even when
there was not anything to really talk about. But given the way Dakota was
jealous over even some strange guy just looking at her from across the pizza place, it was safe to say something like this would
make him even more territorial.
    Dakota
stared at her for a second, his blue eyes seeming especially bright right now.
He exhaled loudly and ran a hand over his short dark hair. “No, that’s a lie.
I’m not good.” He glanced behind him again and stared at the guys. She followed
his gaze, watched as Marcus was leaning against the To Go counter flirting with the cashier, and how Gabriel and Link
were swearing and talking loudly. But no one in the restaurant would say
anything to them, or dare toss them out. This was River Run, Brothers of Menace
territory, and the club had a wicked reputation here.
    “You
know about me going out with Gabriel and the kiss, don’t you?” She wasn’t going
to explain herself, because the truth was whatever she had done, even if it hadn’t
been more than friends going out on her part, had
happened before she and Dakota had even been in this place in their lives. But
she could tell him how she had felt.
    He
clenched his jaw, removed his hands from the top of the table, and leaned back.
“Yeah, I heard that he went out with you, kissed you, too. And although you and
I weren’t anything then, I still wanted you, still fucking loved you, and that
shit pissed me off.”
    She
licked her lips and flicked her gaze to the guys again. “We are just friends. I
don’t feel anything more for Gabriel,” she looked back at Dakota, “or any other
male for that matter.” Tawny gave him a smile, because right now she hoped any
little act of emotion she gave him or said would lessen his jealousy. This kind
of emotion from a man might be too intense for a woman, even seem crazy and
overly possessive. But if they had never grown up in either an MC, or around
shifter males, they would never fully understand that yes, the men were
intense, but they had to be like that. It was not only the way they lived,
survived, but also an act of how much they cared, of what they would do for
their families and the women they loved.
    “Come
on, let’s get out of here and go some place where we can talk in private.” She
was thinking thoughts that had nothing to do with talking, and maybe that need
was shown on her face because the expression Dakota gave her was pretty damn
powerful. The heat that came off of his body, and the fact her bear picked up
on the scent of his rising arousal and his lessening rage told her this male
was hers. They hadn’t really spoken a whole lot about what they wanted with
each other, but they didn’t need to. Saying they cared, loved each other even,
was enough for both of them.
    The
truth was she didn’t want to talk. She wanted him to take her away from here,
strip her naked, and show her with his body how much he really did want her.
She was a twenty-one year old virgin, had been waiting for this moment her
entire life, and this male was the one she wanted to give her innocence to.
    He
leaned forward, cupped her chin in his hand, and stared at her lips. “Talk,
baby?” he said and lifted a dark eyebrow. He was aroused, she could smell it,
and she knew that his dick was probably hard right beneath his fly. She
certainly was wet enough that her panties were soaked clean through.
    “Or
other things,” she said in an equally low voice. Everything else faded away
except her and Dakota. “I just want to be alone with you, without all these
people watching, without drunken MC members and other guys making this animal
inside of you want to rip off heads.” She smirked, knowing maybe she shouldn’t
have been aroused by the fact Dakota wanted to inflict bodily injury on other
guys for even looking at her, but she was a woman, and it did turn her on. He
was just so … male.
    He
didn’t respond, just moved out of the