by Sara Summers
Turning on some music to distract me from his attention, I started with my makeup. It took a few extra minutes to do a full-faced look for a black-tie event like the gala we’d be going to, but it was so worth the time.
I curled my hair loosely, so it would hang down my back, and then headed into my room to put the dress on. I was a pro at getting ready quickly so I still had about twenty minutes until it was time to go when I was done, but I had never been a fashionably-late kind of girl.
When I stepped into the bedroom, I came to a halt in the doorway. My mountain man was buttoning a pair of slacks. He was barefooted and shirtless, and he was facing me.
My immediate reaction would’ve been to run my hands up and down the muscles on his chest and abs, to watch his body tense in response to my touch, to let my hands wander…
I forced the thought out of my mind and instead, folded my arms. His eyes landed on my chest as I did, and I felt my face begin to warm.
Luckily, I was wearing a lot of makeup, so he had no idea I was blushing.
“This is my room, remember?” I glared at him.
I was trying to force myself to be furious with him so I wouldn’t walk over there and unbutton the pants he’d just barely buttoned.
My mountain man grabbed his white dress shirt off of the bed and pulled on one sleeve at a time.
“Soulmates live together.” Was his only response.
“Well I’m not doing that, so get out.” I gestured over my shoulder and stepped further into the room.
He started buttoning the dress shirt, and I had to force myself to look away.
No man had ever made me feel so out of control before. Part of me hated that, but part of me loved it.
“Why would you be afraid to share a bed, Quinn? We both know you’ve slept with a lot of men. Why would this be any different to you?”
Why would it be any different? Was he serious?
That part of me that wanted kiss him vanished in an instant, replaced with real anger this time.
“This is my life, mountain man. My life. You can’t just walk in and insist that we’re supposed to be together and expect me to be okay with it. I like my life, I like having freedom. I like sleeping around and doing whatever I want. I’m not sharing a bed with you because I’m not in a relationship with you, nor do I want to be. I’m not attracted to you, and I never will be.”
Was everything I said true? No.
Not even close.
But I had to say something, and I was pissed enough to sell it as the truth. Or at least, I thought I was until my mountain man said,
“Are you done?”
My entire body flushed.
“Excuse me?” I was shaking with fury.
“We both know that everything you just said was a lie, Quinn. There’s something in your life so painful that you’re trying to dull it with alcohol and sex, and it’s not working. I’ve seen the look in your eyes when I say something about respecting you, and the way your body reacts to mine. You might not want to be attracted to me, but you are, and you do want to be with me even if you don’t understand it.”
His words scared me because they were true. I’d known everything he said before he said it, but the fact that he knew it? That was terrifying.
I clenched my hands into fists so he wouldn’t see them shaking, and then I swore at him.
“You don’t know anything about me.” There was no way to hide the quiver in my voice.
“I don’t.” he agreed. “But I do know that we’re soulmates. Two halves of one soul, two people who are meant to complete each other. I know that I’ve felt like I was missing something since I was a twelve-year-old kid, and that standing here in front of you, even though you’re cussing at me and telling me to leave, I feel complete for the first time in my life.”
I didn’t know what it was about his words that felt so true to me, but they did. They felt true. My mountain man being my missing piece, it felt real. But I still felt scared, and I didn’t want to feel that way.
Something inside me told me that if I was touching him, if I was in his arms, I wouldn’t feel so much like I was falling apart.
So I did the unthinkable.
I crossed the room and grabbed his mostly-unbuttoned dress shirt and yanked his body and mouth to mine.
When our lips met, he groaned, and we were so close with so little clothing separating us that I felt his chest rumble. His hands gripped my waist tightly, holding my body against his, and when I pushed my tongue into his mouth, he didn’t hesitate to let me in.
Our mouths moved as one and fireworks exploded inside me, lighting me up from the inside out. As we kissed, I felt myself come to life more than I had ever dreamed was possible. Until that moment, I may as well have been a corpse.
In my mountain man’s arms, with his hands gripping my body and warming me through my slip while our tongues tangled together, I felt like a different person than I’d ever been.
I felt like me. A me I’d never known before, one that I longed to get to know.
One that I longed to be.
His hand left my side and lifted to my neck. When his skin touched the marking underneath my ear, the one I only had because of him, I shuddered and closed my eyes. Emotions flooded through me, ones that didn’t belong to me but mirrored my own, with more intensity than I could’ve ever imagined.
I knew instantly what I was feeling, and that I was feeling exactly what Cody was feeling.
He wanted me almost more than he could take, and he cared about me. Not because of what I could do for him, but because of what I was to him. I was his world; the woman that made the earth spin for him. We’d only just met, but I already meant more to him than I could fathom.
I’d never cared about someone the way I felt that he cared about me, but I wanted to. I yearned to feel the way he did, to love someone so completely and so effortlessly and intensely. I wanted him to mean the way to me that I did to him.
And that was the most terrifying thing in the world.
But somehow, in his arms, I didn’t feel scared. I just felt cherished.
He moved his hand back down to my side, and I arched my body into his. He groaned again and pulled his mouth from mine.
When he met my gaze, the same intensity I’d felt from his emotions was thick in his eyes.
“I can’t be another one night stand to you, Quinn. We have to stop.”
I could tell how hard it was for him to say it.
“Alright.” I closed my eyes and stepped back, and then bit my swollen lip.
He closed the distance between us and crushed his lips to mine again. When I bit his lip, a growl vibrated through his chest.
I pulled away and stepped back again, and he let me go.
There it was—my chance to plant a seed of doubt in my mountain man. It was going to be so insanely difficult to convince him that he didn’t want to be with me. After that kiss, I had realized what an impossible feat I’d be trying to accomplish.
We were soulmates. My mountain man wasn’t just some guy, he was my guy. One that God had created just for me. One who could make me feel alive and real and loved in a way I hadn’t even known was possible.
How was I ever going to be able to get him to walk away?
More importantly, did I even want to?
My heart sank in my chest as I realized the truth. No, I didn’t want him to walk away. I wanted him to stay and to be with me. I wanted to know what about us was so perfect for each other that we were two halves of one whole.
But it wasn’t up to me to choose that. If I didn’t do whatever it took to get rid of him, the way I’d promised my father I would, my entire family would suffer the consequences. It wasn’t up to me to decide whether I wanted to be with my mountain man.
It was my responsibility to make him stop caring about me, and I would do whatever it took.
Even if it meant breaking my own heart.
Cody
“You growled at me.” Quinn folded
her arms across her chest, across the curves that had been pressed up against me only seconds earlier.
I tried to stop thinking about it long enough to stop myself from kissing her again, but it wasn’t anywhere near easy.
“I’m a wolf, Quinn. I do that.”
Her nose wrinkled like she was disgusted, and something inside me clenched. For the first time since I’d met her, I felt vulnerable. The beautiful, sassy blonde in front of me could do what almost no one else could.
She could hurt me.
“I’m not attracted to animals. Don’t do that again.”
Quinn’s words confused me. When she’d pulled away, she hadn’t looked revolted or upset or anything, that expression hadn’t come until later.
She tugged the dress she’d hung off the door of the bedroom and hurried toward the bathroom.
Something was up, and I wasn’t about to leave things like that between us after the incredible kiss we’d shared.
“Whoa, hold on.” I caught up to her and grabbed her arm. The expression in her eyes was a troubled one.
“Let go of me.” Her voice was even and controlled.
“As soon as you tell me what really happened back there, I will.” I matched her tone with a firm one of my own.
“I already told you.” She narrowed her eyes at me.
“We both know that’s BS. That wasn’t the first time I growled while we were making out, so if it was a turn-off, you would’ve pushed me away a long time ago.”
Quinn pushed her hair out of her face and huffed.
“I didn’t hear the other ones.”
“That’s BS.” I repeated and stepped closer to her, still holding her arm.
“Not to me.” She stared coldly at me, waiting for me to keep arguing.
I leaned down and put my nose near her neck. She smelled like me, which only made me want to pick up where we’d left off even more.
“That’s funny, because I wasn’t the only one who was growling.”
Her body shuddered and she looked up at me with pleading eyes.
“Stop.”
I let go of her arm and took a slow step away.
“I don’t want to—”
A knock at the front door cut off Quinn before she could say finish. She swore and looked at the clock, then back at me.
“That’s the driver. We’re already ten minutes late.” She grimaced. “Hurry up and put your clothes on.”
She closed the bathroom door in my face before I said anything else.
Shaking my head, I went back to finish getting dressed. Quinn wasn’t going to make things easy for me, but I was willing to put up a fight.
Quinn
Flustered.
That’s the only word to describe the person I’d become since I’d woken up that morning. My mountain man—whose name I still didn’t know—had me FLUSTERED, in all caps.
During the fifteen minute drive to the party, all I could think about was the way that man had kissed me. His lips moving with mine, the all-consuming feeling of possessiveness and rightness and being completely alive.
I knew I should’ve sat in the middle seat in the back of that car, but I’d been trying to be strong so I sat as far from him as I could get. The distance between us was like a heavy physical sensation that I despised. Everything in me wanted to be close to him, even if the only parts of us that touched were our legs.
When we got to the massive building in the middle of the forest, our car stopped behind a few others. I hadn’t had time to really get a good look at my mountain man since rushing out of the apartment, so when he pulled the door open for me, I took a sharp breath in.
That man, in that tuxedo…
Fiery attraction rushed through me. Good grief, was he trying to kill me?
“Your tie is crooked.” I whispered, accepting his hand to let him help me out of the car.
I stopped in front of him as the car pulled away and adjusted the black bowtie around his neck.
He hadn’t had time to get a good look at me in my dress either, and I noticed the way his eyes traveled up and down my body. They widened a fraction of an inch, and I bit back a smile.
The gray-lavender dress was one of the most gorgeous ones I’d ever worn. It was also the sexiest one I’d dared wear to a black-tie event. It was a two-piece dress, with the top made completely out of tight lace besides the v of the same-color bra that kept me decent. The bottom piece was soft and flowy and elegant, with a slit that came to the very top of the skirt and overlapped just enough to keep my lady parts covered.
It was a little risqué for the classy party we were going to, but I liked pushing against the mold a little every once in a while.
As much as I could without pissing off my dad, at least.
But hey, he was the one who was always reminding me that my body was my best asset. If it was I might as well use it to my advantage, right?
I took my mountain man’s arm and he led me in through the front doors. Though I knew where we were going because I’d been there a dozen times before, I let him lead. The flow of the rest of the guests was enough that he’d know where to go.
“Are you trying to get someone at this party killed?” He murmured, as we walked. I smiled at someone I knew as we passed them. Pushing away the fact that I’d had the exact same thought, I said through my fake smile,
“The only one I want to kill right now is you. You look ridiculous in this suit.”
“Sure I do. I noticed the way you reacted to me.”
I cursed my body but kept that smile plastered on my face.
He led me into the dinner room, and my gaze landed on my mom and dad. They were talking to the Childers, the couple whose son I was supposed to be getting engaged to in a few months. Travis, that son, was with them.
“Let’s dance.” I pulled my mountain man in the opposite direction, but not before my mom noticed me.
She called my name, and he turned toward her voice. I swore under my breath.
“Hi, mom.” I smiled and waved like I was thrilled to see her, and then reluctantly crossed the room with my shifter. “It’s good to see you, Mr. and Mrs. Childers.” I turned up the charm as I sent Travis a smile of his own. “You too, Travis.”
My mom’s gaze landed on the yummy mountain of a man whose arm I was holding.
“Well, who is this gentleman?” She feigned surprise for the Childers’ sake and held out her hand to my mountain man.
“Cody Burgandeau, Miss.” My mountain man shook her hand. The ‘miss’ seemed to have done its job perfectly, because my mom looked flattered.
Hearing his name—a normal, regular name—surprised me. It made him seem like less of a mountain and more of a man. That wasn’t a good thing, because he’d been more than enough man before I knew what to call him.
“I didn’t know you were bringing a plus-one, Quintessa.” My dad brought out my full name, and I barely managed not to wince.
“I wasn’t exactly planning on it.” I said, through that fake smile.
“Neither was I.” Cody turned his head to meet my gaze, and Mrs. Childers gasped.
“What is that on your neck?” She sounded horrified.
“A tattoo, I’m sure.” My mom tried to brush it off.
“Tattoos don’t sparkle like that, Julia.” Mrs. Childers protested. “And it’s in the same place a wolf shifter would have a marking. Are you a wolf shifter, Cody?”
Her eyes pierced into him.
“Yes ma’am, I am.” Cody nodded. He didn’t seem the least bit ashamed of what he was, despite the horror in Mrs. Childers’ eyes.
“Why are you holding him like that, Quintessa? Step away from the beast.” Mr. Childers reached out and took my hand, which was by my side. I felt Cody’s body go rigid, and I slipped my hand out of Mr. Childers’ before my soulmate did something to piss him off.
“With all due respect, it’s not politically accurate to call a shifter a beast, sir.” The words left my mouth before I had time to think them
through, and I felt my dad’s glare hit me like a ton of bricks.
“She means that she wouldn’t want anyone from the media to hear you say something that could get you negative attention.” My mother hurried to smooth over the tension. “We wouldn’t want to jeopardize your campaign with something as silly as a shifter.”
“Exactly.” I rushed to agree. “Cody and I only just found out that we’re soulmates, and we’re trying to figure out a way to separate peacefully.”
The expressions on everyone’s faces told me that definitely wasn’t the right thing to say.
“You’re soulmates?” Mrs. Childers’ horror went through the roof.
“When were you planning on telling us this?” Mr. Childers spun on my dad. “You said she would marry Travis.”
That really wasn’t the right thing to say.
I heard the low growl in Cody’s chest, and felt the way his muscles only tensed even more so than they’d been.
“Excuse me.” I apologized, before pulling Cody away from the group.
“When were you going to tell me that you’re engaged?” he snarled.
“Chill out, okay?” I let go of him and looked around, making sure there was no one nearby before I continued, much more quietly than before. “We’re not engaged, but we will be by the end of the year. It’s a political marriage, for the sake of both of our parents’ careers.”
“That’s the most insane thing I’ve ever heard.” He shook his head and started back toward the group we’d just left.
“More insane than God putting two people together and calling them soulmates?”
He spun to face me.
“Having a soulmate is a gift from the Creator, Quinn. A political marriage is basically making a joke of something that’s meant to be treasured, and I’m going to make it clear to Travis that you’re not on the market for something that dirty.”
Cody pulled his arm from mine and stormed off toward my parents and the Childers.
I met my mom’s panicked gaze from behind Cody, and she mouthed,
“Do something!”
My mind spun as I tried to think of an idea, fast. I could kiss him, the way I had in my apartment, but I knew that probably wouldn’t even phase him while he was so pissed. Grabbing him didn’t do anything, I’d already tested that.