Us chubby girls gotta highlight our…um, highlights?
Speaking of which, the shirt I’m wearing is one I bought a while ago but never had the courage to wear. As a result it’s a little too small up top and shows a good deal of cleavage due to my awesome bra. It’s a tight, short sleeved wrap shirt, and goes well with the dark skinny jeans I pulled out.
The sweater Rowan caught me in was my usual uniform at work. But that doesn’t mean I didn’t like to shop, didn’t like to try things on in my room and dream of a day when I had someone to wear them for. Now I have 10 someones to wear them for.
Lock looks down at my shoes. “You want tennis shoes, probably.”
“Hm, wouldn’t match my outfit,” I say, enjoying the click of my short, pointed heels as I go past him.
He gives me a good natured swat on the butt, and I turn around in shock, having never had a hot guy swat me on the butt before.
Still.
I glare at him and he’s immediately apologetic, putting his hand to the back of his neck and looking down in the shy way he has of looking abashed when I get the feeling he really isn’t.
“Sorry,” he says. “Habit.”
“Habit?” I frown. “Where?”
“Work. Nowhere.” He looks away from me. “I’m sorry, it won’t happen again. Lots of girls like it.”
“Well, I like men who ask before they get handsy.”
“Aw, but doesn’t that take the romance out of it?” he asks, winking at me.
I shake my head and lead the way downstairs. “Consent is always the most romantic.”
“What about for kisses? I thought women didn’t want men to ask them if they could kiss them.”
I purse my lips. “I’ll have to think about it. But for now, keep your hands off my ass.”
He nods and makes a mock salute that makes his soft, feathered hair swish. “Aye aye, ma’am.”
I grin, unable to stay mad at him. Lindon and Fifi are in the kitchen, and we slip out past them, but not without Fifi giving me a wink and a mocking little smirk. I narrow my eyes at him but follow Lock out the front door.
He walks to the garage, goes past it to a fenced off area, and opens the gate. “Ah, my beauty.”
“I thought I was your beauty,” I joke.
“Hm…” he runs his hand over the gleaming chrome. “Can I ride you?” he asks with a smirk.
Damn, I like this guy. Witty banter is always welcome.
“I don’t know,” I retort. “Depends if you can start my engine.”
His grin widens and he steps forward, helmet in hand. “Baby, I could make you purr.”
My mouth falls open and I just stand there staring, even as he sets a helmet in my hands and goes to the bike. He straddles it in one quick move and pulls out another helmet, which he puts on.
I eye the bike warily. I’ve never been on one of these things. What keeps us from falling over?
“Don’t worry,” he says. “I’ll take it easy if you’re new.”
My face tightens. This is my adventure, no one is taking anything easy. I pull the helmet on and get on behind him, wrapping my hands around his firm chest and narrow waist, wincing at how good he feels.
Calm down, girl. It’s just a motorcycle ride. “No going easy,” I say. “Take me for a ride, cowboy.”
He laughs and pulls the handle, making the engine roar to life. “Your wish is my command. Hold tight.”
I swallow, close my eyes, and hold on, linking both hands around his waist. He leans forward, helps me position my feet in the right places, and when I say I’m ready, we go.
First slowly, down the driveway, and when we turn to go up the road that curves up toward the hills behind the house, he hits the gas and we zoom out and away from the house.
The wind hitting us is amazing, completely different from being in a car, and it’s a little disorienting the way the bike forces you to lean when you hit curves.
Speaking of curves, it feels so right to have my arms around him like this. My soft chest pressed to the rock hard muscles of his back while I can feel his six pack even underneath his jacket. I kind of want to move up and feel his pecs, feel whatever I can while I have an excuse to, but I don’t dare let go, as we take another hairpin turn at a speed that feels incredible to me.
“Eep,” I say, as the bike leans, making me feel dangerously close to the ground.
“You’re safe,” he yells. “I got you.”
I smile and hold tight, knowing I can trust him. There’s just something about Lock. Maybe the way he calmed everything down in the bathroom, maybe that easy smile, or the way Lindon trusts him.
Regardless…I can seriously picture myself choosing this man.
At the same time, I remember our kiss, and that dominant flash in his eyes that makes me think there’s more to this man than his polite friendliness and humorous banter.
Like how he can make you melt inside when he kisses you.
We take another turn and I close my eyes, feeling slightly nervous, maybe even a little bit nauseated. I feel the bike slow down and look up to see that we’re in front of a fence where the road turns onto a dirt road.
Lock puts up the kick stand and gets off the bike, steadying me to make sure I’m okay, and opens the fence. He walks me and the bike through it, then shuts it behind us.
“Want to go off-road a little?” he asks.
I grin, trying to hide the queasiness. “Um…”
“I know you aren’t feeling too great. It’s all those stupid turns, since Lindon won’t let me take you on main roads.”
I nod.
“But that’s why we just gotta go a little further and I’ll have something nice to show you.”
I smile and nod, wrapping my arms around him again. No problem there. I love having an excuse to do it.
We stop again, not far from the fence, atop a rolling hill overlooking the mansion. There are mountains even further back, but this is high enough for now.
Lock gets off and puts a hand out for me, lifting me down from the motorcycle and catching me in his arms when I stumble.
Damn, alpha males are so wonderful. I brace myself on his forearms and look up at him. His light brown eyes are warm in the morning sun. He bites his full lower lip. It’s pigmented and goes nice with his tanned skin. I eye his lips.
“You know, I have no problem with us continuing from where we left off last night,” he says, grinning.
I give him an eye roll, though my body is tempted by the prospect. “You said Lindon can trust you.”
He shrugs. “He can, compared to the others.” He tugs me closer to him, a hand at my waist, making me feel small again, when I know I’m not.
“Don’t touch my fat,” I scoff, pulling at his hand. But he just digs in deeper, pulling me tight to him, chest to chest, hip to hip.
“I love your body,” he says. “I bet it’s soft all over.” He leans forward and smells my hair. “I knew you’d smell great in the morning air.” I take a breath to tell him to let me go before I lose my mind, and he whirls me in his arms so that my back is to his chest, both us of facing out down the hill.
I catch my breath at the beautiful sight before me. Bright sun glittering over the wet trees and grass, the forest in the distance and some pools of water catching the light, and the mansion beneath.
The light blue of the sky in the early morning. The cool air smelling like fresh mountain breezes.
“It does smell great up here,” I say, as he leans in to nuzzle my neck. His cinnamon-vanilla scent makes itself known as he comes close. I put my hand over my watch, teasing the button with one finger. I’m not planning to press it, just need something to do with my hands.
“Tell me to stop and I’ll stop,” he says.
“I can’t,” I say. “I’m afraid that’s completely beyond me at this moment.”
“I’ve been told I have that effect on women,” he says, his breath hot on my neck, sending a shiver of pleasure down my spine to somewhere in my
hip.
“Hm, have you?” I say, trying to keep my tone calm.
“Yup.” He nips the skin at my neck, his hands tighter around me. I can tell he’s getting more worked up inside, like I am. “And come on, I’m the first one you kissed. And you know I didn’t try that hard on the Q and A, so I didn’t earn it.”
“You didn’t try on purpose?”
“Baby, when I get a kiss, I don’t want it to be for a question I answered. I want it to be a feeling, a want, a desire.”
“So cheesy,” I say.
“I get that a lot too.”
“Let me guess, from Thor?” I say.
He laughs but doesn’t let me go. “Maybe.”
“You two are so different.”
“Not as different as you might think,” he says, nuzzling me again.
“What do you mean?”
I feel him cock his head to one side. “Well, people see me as the easy going one. But I can get very…unreasonable.” He turns to face me.
“Unreasonable like how?” I ask.
He ignores me. “And Thor, people see him as this stupid brute, and he kind of works to cultivate that image, because we were bullied so much as kids.”
“You were bullied?” I ask, looking up at him.
“We were orphans and alphas. A lot of people felt simultaneously threatened and annoyed by us. And some felt if they got rid of us, maybe they wouldn’t have to worry about us taking over the pack someday.”
“That’s awful,” I say. “I’m an orphan too.”
He brushes a stray piece of hair that escaped from my ponytail off my face. “That’s awful. I guess we have a lot in common.”
I nod. “I guess so.”
What happens next happens so fast I can barely see it happening. He sweeps a leg under mine, knocking me off balance, then catches my back with his hands and lowers me to the ground. Then he kneels over me, taut, muscled thighs on either side of me. A dominant position. He grins, baring a fang.
“Um, what are you doing?” I ask.
“I was tired of talking about sad things.” He leans forward, takes a long lick up my neck that leaves a trail of searing heat. “I’d rather do something more…pleasant.”
“Hey,” I say, tugging at his hair. “Stop it, you.”
He immediately stops, lifting his head, and my body screams at me for making him pull away. My neck begs me to reconsider, tries to persuade me how much it needs to be kissed.
But if I let things continue, there’s a chance they could get out of control here, then the alpha challenges will be over, and my heart isn’t sure what it wants yet. Even if I’m pretty sure any of these men could make me happy.
Lock sits back on his haunches. “I won’t do anything you don’t want. I won’t rush you. You can trust me.”
“I know,” I say.
Then we hear the engine of a powerful car, vrooming up and peeling to a sharp stop. A fence opening and closing, and then wheels on a dirt road. I try to peer over Lock’s shoulder to see what’s going on, but he looks back at me, just as confused, before turning to see who is coming.
Then a hand grabs him by the shoulder and yanks him off of me, throwing him to the side, where he rolls a couple of times and then comes to a halt, groaning.
“Shit, what the hell, Lindon?” Lock says. “I told you you could trust me.”
Lindon jabs a finger his direction. “I’d shut the hell up if I were you,” he says tersely.
His eyes are blazing, flashing like a white hot flame, as he looks me over with hands clenched into fists. “Are you alright? If you are, I’ll be back after I kill him.”
My eyes widen. “No, what’s going on? He didn’t do anything.”
Lindon give me a bewildered look. “Didn’t you press the button on your watch?” he asks.
I look down at it. It’s going off, the screen flashing. Dammit.
Chapter 3
Lindon puts his face in his hands, taking deep breaths to calm himself.
“Damnit, Misty. I thought…”
I squirm and look over at Lock, who’s rubbing his neck and brushing off the knees of his jeans, now covered with grass stains.
“I’ll pay for that,” I say. Lock just waves me off, like it’s no problem.
Lindon just sighs. “You don’t even…” he drags his hands down his face, pulling his face comically, and lets them drop at his side. “So, there was no reason for me to come out here?”
I look over at the car he drove out here to come to my rescue. A Jaguar. He must have similar taste to Rafe. I wonder what the third brother, Hawthorne, drives.
Lindon wipes sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand and just pants for a moment. “That’s it,” he says. “I can’t do this anymore. It’s giving me a freaking heart attack.”
“Woah,” Lock says, rolling to his feet and coming to put a hand on Lindon’s shoulder, which Lindon swats away easily.
“Don’t touch me.”
“I didn’t do anything,” Lock says. “Anything she didn’t want.”
Lindon turns that intense, golden gaze on him. “Didn’t look that way, so I’m still trying to convince my wolf of that.”
“I understand,” Lock says, raising his arms. “Do what you have to.”
“What do you mean?” I ask, walking forward. “When you say you can’t do this anymore?”
He avoids my gaze and rests his chin on one hand. “I just, I can’t do it all on my own. There’s no time for a break.”
“Lindon, I’m sorry about the bracelet. I was touching it before, just because I was nervous.”
His eyes flare open, and I stutter.
“No, not like that, I just wanted something to play with, with my hands, and then when we fell over…I must have bumped it.”
He sighs again, sweat still beading on his forehead. “I told you what that bracelet signaled,” he says, exasperated. “I can’t believe you’d be so careless with it.”
I clench my jaw. “It was an accident.” I start undoing it. “If you want it back…”
He puts a hand up. “No. That’s not what I want. Come on back to the house with me and I’ll explain my next plan of action.”
“Hey, what about me?” Lock asks, tilting his head.
“You can take your bike back,” Lindon says, glaring. “Frankly the bracelet might not have been pressed, but you were on top of her when I got here, and that wasn’t my idea of watching out for her while I was supposed to be taking a break.”
Lock shrugs and gives us an adorable, rakish grin, and his eyes flick to mine playfully. I bite back a smile and wave slightly before turning to go with Lindon, who’s cursing as he leads the way back to the car.
I wince at the beautiful vehicle on the messy dirt road. “I’m sorry about your car.”
“It’s fine,” he says. “Just a car. I can buy another. Or ten.”
I swallow, sitting once he opens the door for me. The buttery leather caresses my legs in a luxurious way. “Just how rich is your family?”
He pulls sunglasses out of the glove box. High end ones. “Very.”
He pulls slowly out of the dirt road and turns onto the road back to the mansion.
“I really am sorry, Lindon. But thanks for coming. I’m touched you were so worried.”
He makes a ‘tch’ noise and looks like he wants to say something but won’t.
“But look, I don’t think you have to worry as much as you think. I’m not completely incapable. I don’t think you need to be completely freaking out about things. Like there, Lock was being fine. Couldn’t it have occurred to you that I just made a mistake?”
He shakes his head, still angry. “No, it didn’t occur to me that the reason was anything other than you being in danger.”
“Even so, you don’t have to have a heart attack. I can fight back too, you know. I took self defense in college.”
“Hm,” he says, unimpressed. When we pull up at the mansion, he hits a button on the clicker and it opens,
revealing a fairly empty garage. Just this car and another sports car.
“Who’s is that?” I ask.
He just shrugs, not in the mood to talk. He leads the way in through the garage, holding the door for me to go into the house. I do, noticing a few guys in the kitchen.
“Well, if it isn’t prince charming and the princess, come to grace us with their presence,” Asher says, looking pouty. I wonder if he’s a little younger than some of the other alphas.
Lindon just shakes his head at him as if he’s below his notice and pulls me by the hand up the stairs to his room. He opens the door and pushes me in. I’m a little tired of being pushed around. He shuts the door behind me, a lock clicks, and I pound on it. I guess he can lock his door from the outside.
“Lindon, let me out, right now!”
“No,” he says. “I need to make a phone call. You stay there.”
I sigh and ball my hands into fists at my sides. The afternoon was going so well until he interfered. Not that I blame him, it’s totally my fault for accidentally pressing that button, but he doesn’t need to be an ass about it.
I’m a female, not a child. And Lindon seems to think I’m made of cotton candy, like I’ll just melt away when someone breathes on me.
A few minutes later, during which I can hear Lindon talking angrily on the phone with someone, almost pleading, the door unlocks and he comes in.
“Why does your door lock from the outside?” I ask.
He raises an eyebrow. “None of your business. Maybe I just like it that way.”
I frown. “Who were you calling?”
“My brother.” He sits at the large desk at one side of the bedroom and I look around the room for the first time. Deep green furnishings, the drapes, the bedspread. Silver gray carpet. Deep cherry wood. Elegant, simple.
The desk is functional, with multiple computer screens. “I forgot to ask. What do you do for a living?” I say.
He shrugs. “I’m not in the mood to discuss that with you.”
“Okay, can I go back to my room then?”
Ultimate Alpha Boxed Set: A BBW and Wolf Shifter collection Page 47