Each of his movements is almost feline, smooth and calculated, and his body, stretched out in revealing pajamas, is relaxed and supple. I want to feel those pecs that square out from his tank. I want to run my hands down to those lean hips, and then lower.
No one affects me like Lindon. I don’t know why, it’s just true. And having just been relaxed and happy with Bradley, I don’t have any of my usual prickly defenses. But I guess I need to get some.
I squirm on the bed, trying to think of something to break up the moment. “So, Hawes was right about you loving food.”
“Who doesn’t?” he asks. “But I have a particular soft spot for people making food for me. Growing up with a lot of males, I was often doing the prep. Food just isn’t the same when you make it for yourself.”
“It isn’t?” I ask, watching him bring the fork to his mouth another time. I can’t even bring myself to eat my own food right now. I’d rather devour him with my eyes.
Then my stomach makes a loud, embarrassing growl and I cover it with a hand and snap my gaze to him, blushing.
He reaches forward with his fork and cuts a bite of my crepe. Then he gets to his knees and brushes hair back from my face and holds the fork up to my mouth. “Open.”
I do, lips falling gently open as he swiftly puts the fork in and then removes it. He watches me as I chew slowly, eyes alight with something mysterious. What is it about shifter males and feeding their women and watching them eat?
He runs his thumb over the corner of my mouth as I finish chewing.
“See?” he says, gazing lazily in my eyes. “It’s not the same. If I’d made it for you, you’d feel completely different when you tasted it. You’d know my feelings had gone into it, and the taste would be…exquisite.”
“Oh,” I say. “And how does it taste right now?”
He blinks up at me. “What do you think?” He finishes the last bite of that crepe and then runs a hand over his taut, muscled stomach. “Amazing.” But he eyes me carefully, and I’m not sure he’s saying that about the food.
“You know, you’re a very moody person,” I say, pushing my plate toward him.
He sits up. “I’ve heard that. But honestly, I needed a nap badly. And just knowing Hawes is here lowers my stress level.”
“You didn’t even get to sleep long,” I say.
He nods and replaces his glasses. “I don’t need much. We shifters regenerate quickly. Speaking of which, do you have any questions about shifter stuff? Might as well answer during breakfast.” He pushes my plate back to me and serves himself more from the main plate I brought up.
He’s fastidious about making his crepe, putting the filling in cleanly, folding it up nicely, intently licking each finger in a way that makes me think I know exactly what I’d like him to do with that tongue.
His gaze flicks to mine. “Damn.”
“I’m smelling good again?” I ask. “Is it always when someone is turned on?”
He shakes his head. “Sometimes it’s just our scent. Sometimes, it’s our mood, or even sometimes, our wolf trying to let us know there’s a viable mate around, or let a viable mate know that we’re around. In your case, your wolf doesn’t seem too picky.”
I flush. What would he know about picky? He hasn’t seen me around the other guys.
“What’s that look?” he says, pausing with his fork halfway to his mouth.
“What look?”
“You just…hm.” He sets the plate aside. “So tell me what you’ve been up to since I’ve been gone.”
I shrug, trying to look innocent as I cut into my crepe. Good time to eat right now. “Not much.”
“No trouble then?” he asks.
“Nope,” I say.
He scoots forward on the bed, sitting up and leaning toward me, towering over me.
I look up at him warily. His outer lashes are extra long and dark, giving him a natural cat eye look with those golden irises. “What?”
He reaches for my fork and brings another bite up to my lips. “Open.”
I do as he says. When I’m done, he gives me another. He watches me the entire time, and I can’t help thinking it’s a bit erotic. Then again, Lindon farting would probably be erotic. He’d probably find a way to make even that sexy.
I stifle a giggle.
“What?” he asks, lowering the fork. “Here I am being good enough to feed you and you’re making fun of me.” He wrinkles his perfect nose.
“No,” I say. “I’d never make fun of you.”
“Anyway, you’re hungry, keep eating.”
“I can feed myself,” I say warily, eyeing the fork in his hand.
“Yeah, but you like this better, don’t you?” he asks.
I nod, embarrassed but certain it’s the truth. I’ve never had a hot guy feed me by hand and there’s something awesome about it. I guess I should feel like a kid, but when his eyes meet mine and I look over his amazing body, that’s the last thing I feel like.
I really shouldn’t be doing this. Lindon said we were just going to be friends. Friends feed each other erotically on the bed, right?
He grins and sets the fork down. “You get enough?”
“Stuffed,” I say, smoothing my arm over my waist. His eyes flick to my midsection and back to my face.
“I like my females well fed.”
“I thought you weren’t interested in liking any females.”
He licks whip cream from his thumb and eyes me. “I keep trying to say that, don’t I?”
“You promised,” I said. “That’d we’d be friends.”
Don’t break my heart, Lindon.
He puts his hand in the hair at the back of my neck and strokes it gently, stoking the fire in me that only he seems to stoke. Then he pulls me forward and places his forehead to mine.
“You’re right, I promised.” He lets out a breath.
“Then again, friends can be friends as long as they aren’t mates, right?” I say, trying to give us both an out that might make us happy.
Even a broken heart might be worth a few more moments with Lindon.
The air is heady, full of that smell that smells so good I could scream. It’s completely indescribable, just an explosion of everything GOOD.
“Those are your pheromones, aren’t they?” I ask.
“Right,” he says, removing his glasses. “I’m afraid, lately it’s been taking more from me to control them. I’m glad to see you can resist.”
I grab his face in both hands and pull his lips onto mine, feeling his body stiffen in shock as I lick his mouth, go inside his slightly parted lips and taste the sweetness there, the sour juice of strawberries.
I try to push him back onto the bed. It’s like my body is moving against my will. Or simply independent. I simply have to have more of him and I have to have it now…
“Misty,” he says, pushing gently on my shoulders as I push him down on his back and climb on top. His eyes widen slightly in alarm. “What are you doing?”
“I can’t stop,” I say. “I can’t resist anymore.”
“Oh for Pete’s sake,” he says, exasperated. But as he runs a hand through his hair, he looks like he’s as exasperated with himself as he is with me. “Two alphas with extra pheromone powers. This is bad.”
“Only if we try to resist it,” I say.
“I can’t mate you,” he says, voice hoarse. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“You’ll only hurt me if you don’t give me what I want, right now.”
“What do you want?” he asks, twirling a long finger in my hair. I like this Lindon. This is the Lindon I saw that night we first kissed. I like the other Lindon too, the one that keeps everything locked up and is controlling and obnoxious.
But this Lindon is pure sex, and when he’s out, I can’t help wanting to play.
And the air…it’s just full of molecules telling me he wants me and we’re meant for each other.
But I’ll settle for a kiss.
“I want you to ki
ss me,” I say.
He raises an eyebrow. “Kiss you?”
I come down to press my lips to his, taking them bitterly, licking along them like they can somehow put out the fire inside me.
A low growl from his chest, and then he’s rising up and reversing our position so that he’s on top of me. He runs his thumb over his lips and grins down at me. The walls are all the way down now, and I can tell he’s resisting nothing at all.
So this is Lindon at full sexual potency. Body pulsing and sheened with sweat. Lips and cheeks lightly flushed, muscles bulging and toned. Position dominant. Face smug and possessive.
I love this Lindon.
I could provoke him all day for the chance to see him just once. He’s ruining me for every other wolf in the house.
He takes a strawberry from the plate and brings it toward my lips, but then he stops and winks at me and places it between my breasts. Holy hell.
I didn’t realize my shirt was that low. He pulls it slightly lower as he tucks the berry in my cleavage. Then, keeping his eyes on mine, he bends to take it out with his mouth, his lips and teeth gently grazing me as he eats it. He chews and swallows, and then licks over the skin on my chest, making trails of fire wherever he goes. I want to yank my shirt off and give him access to everything.
His eyes flick to mine and then he’s over me, crushing his mouth over mine, running his tongue over every inch of my mouth, owning me.
“Lindon,” I moan, and he deepens the kiss, stopping my breath, my speech, my thoughts.
Damn.
“I’ll kiss you, Misty. But I told you, I have to be in control. And my second condition is, I can’t make you promises. This is all there is. I won’t claim you.”
My heart thumps but my hormones don’t care. Maybe after all of this I’ll just go back to my world and my little apartment and my books. But at least I’ll have a hell of a memory.
His eyes are sparkling, and when he breathes and his expression changes, I can see he’s just as affected by my scent as I am by his.
He kisses me again and I realize neither of us really has the power to stop this. It makes no sense for us to be together. He already had the person he loved, and I have a bunch of other men that actually want me.
But whenever we’re together it’s like it’s only a matter of time before we’re touching.
He picks up a bit of whipped cream on one finger and puts it to my lips. I lick it off and he seals his mouth over mine, sharing the cream with me, letting the sugar melt over our hot tongues.
The sweetest kiss ever.
His hand nuzzles my side, loving my curves. His long body covering mine, his breaths heady and deep.
Then a knock sounds on the door.
“Lindon, you in there? I can smell you from a mile away, you know that.”
Lindon pulls back, freezing, eyes wide. He looks at the door and then down at me with an almost panicked expression.
I just want to pull his face back onto mine. Perfect lips part as he waits for the person at the door to say more. I want to touch his lips with my finger.
“That’s not fair, Lindon, you know it isn’t,” Hawes says. “Not unless you’re going to compete.”
“He can smell you?” I ask Lindon.
“Hawes has a great sense of scent. Another of his powers.” He lowers his head. “Damnit, I did it again. I didn’t have my guard up and I started to…” He looks me over. “Seduce you.”
“I wasn’t in control either,” I say, sitting up slowly. “No hard feelings.”
“Lindon,” Hawes says. “Trees!”
Lindon goes rigid and closes his eyes. “Damn you, Hawes.”
“Yeah, you heard me!” Hawes says. “Trees!”
Lindon groans and gets off me, and the door bangs open, Hawes and Fifi behind it.
Hawes folds his arms smugly and grins in satisfaction. “Wow, the mighty Lindon, releasing his pheromones for the first time in like ten years.”
Lindon shakes his head. “I’m just tired that’s all. And she brought food up.”
“Yeah, that would make you all warm and fuzzy.”
Lindon shrugs, and I can tell he’s pulling his cold demeanor around him again like a security blanket. He pulls his reading glasses on and sighs. I sit up, still waiting for my breathing to get back to normal.
Hawes sits at a chair next to the desk. Fifi takes one next to him.
“Well, Misty,” Hawes says. “Looks like we need to tell you a little more about Lindon’s alpha power.”
“You wouldn’t dare,” Lindon says, eyes flicking to Hawes.
Hawes shrugs. “You tell her or I will.”
Lindon looks between us, eyes flashing, and then stands up and storms out of the room.
I watch him go. “What the hell was that?” I ask.
Hawes eyes me with amusement sparkling in those orangey depths. “You made Lindon lose control. No one makes Lindon lose control.”
I swallow and place a hand over my heart, which is beating rapidly. Can that really be true? Does it even matter?
“Here,” Hawes says, leaning forward. “I’ll tell you what I know.”
Fifi nods and waits, acting as moral support.
I brace myself for whatever it is I’m about to hear, and try not to think of a whipped cream flavored embrace that was the best of my life so far.
Chapter 7
Hawes opens his mouth to tell me what he wants to tell me, but I put up a hand.
“What?” he asks.
I shake my head, feeling my thick hair coming free of the ponytail holder I had it in. “If Lindon doesn’t want to tell me, I don’t want to know.”
Fifi’s brows lower in frustration, as if the concept of integrity is foreign to him. “But what if it’s important for your safety?”
“Something about Lindon?” I ask, looking from Hawthorne to Fifi. “Well, I guess I’ll just have to trust that if it’s something I had to know, he would tell me rather than hurt me.”
Hawes’ expression darkens slightly. “He has times where…he’s not himself.”
“What part of ‘I don’t want you to tell me’ don’t you understand?” I say. “Look, he’s an adult. And I’m an adult. And he’s entitled to his secrets.”
“Look, normally I’d trust Lindon to just tell you what you need to know,” Hawes says. He sounds so reasonable, I feel a little like a douche for cutting him off like this. But I don’t like talking about people behind their backs. It’s happened to me too many times for me to not know the harm in it.
“But with this, I mean, he plays it close to the chest. Too close. You might end up finding yourself seduced,” Hawes says.
“Only if I want to be,” I say. “I’m sure of that. Besides, you don’t have to worry. He already said that he doesn’t want to mate me.”
“Ah, but did he tell you the consequences of doing things with him?” Hawes asks.
“No,” I say. “What do you mean, doing things?”
“Things like that,” he says, gesturing to the bed, while Fifi stays silent, watching with folded arms and a serious expression. “More than kissing.”
“What do you mean?”
“Lindon’s pheromones…” Hawes leans forward. “They aren’t just—”
I put up a hand again, frowning and fighting a clenching feeling in my chest. I’m curious, I admit it. But if there’s something I should know about Lindon I should hear it from him or wait until he feels it’s relevant.
I’m willing to learn all about this world and try to fit into it. But I’m not willing to do it at the expense of the person who has done more for me here than anyone else.
“Please, stop,” I say. “I’m going out.”
“Out where?” Fifi asks.
“Just out. Alone,” I say.
“What do you mean?” Hawes asks. “You know you shouldn’t go out without taking one of us with you. You have your bracelet with you?”
I hold up my wrist with a wry smile. “I have it, but
you’re right. Maybe I’ll just go take a nap for now.”
But it’s a lie. Right now, my wolf is bursting out of her shell with energy. As soon as I shake them off and they think I’m safely in my room asleep, I’m heading out my window and going for a run.
I wave at them and they stand and follow me as I go to my room. Almost like I’m some kind of prisoner. I sigh and give them a sarcastic wave and then shut my door without waiting for a response.
I flop on my back on my huge canopy bed and let out a huge sigh. I can see feel heat on my cheeks from my kiss with Lindon. Why did they have to interfere anyway? I mean, sure, we were a little out of control, but nothing would have happened if we didn’t want it to.
I trust Lindon. I do. If he wanted to hurt me, he would have done it already. If anything, it’s going to be my own eagerness for him that’s going to hurt me. And I refuse to hold that against him.
What did they mean about his pheromones, though? I shake my head. There’s no point thinking about it when I just turned down the opportunity to know that information. I scoot off the bed, head dizzy, and go to the window and open it. I stretch, letting my body adjust to the cool air and my full stomach, and look out across the grounds.
A good run is exactly what I need.
I look out the window. How exactly did Thor get up here? There’s a small ledge outside the window, and columns on either side. Even in my wolf form, which I’m not that used to yet, I’m pretty sure I could injure myself.
I look around the room for something I could tie onto a column and use to get down.
If nothing else, I’m supposed to have a pretty durable body, and it’s not that far to the ground. The curtains around my window look pretty good, but the long things trailing from my canopy bed look even better.
I know this is a crazy thing to do, but I simply have to get away from all of this and clear my head. Lindon’s kisses, my feelings for the other men. Everything is getting so complicated, and I feel like I barely know who I am anymore.
And I haven’t had any time to just get used to me, the new me. The one that can run as a wolf under moonlight. It’s what I’ve been wanting since I saw some of the guys running out there like silver bullets.
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