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“You don’t want to take me seriously.” All humor leaves my voice. “When I’m serious, it’s ugly. It’s no good. It bruises your clenched asshole. And you know what really sucks? Whenever I show you my naked serious self, all you see is weakness.”
“That’s not true,” he grumbles, pinching the bridge of his nose.
“You think I’m weak.”
“No—”
“Last night, you shoved me out of the way and slapped your big dumb paw down on the table like Conan the Barbarian, daring Denver to stab you. Because you didn’t think I could handle it.”
“Wolfson—”
“You. Think. I’m. Weak!”
“You’re wrong.” He stares down at his wounded hand, his tone just as wounded. “I couldn’t bear the thought of you never playing again.”
“Bless your heart.” I pout my lips. “We may all die of starvation because our best hunter is maimed. But at least we still have a saxophone player.”
“He’s right,” Leo says to Kody. “The caribou have been scarce this year. We have no meat reserves for the winter. If your hand doesn’t recover—”
“I’ll heal.”
“What happened with the firecracker last night?” I meet Kody’s guarded eyes, watching him shut down under my examination, and quickly understand why. “You kissed her?”
I see it in his face—the regret, the self-criticism, the absolute certainty he’ll do it again. As far as I know, he’s never kissed a woman before. Hell, he’s never kissed anyone in his miserable life.
This isn’t good.
“What the fuck, Kody?” Leo rounds on him. “You can’t—”
“That’s rich, Leo.” I rub my suddenly pounding head. “How many times have you stuck your tongue down her throat?”
He glares at me. I glare back, and here we go. Let’s see how long it takes him to back down this time.
Won’t be long.
Any time now.
Damn, his eyes are pretty, but that’s not what makes him irresistible to women. It’s the smirk. Always the smirk. Pure, absolute assholery. Irresistible. If he walked into a crowd of women, he wouldn’t make it out alive.
But Frankie’s different. She’s smarter than the others. She’s odd and unpredictable and deeply kind. So I have to wonder…did she kiss him back? Or did he force her?
There’s only ever been one willing woman in Hoss, but we don’t talk about that. The subject of my mother is off-limits.
With a grumpy growl, Leo looks away.
“What happened last night?” I direct the question at Kody since he’s extra cagey this morning.
“Nothing.”
“He slept in his room.” Leo glowers. “With her.”
“What prompted that?”
“Leo showed her the IDs.” With a grunt, Kody scratches his whiskers. “She knows Leo and I were taken as kids.”
Technically, I was abducted, too. I just happened to be in the womb of my whore mother at the time.
“You’re sharing shit with her?” I grit my teeth. “We agreed to keep this one in the dark. You know what will happen.”
Idiots.
“She’s different,” Leo grumbles.
“What else does she know?”
“Ask her yourself.” Kody tilts his head at the open doorway.
She’s in the hall? Eavesdropping?
“We know you’re there, Frankie.” Kody crosses his arms and waits.
Seconds later, she steps into view, looking like a sleepy, bed-ruffled, red-hot vision. How quickly my cock hardens for her. It should be biologically impossible.
The way she looks directly at me, the total seduction in her eye contact, feels like a voodoo spell, like a lust potion injected directly into my dick. My libido doesn’t stand a chance. I can barely think in her presence.
“Family meeting?” she asks. “Without me?”
“You’re not family,” Leo says cruelly.
“Wouldn’t matter if you were.” I grin. “I’d still fuck you, sugar lips.”
“Will you stop?” She pads into the bedroom, wearing way too many clothes in a T-shirt and sleep shorts.
“Stop what?”
“No more nicknames. And no flirting.”
“Don’t tell me how to live my life.”
She toys with the satin string on the waistband of her shorts, running it through her fingers over and over, stroking absently as she stares at me.
Goddamn, I feel that. Every flirty caress. I’ve never wanted to be a piece of string so badly in my life.
“Wolf?” Her hand falls away to curl into a fist on her hip. “Did you hear me?”
“What?”
“You’re impossible.” She sighs.
“I like to sigh, too.” With a loud exhale, I give her my best one.
I’m a natural-born thespian.
She continues to stare at me, exasperated, perplexed, but also, maybe, a little amused.
At that moment, I know I’m not going to die a virgin.
“You’re like…” She releases a short, startled laugh. “Like a darker, prettier, more fashionable version of Buddy in the movie Elf.”
“Prettier?” I tap my chin. “Weird way to ask, but yes, I’ll go to bed with you.”
She laughs again, choking on the burst of sound as if she doesn’t want to find me funny.
Christ, I feel warm. So feverishly fucking warm beside her smile. “Ma’am, I’m going to need you to not look at me while you do that.”
“Do what?” Her wide, gorgeous mouth curls from ear to ear.
