That alone seemed pretty significant.
I crossed the garage, passing him as I neared the door into his house.
“You didn’t have to put that on,” he said. “I could’ve grabbed a clean shirt for you.”
“I’m not afraid of a little grease.”
“Why aren’t you?” He almost sounded interested.
“I basically grew up in a garage like yours. My dad was a mechanic. Do you have any dish soap I can use on my hair?” I slipped into the house, peering around quickly as I did. The wood-like tile was a warm shade of light brown, and the walls were a coordinating neutral. There were no decorations or art as far as I could see, and the furniture was sparse.
He grabbed some dish soap from the kitchen as we passed it. “The spare bathroom is that way, but my shower is a lot bigger,” Wyatt said. He gestured toward the rooms as he mentioned them.
The guest bathroom would’ve been safer, but considering he was already trying to talk me into being just friends, it seemed like I was going to have to be the one who pushed him a little.
So, I headed for his bathroom.
five
JADE
“Sorry if I’mtracking grease in here,” I said.
“Wouldn’t be the first time. That’s why I went with tile,” Wyatt said.
“It was a good call.”
He followed me into the bedroom, then into the bathroom. “Do you want to see if your wolf will let me give you privacy? Corinne’s never cared about the distance between us.”
“Sure.”
We stopped just inside the bathroom. Our eyes met as he took a few steps backward. There was something intense about the eye contact.
Until Wyatt stepped to the side, disappearing from my sight completely.
Something within me surged forward, and I choked out a curse as I bent in half in pain. Fur broke out on my arms for a moment before Wyatt moved back into my line of sight.
The wolf calmed down in a heartbeat.
It was almost humorous how quickly she backed off, ending my pain completely.
I sucked in a deep breath of air. “Guess we know how she feels about that.”
Wyatt grimaced. “I’ll have to stay in here while you shower, then.”
“Oh, the horror. You may not survive seeing my naked body.”
He gave me a dead-panned look that said absolutely nothing about what he was thinking.
“You had no problem stripping in front of the world at the hospital, so I don’t know why this is a big deal to you,” I said, tugging his greasy shirt over my head and placing it against his chest. He took it as I turned and strode toward the shower.
“Male shifters are possessive of their mates. The women don’t shift in front of other people the way the men do.”
“So?”
He grunted.
I turned the water on and stepped to the side, waiting for it to warm. “That’s not an answer, Jones.”
