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He only paused when Holly arrived. “I’m starving. That smells like heaven.”
As he buttered the bread his gaze became fixed to hers. She didn’t even seem real somehow. A blood rose. A powerful fae. Rare fangs.
So beautiful with her long hair to her waist. He doubted she had the smallest idea how appealing she was. There was an innocence to her that got to him. Her male students probably had hard-ons the whole time she taught.
He could smell the rich, healing quality of her blood and detected the extra supply she was making for him. The scent carried geranium, but mostly it was her.
He looked away abruptly and busied himself with loading the plates. He added a fork for each then slid hers along the counter. “Stone wants us at his lake house in thirty.”
She picked up her plate then carried it to the table. She sat where she had the morning before. “His lake house. I understand it’s hidden behind mist. But isn’t that where Margetta attacked the Combined Forces not long before the final battle?”
“It is.” A recounting had been in all the papers. Stone had delivered the details himself.
He brought his own plate to the table and sat down.
She took a bite of toast. Her gaze slid over his bare shoulders since he wore only a tank. She blinked slowly. He resisted the urge to flex for her.
She looked away and settled her gaze out the window. He wasn’t fooled. A rush of her mating scent washed over him. His balls tingled and his cock hardened.
This wasn’t going to be easy.
He tackled his breakfast and didn’t care if he was being rude. She watched him then laughed.
He met her gaze and with his mouth way too full, he mumbled, “What?” There was nothing funny about this.
“I was just remembering what it was like to be sixteen, how I felt on the verge of sex every other second. Only with you, with how you’re built, and with all my blood rose hormones racing through me, well, it’s about a thousand times worse.”
He chuckled and stopped wolfing. It was good to laugh. They were in it now. Each had decided on this path. He wasn’t alone.
It seemed strange to even have the thought: He wasn’t alone.
He’d been alone for two years.
He frowned needing to make his reality clear both to himself and to her. For the present, they had a job to do. “I can’t be with you. Long term, I mean. I need you to know that.”
~ ~ ~
Holly sighed. “You think it’ll be that simple, Rez? I have my own reasons, as you know, for not being happy about this arrangement. But after last night, I don’t know what’s going to happen next. For one thing, I never thought I’d have fangs and engage in a blood draw, but now I swear it’s all I think about.”
She put her hand to her chest. “I’m building a new supply and I know exactly how much as of this minute you need. It’s as though the part of me that is a blood rose releases a steady stream of energy straight to your core. I’m constantly taking measurements. Can you feel it as well?”
He shook his head slowly.
Holly frowned. “Really?”
She watched him gather up a last bite of eggs on his fork. “Nope. Not at all.” The fork went into his mouth.
“Then I wonder if this would apply to all the mastyrs I meet.”
His arm shot out and he grabbed her wrist, though he gentled his hold at the last second. “Don’t even think it.”
She was stunned on so many levels. He had hold of her arm in an aggressive way all because she’d mentioned ‘other mastyrs’. Worse though, his touch thrilled her and sent shivers chasing each other all over her body.
His gaze dropped to the hold he had on her and it seemed he made a monumental decision to let her go. “Sorry about that.”
She chuckled again. “Yeah. This will be so-o-o simple.”
He picked up his plate and rose from the table. “Okay, maybe it’s not going to be easy and straightforward.” He continued speaking as he moved into the kitchen. “But, I repeat, I don’t have a damn thing for you long-term. We’ll just have to figure something out when the time comes.”
