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“I can’t take no for an answer.”
“Well you’re going to have to, buddy. I’m sure your date with Stella will give you everything you need.”
“Oh, I forgot my crayons. I’ll be right back. Don’t leave me, Mommy and Dad
dy.” Simeon darted past and ran toward the back of the store where steps led up to their apartment.
Sienna let out a shaky laugh. “As if I would.”
“Neither would I.” Toron’s words were so low, she looked up at him. He stared at her, studying her face, and she bobbed from one heel to the other. He drew her closer, and she commanded herself to get away but instead drifted in to his loose embrace. Toron skated fingers over her hip through her clothes, and she considered dropping on the floor. The sensations overwhelmed her.
“You seem less vehement,” he commented. “Why?”
She made a noncommittal sound.
“And what’s this about a date with Stella? I don’t recall making one.”
Sienna took in a deep breath. Myriad scents confused her, but the main one, the one threatening to send her into meltdown, was Toron’s own, so distinctly male, so feral.
She forced her gaze up to look into his eyes. “How can I distinguish scents, and should I have been able to smell that Hawke wasn’t human?”
Toron’s jaw tightened. He appeared to have forgiven her for not telling him about Simeon, but sometimes when her son called him Daddy or just played nearby, a haunted expression came into Toron’s eyes as if he feared she would disappear one day with her son, and that made her feel guilty all over again. If she knew nothing else, she knew she would never do that to him.
“Are you still interested in him?”
Sienna frowned. She deliberated over letting him think there had been more to her and Hawke’s relationship as a way to keep him at bay, but thought better of it. “We were friends, nothing more. I considered it, but I didn’t see him that way. Hawke was there for us when we were alone. I appreciated that, but I feel ignorant, and I want to do better.”
“Then you will . I will teach you.” He swept her into a tighter embrace, lowering his head to hers, his unexpected kiss traversing her senses. Back away, Sienna. Not a muscle twitched. Toron raced his tongue over her bottom lip and then darted it between them. Her knees gave out, but he held her upright. Ragged breaths were all she managed when he released her. “Tomorrow, we begin your training.”
“But I need to…”
“I’m hungry,” Simeon whined when he returned, and Sienna gave up the fight. She grabbed a fast shower and changed her clothes, then headed out to eat with her son and his father.
For Toron's Pride
Chapter Nine
“Spruce, pine.” Toron held up a hand with a sprig of the named trees in each.
Sienna wrinkled her nose in doubt. “Aren’t they the same thing?”
“No, city woman.” He cast her a look of stark disapproval.
“Hey, I’m not ashamed of what I am. You’re the one playing in the trees. I thought we were out here to teach me how to tell a shifter.” Among other things.
“In time, but we need to start small . Come here.”
She stayed where she was, and he started over to her.
The refusal to do what he said might work out after all. He moved behind her, ignoring her personal boundaries, and towered over her while reaching around her to hold the sprigs in front. Then again…
She cleared her throat. “What are you doing?”
“Close your eyes.”
“Toron.”
“If you want my help, you will do as I say. Now, close them.”
