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“Say hello to her and her husband from me.” I waved, forcing a smile. Her footsteps faded in the hallway. “What do you mean by that?” I nearly hissed at Roy once the front door slammed closed.
He scrubbed a pot with enough energy to send suds everywhere. “You know what I mean.”
I put a hand on my hip. “Well, bringing me home wasyouridea. You didn’t have to.”
“I know.” The grease on the pot didn’t stand a chance of surviving for long under Roy’s vigorous strokes. It seemed like he wanted to kill it. When he finished and put the pot on the rack, he grabbed the edge of the sink and hunched his shoulders. “I didn’t have to, but I wanted to, all right?”
“Why? Because you enjoy my company?” I tossed the kitchen towel to the counter. “Tosh.”
He sucked in a breath that strained his waistcoat, taking a step towards me. “I promise, this is the last time I’ll ever trouble you.”
“I didn’t mean that.” I lowered my voice as the fear of not seeing him again choked me.
He passed a hand over his suddenly tired face. “It’s difficult for me. Hell, the other day in the corridor, I was bloody close to—”
“To what?” I needed to hear it from him.
When he faced me, his pupils were two narrow slits. His beast was close enough to the surface to stir mine. “You don’t want to know.”
“I do.” I stepped closer to him, although a predatory menace came out of him in waves, and he seemed about to pounce on me.
With his beast coming out, his shoulder muscles swelled, straining the fabric of his shirt and waistcoat. He stalked closer, forcing me back to a corner before trapping me between his body and the wall behind me. “I wanted to rip your clothes off your body, push you against the wall, and pound inside you like an animal until you forgot your name and I was the only thing you could feel, hear, and taste. I was damn ready to take you there in the middle of the corridor and kill anyone who dared to stop me. And not necessarily in that order. I wanted to hear you scream while you came underneath me. I wanted to lick the wetness between your thighs, to taste that scent I could smell so damn powerfully. Like now.”
Good. Lord. My chest was rising and falling fast. I couldn’t even talk. I stood there, watching his eyes grow dark with desire and his shaft grow bigger in his trousers. And the wetness came again. It didn’t do anything to soothe the ache between my legs. It was painful, as if my life depended on Roy’s touch. His nostrils flared.
He put a hand on my neck. The tips of his claws scratched my skin, but I felt his touch straight on my wet, throbbing core. “It’s the first time I’ve been so close to losing control because of a woman. It’s never happened to me. Never have I met a woman who has made me lose control like you do. Do you understand how hard it is for me?” Speaking of hard, he pressed his erection against my belly, tearing a shameless moan from me. “Control is everything to me.” His thumb stroked my chin, and his warm breath feathered over my lips. “The lives of my friends depend on my bloody control, and you challenge it so easily.”
That caught my attention, distracting me from the lust rushing through my veins. “What do you mean? Who’s in danger?”
“I can’t do this. Not now. It’s the wrong moment, Kristin.” His lips brushed my jaw, and he inhaled deeply.
“Do we have a future, then?” I leaned against his touch, but he closed his eyes, and when he opened them, his pupils were normal.
“I don’t know. I don’t know what will happen,” he whispered, brushing his lips over my jaw. “Everything is crumbling down around me.”
If I didn’t know him, I’d say there was fear shaking his voice.
“It doesn’t have to be like that.” Although I had no idea what he was referring to.
Quicker than I could follow him, he pushed away from me. His muscles were still swollen, but his chest wasn’t heaving like before. “I’m tired. Thank your aunt for the delicious dinner,” he said, heading for the guest room.
I sagged against the wall. My head was spinning from how quickly his mood had changed and from the emotions storming inside me.
The branch of mistletoe hanging over the lintel shook when he shut the door of his room behind him.
Great. Merry Christmas.
~ * ~
I WAS STILL fuming twenty minutes later, after Roy had shut himself in his room and Gladys and Doris arrived. They squashed me in a fierce hug that left me laughing and sobbing at the same time. I couldn’t tell them about me being, well, not human, and in a way, it didn’t matter. There were things I couldn’t share with them, but they were my childhood friends. Nothing was going to change that. My heart burst with happiness when they laughed and hugged me, chasing away the last remnant of the tension with Roy.
With the three of us, my bedroom was crowded. There was enough space for the single bed, the dresser, and the wardrobe, the rich-brown cherry wood of the floor making it warm and cosy.
“So Raven Park is pretty boring,” I said, stretching my arms above my head after I finished telling my friends about my new life. Mostly true facts. What I couldn’t share with them, I’d omitted. The result was a rather dull tale of paperwork and miserable training sessions. And I might have mentioned that Roy had kissed me. He’d done more than kiss me. If they only knew.
“Dull my foot,” Gladys said, lying on my bed and eating bonbons from the box she’d brought for me. “You aren’t telling us the whole tale. I bet you’re hiding the spicy stuff.” She wiggled her brows.
“And Roy?” Doris asked, twirling a blonde tendril of her hair around her finger. “Is he still your boss?”
