Page 39 of Never His Mate

I’m sitting on the couch, mindlessly watching a re-run of one of my shows when I hear the rap against the glass balcony door.

Ryker was gone when I woke up. Three hours later, when I’m thinking about making lunch, he returns.

I think he likes the fire escape. Either that, or the idea of riding the elevator up to my floor irritates his wolf as much as it does mine. The confinement in the small room always has my wolf pacing, and the way it stinks of vamps is often overwhelming. If I have my choice, I take the fire escape, too.

Ryker’s out there now. Wearing a different black tee—one that’s tight enough to show up his magnificent shifter’s physique—plus jeans and a sturdy pair of boots, a front lock of hair flopping into one of his dark gold eye, he uses two knuckles against the glass to catch my attention.

And then, when he sees that he has it, he grins.

My stomach goes tight.

Does he have to look that tempting? It would be so much easier to simply ignore him if he wasn’t that Luna damned attractive.

Worse, he knows it, too.

Arrogant bastard.

I toss the remote and slowly unfold myself from my comfy position in the corner of the couch. Wearing a suspicious expression I don’t even bother to hide, I approach the balcony door, though I don’t open it.

The glass is strong enough to keep out the full brunt of Ryker’s scent. Right now, I’ll take any help I can get.

“What?”

“Can you come out here?”

“What for?”

“I just want to talk.”

Talk? Really?

He must pick up on my hesitation even through the door because he holds up his hands in a gesture of harmlessness. “Just talk. No tricks.”

You know what? Just talk… I think that’s an excellent idea. I’ve got a thing of two I’d like to say to Ryker.

But not here. Aleks went back into his room, and maybe he’s sleeping, but it just doesn’t seem right to have this conversation outside on the balcony while my roommate is home.

“Go back around the front,” I tell Ryker. “There’s a park about five blocks away from here. It has a couple of benched and some privacy. Meet me there.”

For a moment, it looks like he’s going to argue with me. He doesn’t, though. He just uses his pointer finger to gesture in both directions. When I tell him to go right, he nods, then disappears down the fire escape.

I sigh, hoping I’m not making a major mistake, and go searching for my shoes.

* * *

Ten minutes later,I stroll up to the bench. I’ve got nervous hands in my pocket, a blank expression on my face, and my long sheet of hair falling forward like a curtain. I don’t want to make it look like I particularly want to be here, and I’m trying to hide the way my heart just about stuttered in my chest when I saw him sitting alone on the bench.

I think I forgot how big Ryker is. I know he’s got at least a head on me, and his body is pure shifter perfection, but it’s something about his being an alpha. His aura extends even further than his broad shoulders do, and though the bench is wide enough to sit three, he takes up way more space than he should.

Or maybe that’s because of the way he’s sitting. Legs spread, arms resting on the back of the bench, he looks like he’s content to sit here for as long as it takes.

Comfortable. He seems comfortable.

Me? I’m just about crawling out of my skin with a need to touch him, and he’s comfortable.

The unfairness of it all has me stomping over to him. “Okay. I’m here. What do you want to talk about?”

“Take a seat, Gemma.”

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