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I wanted to get up and pace, but I couldn’t; that would certainly wake Eli up, and that was the last thing I wanted. I couldn’t even explain my thoughts to myself right now, much less to another person. There had been that night in the woods, with Ryan and the gunman and… I fell asleep in Eli’s bed that night. It was just supposed to be about warmth, but hell. I hadn’t slept that well in ages.
I hadn’t seen that much of my wolf since I was a child, either. And Eli never made a move. I appreciated it and resented it at the same time, but now I’d gotten that wish I’d shoved deep down into the pit of my belly and… And…
My brain short-circuited again, and I bit my lip to keep from screaming in frustration. I bit it so hard it bled, and I didn’t feel any better for it.
Eli kept getting up early. It was getting easier each time to convince myself that this was something we were just doing for comfort. After all, Eli had responsibilities outside of this messed-up case. He had a pack in London, and presumably family, too. He had to manage the business he was building here in Austin, and I was sure there were probably a hundred other things he was responsible for. I didn’t want to take up his time or his space. The less I existed there, the easier it would be for me to disappear again when it was time to leave.
But then that man kissed me.
This time I did groan a little, my frustration seeping out. Eli mumbled against my back, and I froze, waiting for the man curled against me to wake up — but all he did was give a sleepy wiggle and murmur something unintelligible. I held my breath as long as I could, but he didn’t move again.
I exhaled, forcing myself to be quieter with my relief than I was with my aggravation.
This man had kissed me tonight, and my wolf had reacted. She’d never done anything even remotely similar before. I was already attracted to Eli — frankly, I didn’t see how anyone could resist those beautiful eyes or how he smiled when he truly meant it — but something about my wolf drove me onward. It was like that attraction had been intensified ten-fold — no, a hundred-fold. It was like the difference between a candle and a roaring wildfire. I could resist one, but I was powerless in the face of the other.
And the thing was… I didn’t even want to fight it. I wanted Eli to pull me in with his gravity. I wanted to know what his hands felt like on my skin. What kissing him tasted like. What he smelled like. I wanted to know what it was to be with another shifter, and hell… after tonight, I could never go back to dating humans. Sex had been good before, but this? This had been mind-blowing. Earth-shattering.
Even thinking about the orgasm he gave me made me shiver, and he hadn’t even touched my clit. I couldn’t imagine what he could do if given more time to explore. Heat started to flicker back to life in my belly, and I had to clamp down that line of thought before it went any further.
But hell, my wolf was sohappy,and the sex was sogood, that for a moment there before I drifted off into post-coital bliss, I really thought I could do this. Just have sex with Eli, enjoy his company, and when we parted ways, we parted ways. No big deal.
But then he asked if he could stay.
And worse than that, I’d said yes.
And worse still — I’d meant it.
I’d never meant that before. I never wanted to. The idea alone still made my heart clench in terror. I knew that was probably ridiculous, but it still scared the shit out of me. I’d been on all of two dates my entire life, and both of them had absolutely sucked. Frankly, I didn’t like either of those boys all that much, either.
But I liked Eli. I liked him a lot. And I didn’t know if I could handle all of this. I needed…
I needed…
I needed space. I needed some fresh air. I just needed a little time to myself, and maybe I could get my head around this.
I took a deep breath and steadied my nerves, starting to ease myself out of Eli’s grasp. Thankfully, he wasn’t holding on particularly tightly. As I shifted towards the other side of the bed, he rolled onto his back, giving a single, light snore, and that was it. He was still out. I exhaled and didn’t even bother picking up my clothes, retreating to the spare room instead to just get something out of my bag.
Once I was dressed, I retreated back to the living room just in time to see my phone light up with a text. Desperate for anything else to think about, I picked it up, frowning when I saw Demi’s name there.
I found something weird,the text read. I think the blood donation van just bought a house.
That makes no sense.Nic said it was nonprofit, right? It ran on donations and volunteer efforts.I scrubbed at my face, trying to will my brain into some sort of functional state.
Do you have the address?I texted back. How did you find out?
It didn’t take longfor Demi to reply.
The house isat 27 Merle Blvd.
My friend is a realtor. This is her first sale since getting her license. We were out to celebrate and she mentioned it.
Then I remembered you mentioning the van. Coincidences aren’t usually coincidences, right?
I snorted.Well, it’s about damn time I ran into some dumb luck.
Thanks,I texted back. I’ll look into it immediately.
I inputthe address into the map app on my phone; it turned out it wasn’t far from the condo. I could probably get there in ten, fifteen minutes.
