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The shock at herself that she’d drained him until he’d passed out was a close second to how powerful his essence was. Or how easily she could imagine herself getting addicted. Thanks to the damned collar, she didn’t have her usual self-control or any of her other abilities, for that matter. She couldn’t shift or even heal herself. The result of taking some of his energy,however, was incredible. It zinged around her body, more potent than any she’d ever experienced from anyone. Nari couldn’t remember a time when she’d felt as good. Or as happy. Or so safe.
Then she realized how close they were and how displeased he was. She lurched back, though her eyes stayed locked on his as he seemed to try to figure her out. This male was apparently the strong, silent type. When he wasn’t swearing or stomping about the woods, aggravated at having his territory invaded, that was.
He wasn’t all that scary, however. She’d witnessed how he took care of his elderly dog. Someone with that amount of love and compassion couldn’t be bad. It wasn’t possible.
She’d been watching him for nearly a week now. Staying near him made her feel safe even though she knew he was getting more and more frustrated with the things she was borrowing to make her own existence easier. There wasn’t much choice in the matter. It was either try to survive in the wilds by herself or…
The other, she couldn’t bear thinking.
There were apologies to be made. Gratitude to be given. She was alive because of him.
Only he didn’t look to be in the mood for gratitude. He glared at the food as he’d glared at her—as if it confused the hell out of him. Had he never had anyone make him breakfast before?
“Like I said, I could make you something else if you prefer.”
“It’s fine.” The words were ground out, and the sound of them strummed her already humming nerves. The heat that coursed through her from just a few words from him made her wonder what it would be like to actually have a conversation with him. Would she melt into a puddle of hormones? Nari hadan inkling she might, and she wanted to find out.
“You should eat too.” He watched her expectantly.
“I taste-tested as I was cooking. I’m fine.” The truth was, she felt comfortable making him food because it was an expression of her gratitude, but she’d already taken enough from him. Eating his food seemed to cross a line.
“I don’t like eating alone.” He took the fork she’d forgotten she was still holding and turned it toward her lips.
It was on the tip of her tongue to argue that seeing as he lived alone, all he did was eat on his own, but she thought better of it.
When she tried to take the fork from him, he moved it out of reach. “It’s my fork.”
“Then I’ll get one for me.”
“There aren’t any more.”
And she knew that after her frustration at trying to find cooking utensils. He had one of literallyeverything. There wasn’t a thing to indicate that he even entertained the notion of having anyone else there. He was alone out here and apparently quite happy that way. He didn’t need or want her there.
Did he not feel the pull between them?
How could he not? She felt it from the first touch. Maybe even before. She’d been drawn to his cabin as if she’d known at a cellular level that he’d be able to protect her. Then the kiss happened, and she was hooked.
Surely, he had been hit with the same bolt of recognition.
A test was in order.
Giving him a little smile, she slid onto one hard thigh. “Would it be okay if we shared the chair?”
When he stared at her as if she’d grown another head, she tried to reverse her action, but his arm wound around her waist like a thick boa constrictor holding her on his lap. And against a long, thick, very solid ridge that prodded insistently against herhip.
That at least proved he wasn’t indifferent to her. For his body to react so swiftly and so fully, he had to recognize her as his mate. So why the grumpy act? Most would be overjoyed to have found their other half.
She certainly was.
Unlike him, Nari wanted to know everything about her mate. Starting with the very intriguing bulge that throbbed enticingly whenever she moved against it.
He held her tight to keep her from wriggling. But that only let her feel how hard he was everywhere else as well. Sitting on his lap was like sitting on a rock. An all too comfortable one. One that she wouldn’t mind being sprawled over for the foreseeable future. She knew enough of his daily activities to know that his constant work on and around his property sculpted his body into its present shape. And what a shape. She felt dwarfed by him but not intimidated.
“Eat.” He pushed the eggs into her mouth, and Nari had to admit it was delicious. And needed. When was the last time she had eaten anything other than what she could forage in the woods?
As if sensing her hunger, he pinched a slice of bacon between his fingers and fed her that as well. As if it was perfectly normal to be finger-feeding a woman he didn’t even know. Any more than sitting in his lap and letting him feed her eggs without even knowing his name?
Was this his way of acknowledging her as his mate?
