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He reached out and grabbed the back of his shirt, pulling it over his head and then tossing it on a nearby chair. His hands went to his pants next.
“Are you going to sleep in…” Underwear? Naked?
He froze, glancing at me as if he’d encountered an issue he’d never been faced with before.
“I’ve got some sweatpants,” he said.
I nodded, trying not to look at him as he moved toward the dresser. Shirtless was already too much. It wasn’t like I hadn’t seen him naked before. I’d lain on top of him, in fact and the vision of him was burned into my brain. Even now, I feared that thinking about it would set off a fresh wave of pheromones.
“The shower here works, right?” I edged my way into the bathroom before I could fill the room with a scent that screamed,Take me, take me right now and anywhere you want. On the bed, the floor, the dresser, just do it.
I turned on the shower, not even messing around with the hot water. The colder the better. I showered until I couldn’t stand it and had obliterated every thought of his perfection.
I tiptoed out, glad that I’d grabbed pajamas, and found him on the satellite phone, his hand braced on the window, sweats slung low on his hips. This was his idea of modesty? A fresh batch of hormones swelled up all over again.
“Thank you. Yes, I’ll pass on the congrats.”
I crawled into bed, pulling the blankets up almost over my head so that it would hopefully smother some of my scent.
“Maddocks wanted to congratulate us.”
“Uh huh. That’s nice.” I curled up with my back to him, wanting to wash him out of my mind. I could feel my skin burning up because just looking at him made me think of sex. Did he know? Could he smell me? That wasn’t a good thought either.
“I’m attracted to you as well. There’s no reason to be uncomfortable about it,” he said softly. “It’s just a part of life. If you’d been born a shifter, you’d know this isn’t a big deal.”
“I wouldn’t have had those thoughts if you didn’t flaunt yourself.” My tone was almost a screech, like I was a crazy person.
“Are you accusing me of dressing like I want it? Because that’s not a lie,” he said, laughter in his voice.
“Please be quiet. I’m trying to sleep.” I kept my eyes squeezed closed, wondering what the hell I’d agreed to.
Chapter Twenty-Six
The bedroom was quiet.I opened an eye a slit, making sure the coast was clear before I sat up. I was going to start wearing eye covers so I didn’t have to watch Kicks walking around the bedroom with way too much flesh for me to feast upon.
The suite was empty other than a note from Kicks that he’d be back later tonight. An immediate need to find Charlie gripped me. This place was secure. It was crawling with shifters and Blanca was gone. He was probably fine.
Yeah, it didn’t matter.I needed to lay eyes on Charlie anyway.
There was some women’s clothing piled on the dresser, and I threw on the first pair of jeans and sweater my hands landed on. I did the bare minimum to make myself presentable.
I headed to the game room first.
Charlie’s laughter rang out into the hallway before I got to the room. There, in the midst of a bunch of huge shifters, was Charlie playing his little heart out. Breakfast plates were scattered about. The smell of bacon still clung to the air, making my stomach growl.
If we were going to live here, I was going to have to start curtailing the games a little.Maybe. It was hard to cut off a luxury that might go away at any moment and never come back. But he was at least going to have to go to school during the day.
I took a step toward him and then stopped, backing out instead. He was having fun with the guys, immersed in the moment. The last thing I wanted to do was rip him from his fun and drag him back to reality, especially when I was dreading it so much. I’d talk to him about starting back at school later. That was soon enough.
I turned down the hallway, finding Crackers walking toward me.
“I need to go pick up some things from the stores. Is Charlie okay here for a while?” I said.
“Of course he is. You’re both part of our pack now,” he said, as if he really couldn’t imagine what else we’d be doing but hanging out like this.
“Thanks.” Maybe moving here wasn’t theworstthing I could’ve done. It was a lot better than having Charlie watch his home burn to the ground and our things being stolen.
My stomach growled, and the smell of freshly baked bread drew me toward the dining room. There was no one there, but I followed the noises to the kitchen. Evangeline was writing notes in a book as she added ingredients to a huge pot.
