“Nothing is better than seeing you waiting for me like this.”He rumbles the words with his face pressed into my hair and kicks the front door shut with the heel of his boot.
Disturbed from his nap, Bruce gives an exasperated huff before trotting back toward the guest bedroom he’s claimed as his own.
“Really?You like me without clothes on?I never would’ve guessed.”I can feel myself grinning as I move to meet Warner’s eye.
Only I can’t.He keeps his head turned away as he walks around the cabin with me in his arms.And for some reason, he seems bent on shutting off the lights.
“Don’t bother with those.”I didn’t wear my cutest set of underwear, only to hook up with Warner in the dark.Plus, I made sure to use ice packs on my eyes to get rid of the puffiness from my earlier sob-fest.
“I’m setting the mood,” he murmurs against my ear.
I shiver again.
Still, there’s tension underlying his words.The same bit that has all the muscles in his neck tightening.My first assumption was that it was sexual.
But now, I’m not so sure.
When the only light in the cabin is the almost-full moon peeking through a slit in the curtains, Warner finally turns his head to kiss me.
His mouth is ravenous, his tongue eager.The werewolf stands in the middle of the main room, clutching me to him, devouring my mouth as if I’m the reason he can breathe.
When we finally break apart, he gasps out one question.“Couch or bed?”
“Couch,” I declare.
For one, it’s closer.But also, it works better with my plan.
Just because my mind begs to get lost in the passion of Warner’s kiss doesn’t mean I’ll give in to the urge.
Something is wrong, and I’m going to find out what.
“I assume you want me on bottom,” he says, his tone half humorous, half pleading.
“Glad that you’re learning.”My voice is all huskiness, and Warner responds to it eagerly.
He walks around to the front of the couch, settling us on the old cushions, him lying back while I straddle his waist.
I’m tempted to lean down and kiss the hell out of him.
But I can’t.
Before he realizes my intention, I reach for the lamp on the table beside the armrest and flick on the light.
His body goes taut under me, and when I blink to adjust my eyes, I see why.
Warner’s eyebrow has a nasty gash through it, and his face is bruised.He winces and avoids my eyes, but that doesn’t stop me from wrenching up his shirt to find even more discoloration on his torso.
“Where did all of these bruises come from?”My words come out ragged with worry.He’s riddled with injuries.“Did you have an accident at work?”
“It doesn’t matter.They’ll be healed in a few hours.”Warner pries his shirt out of my hands, pulling it down to cover himself.
“Itdoesmatter.What happened?When did it happen?You weren’t messed up like this when we went out to lunch!”
“Zoey.”He groans my name, sitting up to bury his face in my neck and wrap his arms around my waist.The hold presses us tight together, which I would enjoy any other time, but now, I can’t examine his injuries.
He starts kissing my skin, causing goose bumps to prickle all over my body.
The sneaky animal is looking to distract me.
