“There’s no point in you putting on something dry, baby.”
“And why is that, Dec?”
“Because I’m not done with you. Whatever you change into will just get wet again.”
Jen laughed. “Can you imagine how this conversation would sound to someone who didn’t know we were talking about leaking breasts?” His deep laugh made her stomach flutter as she stared down at the man who had stolen her heart in a matter of days. “Remember when Jacque and I were in the hospital?” she asked, running her fingers through his hair, her wet shirt now forgotten.
“Which part?” he asked. “The part where you got drunk or the part where you attempted to climb me like a tree while you were wearing nothing but a sheet?”
“Since I don’t really remember that second one, let’s go with that part. What was that like?” Jen asked. She propped herself up on his chest, her chin resting in her hand.
“How did it makemefeel to have an eighteen-year-old human—”
“Not totally human here, bud,” she interrupted.
“I didn’t know that at the time, now did I?” Decebel challenged.
“Touché, now carry on.”
“How did it feel to have an eighteen-year-old female who I believed to be human attempting to molest my leg?”
“Is that what we’re calling it?” She narrowed her eyes at him and raised her eyebrows suggestively. “Your leg?”
Dec smacked her butt, hard. “Behave female.”
She shrugged. “One day we will tell this story to our grandkids, so we have to have the details recorded correctly.”
“This isnota story we will ever tell anyone’s grandkids, least of all our own,” he said to her.
“And why not?” she asked. “It’s a part of our story, of how we came to be, which, in turn, is how they will have come to be.” She waggled her eyebrows at him.
“Do you want your parents to tell you howyoucame to be?” he asked, his brow raising as he stared at her. “Do you want your mom to share how your dad flapped his peacock feathers at her and strutted around until she was willing to let him fertilize her?”
“Oh, crap!” Jen caught herself as she nearly fell off the couch as the laughter rolled through her. “You’re like a Romanian nature channel narrator guy!” She ended up on her butt on the floor looking up at Decebel as she continued to try to catch her breath. When she could finally speak again, she spoke in her best Romanian accent. “Watch how the peacock releases its feathers in a spray of utter abandon as he attempts to capture the female’s notice. First, he moves left and then he moves right.” With each word, her voice deepened, taking on a sultry cadence. “He flicks his head back and releases a cry. It is the call to his mate. Come to me, he says, come to me and dance.”
“Dance?” Decebel’s brow drew into a deep V.
Jen chuckled and shrugged. “What were you expecting me to say? Come to me and sex?”
“I’ve given up trying to predict what you’re going to say, baby. I just try to roll with whatever comes out of your mouth,” Decebel said.
“Psht, you don’t roll with anything. In fact,” Jen said holding up a hand, “you are the exact opposite of someone who just rolls with things. You’re an anti-roller. Which would make you a square.” She shrugged. “You just need to own it.”
“Own that I’m an anti-roller?” Decebel frowned at her.
“Exactly. And a square.”
“How did we go from not telling our grandchildren about you climbing me like a drunk lumberjack to me being an anti-roller square?”
Jen laughed as she reached up to pat his cheek. “It’s tough to keep up with me because you’re so much older, but you’re going to have to try if you don’t want me looking for a younger werewolf lover.”
“A younger werewolf lover wouldn’t be able to handle you,andyou’d get bored,” he said confidently.
“As much as I hate to admit it, you’re probably right.” She leaned back against the couch and sighed as he began to run his fingers through her hair. “She’s going to be alright, isn’t she?”
“I will accept no other outcome. So yes, she’s going to be alright,” he answered, and the calm in his voice helped Jen feel a little better.
“Then I guess it’s just hurry up and wait.” She sighed again and closed her eyes, soaking in the touch of her mate and trying her damnedest not to jump up and start screaming “the sky is falling,” even though that’s exactly what it felt like, like the whole world was crumbling down on top of her.
