“I know you’ve lived most of your life up on a mountain, but you do know what most mates do when they meet, right?” I asked, trying to sound teasing but it just occurred to me that despite his teasing and bossing me around he might not actually know.
“Is this a game? Like I say ‘no, I don’t know’, even though I do, and you show me what you like?” he asked, still massaging my shoulders. “And I’m all ‘Yes, professor. Like this? Am I doing it right? Am I your good boy?”
“And have you played that game before?” I asked, trying not to blush. My praise kink wasn’t so hidden, was it? I almost told him it washisjob to tellmethat I was a good boy. I stopped short because a bear needs to save something for later.
“Not that particular game but I know enough,” he said and I glanced up at him. “I just know that we have forever to get to it. Is the true-mate magic making me hard as hell every time we’re alone? Yeah. Do you smell delicious? Yeah. More delicious with each passing second. Plus, I still have to make you relax.”
“Make me relax?” I arched my brows and attempted to look cross with him. My teary eyes made the attempt an utter failure. Not very sexy.
“Yeah. I don’t think you ever learned how to,” Wess said. “I think that’s why you chose me in the Other World.”
“And you know how to relax?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Well, you did clean up the living room as soon as you walked in.”
“Because it bothered you. I could’ve lived with it,” he shrugged, still massaging my shoulders. At least I wasn’t falling asleep this time.
“So what’s your secret to being unbothered? And I don’t want to hear that the answer is not to care what other people think. Everyone cares what someone else thinks. It’s humanoid nature. Everyone wants to be liked.”
“Not true. Sure, some people need to be liked. Some people need to have the majority’s approval, but mate, I’ve lived on top of a mountain by myself for most of my adult life. I don’t need anyone’s approval. I want you to like me. I want the baby to like me – maybe he’s the one I’m most worried about not liking me because he’s obviously the center of your world and properly so. I even want to get along with your family but I don’t need the world to like me. Hell, they tried to summon me down from the mountain with some big party in my honor in exchange for my abilities. I don’t want that. As for the rest of it? Eh, I know what I’m capable of. I know how I am and what I can manage. That means for the most part, I don’t worry.”
“You are so going to bite the midwife. I can see it now. Mister Chill loses it all as soon as I’m pregnant. I can’t wait for it,” I grinned.
“Does the idea of me biting a midwife turn you on?” he leaned down and whispered in my ear.
His warm breath played on my skin, and I let out a long, deep breath. Yeah, it sort of did. All my life I stood up for myself. I was the perfect modern omega who handled all my own stuff. Hell, I wasn’t even going to tell anyone about Sharon Claudis until she started causing trouble for other people too. So was I a traitor to think this way now? The thought of him organizingthe house – even for a weekend – of him planning one meal or handling wrapping some Yuletide gifts or kicking Venal’s ass into a pulp if he tried to show up and be his mother’s evil minion again. It hit me in all the right spots. Not just below the belt either. My whole life someone always had my back but this was different. He was different.
“So, you’re going to teach me to relax?” I asked, not answering Wess’s question aloud.
“No, I’m going to relax you. You’re a carrier. All the worry and stress genes have been built into you by centuries of carriers doing most of the work. Asking you to relax would be like asking a fish not to swim. I’m not an unreasonable demon. Eventually, you’ll know I’m not going anywhere but for now… Eh, I’ll just do the heavy lifting myself.”
Wess’s hands disappeared from my shoulders, and I thought he’d circle around the chair, but he disappeared into the kitchen. Had I misread his intentions? I thought he was talking about sex or at least foreplay. Was he talking about food? Did he have a food kink maybe? That one where he liked to watch people eat?
“He’s rummaging around in the hall closet,”my bear said into my thoughts, tuning me into his more powerful hearing.
A second later, Wess walked back into the living room with the massage table I bought when I thought I’d become a massage therapist tucked under one arm.
“How did you know that was there?” I asked as he set it up in the middle of the floor.
I got up and pulled the drapes. Whatever we got up to this evening the whole of the Nightshade Bear Territory didn’t needto see. I had already spotted a few looky-loos trying to catch a peek at Wess.
“I found it while I was looking for the broom. You don’t keep it by the door. That’s where I keep it at the cave. It’s a good way to chase off squirrels and rodents without hurting them,” he said.
“Uh… Squirrels don’t come inside here. We make sure of that. Here – like inside the house here – Baby Andy would totally eat whatever squirrel he caught and then cry because it was gone.”
“Strip,” Wess said once he was certain the massage table was stable enough for his liking. Then he disappeared down the hall again. I froze in place unsure of exactly what he was planning. He was in my bedroom now and I was glad I had a few minutes to straighten up before my shower while I was grabbing my clothes. He came back with two belts and my brows arched higher.
“You’re still dressed,” he said, bemusement dancing on his expression.
“Uh… do I need a safe word before I undress?”
“Oh,” he laughed at the belts. “These are to keep you on the table. I’m not a sadist. Well, I can be if that’s your thing, but I’m not a sadist by nature.”
“Bondage then?” I laughed and a little tension fled my shoulders. I didn’t mind some spanking or when an alpha man-handled me a bit but a belt to the butt wasn’t my idea of sexy. I’d never yuck someone else’s yum but life had beat my ass enough recently without adding a belt into the equation.
“Gotta keep you in place, so you relax,” he shrugged. “Up to you. If you want to stay stressed out all night, I’m not going to stop you.”
