It felt crazy.
My growling stomach saved me from having to awkwardly ask Connor for some space. He let go of me and stepped back,dragging a hand through the top of his hair. When he pulled it away, he looked down at the bubbles like he’d forgotten the shampoo was still in it.
“I’m going to make a few more sandwiches while you wash out your organic hair mask,” I said. “Unless you’d prefer I bring you a bag of chips.”
His lips tilted upward slightly. “Chips would be great, thanks.”
“I’ll have them right out.” I bit back a smile as I padded back out of the bathroom.
four
ZOE
“You weren’t supposedto do my laundry,” Connor said, when he met me in the kitchen ten minutes later. The mountain of sandwiches had been replenished, and the stack of loaves of bread in his pantry told me he’d asked his friend for more than just oat milk.
It was sweet.
Really sweet.
“It wasn’t difficult,” I said.
“I don’t care if it’s difficult, Zoe. You’re not here to do housework.”
“What am I here for, then?”
I didn’t look back at him. I was worried it would make me feel things. Or just more horniness. I was still slick between my thighs from the way he’d touched me in the closet.
“I thought your wolf might not let me out of her sight. That happens most of the time with mated couples. Ones who don’t split up, at least.”
My forehead creased.
My wolf hadn’t cared when I left him in the kitchen to go shower, or when we were separate while I ate.
“What does that mean?” I asked.
“Definitively? Nothing.”
“What about theoretically?”
Connor let out a quiet breath. “For the guys in my pack, it meant rejection.”
“Including you?”
“Yup.”
Damn.
That would be a problem, for both of us. More him than me, though. I’d survive, at least. His survival would be a question.
“How could she have already decided she doesn’t want you? I waslookingfor a mate, and you saved my life by helping me through the shift. Hers too.”
“I don’t know. Fate’s a pain in the ass.”
Considering how our friend groups had been mashed together with mate bonds, that did seem accurate.
“Do you mind if I borrow your phone?” I asked. I’d seen it sitting on the counter, plugged in next to the stove. It had taken a lot of self-restraint not to snoop. “I left mine in my car.”
“Sure.”
