“It makes perfect sense.”
“How? How does my not bidding have anything to do with you participating?”
“It just does.”
“That’s not an answer!”
“It’s the only one you’re getting.”
I want to scream. I want to shake him. I want to grab his stupid handsome face and demand he explain why he’s being so impossible.
What I actually do is step closer, close enough that I’m breathing him in with every inhale, and jab my finger into his chest.
“Ben Wilson, you are the most infuriating man I have ever met.”
“Funny. I was just thinking the same thing about you.” His hand comes up to wrap around my wrist, not hard, just... holding. My pulse kicks up under his fingers. “You really don’t quit, do you?”
“I told you. Never.”
“Yeah.” His thumb brushes over my pulse point, and my breath catches. “I’m starting to figure that out.”
We’re too close. Way too close. I can see the flecks of gold in his brown eyes, the day-old stubble on his jaw, the way his chest is rising and falling just a little too fast. My heart is hammering so loud I’m sure he can hear it. The space heater clicks off in the silence, and the garage feels suddenly, achingly quiet.
His scent is everywhere—leather and musk and want. I can feel my own scent responding, the lavender getting sweeter, stronger, and I know he can smell it too because his grip on my wrist tightens.
“Tessa.” His voice is a warning.
“What?”
“You should go.”
“I’m not going until you say yes.”
“Then you’re gonna be here a while.” But he doesn’t let go of my wrist. Doesn’t step back. Just stands there, looking at me like he’s fighting a war with himself.
I should step back. I should leave and forget about the auction. But my feet won’t move, and my body is doing things I can’t control, and?—
His eyes drop to my mouth. Just for a second. Just long enough for me to notice, for my lips to part on instinct, for the air between us to go electric.
Oh.
Oh no.
I think he’s going to kiss me.
I think Iwanthim to.
And that’s when my body decides to betray me completely.
The slick comes without warning—a rush of wet heat between my thighs that has nothing to do with cold weather and everything to do with the alpha standing three inches away from me. My scent spikes so hard I can smell it myself, lavender flooding the air, and Ben makes a sound that’s almost a growl.
His whole body goes rigid. His hand tightens on my wrist—not painful, but firm, like he’s holding onto his control by a thread.
“Tessa.” His voice is wrecked. “You need to go. Now.”
The mortification hits me like a truck. I just slicked. In his garage. Because he looked at my mouth.
Fucking hell.
