Did he sound confident?
He watched closely, looking for clues as Kendrick drove through town. The sun crept slowly up the side of the enormous mountain towering in front of them, which held the valley where Vaughn Winery sat. “Are we heading back to the winery?” He couldn’t see what was up there besides wine, and it was way too early to be drinking wine.
“Yep.”
Rue looked sideways at Kendrick, but Monty couldn’t make out his expression from his seat. “I didn’t think there was much up there to be visiting, unless we’re doing a wine tour?”
“Nope.”
“You’re good at these non replies,” groused Monty, resting his head back on the seat, seeing as Kendrick wasn’t going to give in and tell them what they were doing. Monty was too tired for guessing games and closed his eyes. He figured he could catch a twenty-minute nap before they reached their destination.
The lack of movement roused Monty, and he blinked sleepily, seeing they were back outside the hotel, only at the main entrance. The towering, dark-haired figure standing in the open doorway caused Monty to whistle in appreciation. “Who is that?”
“Your boyfriends are right here,” muttered Rue in a pissed off tone.
Monty released his seatbelt and came forward to poke his head between the seats, first kissing Rue’s cheek and then Kendrick’s. “I’m spoken for, not dead.”
He hopped out of the truck, grinning at the man whose gaze swept over him. Monty got the impression he missed nothing. The guy's eyes glowed… red. Holy shit. He glanced at Rue, looking to see if he’d noticed, but he was busy shutting the trunk.
“Thank you for this, Dacian.” Kendrick strode with the bag held in one hand, the other outstretched to Dacian.
When he looked at Dacian, the red was gone. Had he imagined it? He was tired; it was making him see things.
Monty followed Kendrick’s lead, walking to Dacian, smiling. He had met none of the Vaughn brothers. He’d heard quite a bit about them and Ledger, mate to the oldest brother Thorn, who had recently given birth to twins. Dacian and Calvert, he was told, were twins. Two that looked like Dacian, the gods had surely been shining a light that day!
Dacian focused sea-green eyes on him, and something about his expression set off a bout of nerves at the intensity that made him feel Dacian was… looking directly inside him.Weird.
“And who is this?”
The velvet smooth voice compelled Monty to answer. “I’m Monty.”
He sensed Rue moving before an arm slipped around his waist, tugging him almost off his feet and into Rue’s side.
“Hey,” he muttered as he staggered.
A sudden tension crackled in the air as Kendrick flanked the other side of him, the pleasant smile replaced by hostility. “Monty and Rue are my boyfriends.”
All my days!Where had that come from?
Dacian didn’t seem at all phased by that as he stepped closer to Monty. He caught his aftershave and not much else as he tried to determine what kind of shifter Dacian was.
Dacian leaned in and sniffed deliberately at Monty’s jacket.
Rue and Kendrick nearly squashed him in between them, and Monty had only one place to go to escape the squishing, backwards. Except looking at Dacian, he felt the compulsion to stay exactly as he was.
Most definitely weird!
He isn’t a threat to us.His otter was adamant.
I don’t think he really needs to be sniffing at me like that. I had a shower!
Then Dacian stepped back, and the feeling disappeared. His expression revealed zilch of what the heck that was all about. Then he smiled and back was the ‘wow factor’. The man was drop dead gorgeous, for sure. Monty could appreciate it, but no one could match his men.
“It’s lovely to meet you, Monty.” Dacian glanced at Kendrick. “I’ve had the staff set everything up to your specifications. Noone will bother you, so it’s your choice whether or not you wish to lock the doors.”
Derailed by what Dacian said, Rue wore a perplexed look, one Monty suspected he wore as well, as Dacian raised a hand as he turned. “If you’ll follow me, I’ll show you to the pool area.”
Pool?
