Suddenly, he stopped, raising his nose to the air and breathing in deeply. He turned, his eyes landing on me as a wide smile appeared on his face. He hurried over, scooping me up and kissing me like his life depended on it.
I leaned into him, not caring for a second that his sweat-soaked skin was pressed against me or that his betas were standing right there. As long as he kept his lips on mine, the rest of the world didn’t exist. It was just me and him.
I grinned, draping my arms around his neck.I could definitely get used to this.
Knowing You Better
SHADE
“I’m so happy to see you, baby,” Caelan said, waving to Taffy and Dillon as they left to give us a little privacy. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”
“I know you’re busy, but…uh, I thought you might be hungry,” I explained as I held up the picnic basket Taffy had helped me prepare. “It’s nearly lunchtime.”
“You brought me food?” he asked quietly as he glanced down at the basket in my hands.
My shoulders slumped, my confidence instantly deflating.
“It’s stupid. You’ve probably got too much going on to take a break. I’ll just get out of your hair and let you get back to training,” I babbled as I turned to walk away.
“Shade, wait!” Caelan said, catching my arm and pulling me back. “Baby, I’m never too busy for you.” He lifted my chin, capturing my gaze with his own. “And I’m starving. I would love to have a picnic with you.”
He maneuvered the basket into one hand while taking hold of mine with the other. I followed him to a grassy hill overlooking the training grounds, smiling as he unrolled the blanket I’d brought along.
We sat, and I began pulling out what I’d packed for our lunch.
“So, what are we having?” Caelan asked, rubbing his hands together in excitement.
“Well, Taffy said you stick to a pretty strict diet when you’re training, so I made us a lemon chicken salad.”
“You made this?” he asked with wide eyes as I presented him with one of the containers.
“Yes,” I replied hesitantly. “Why? What’s wrong with it? Does it smell funny? Look gross? You don’t have to eat it if you don’t want to.”
“Baby, I promise it looks and smells great,” he explained with an easy smile. “I guess I just didn’t expect you to cook for me. That’s all.”
“I wanted to do something special for you,” I replied with a shy shrug. “We haven’t gotten to spend much time together lately. We’ve been so worried about the challenges.”
“You wanted to spend more time with me, huh?” he teased with a grin.
“Of course,” I replied, my cheeks heating as I glanced down at his lips. “But today I figured we could maybe talk a little more. I feel there’s still so much I don’t know about you, and I want to know everything.”
“We have had other things on our mind when we’re able to catch a moment together, haven’t we?” he offered with a cheeky smile. “We have our whole lives to learn everything we want to know about each other, Shade, but I’m more than happy to answer any questions you have right now.”
“Thank you. Um, what’s your favorite color?” I asked before taking a bite of my salad.
“Blue.Lightblue,” he replied, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively and causing me to giggle.
“For real?” I pressed, feeling like he was only saying what he thought I wanted to hear.
“For real. Even before I met you, I always really liked that color. But after I saw these eyes”—he ran his thumb delicately across my cheek—“the color was locked in at the number one spot permanently.”
I stared at him lovingly as my heart fluttered.
How does he always manage to make me feel like this? One touch, one look, one kind word, and I’m rendered completelyhelpless. It’s intoxicating. I don’t even care if it’s just some lame pick up line. It’s working.
“I thought you said you had more questions for me,” he teased.
The blush on my cheeks spread quickly, turning my face bright red.
