The gorilla shifter lifted a black eyebrow sharply. “I think we’ve already got a problem.”
I cleared my throat and slid to the left, but his meaty fist stayed uncannily stuck to my chest—the gift was to be taken. “Quite so. Obviously, you know about our mutual acquaintances who this happened to before, but you’re missing something. I’m speaking of another problem.”
“Such as?” Stark shifter eyes aimed right at me. “This isn’t fucking ideal—obviously. But we can close our eyes if we have to, pretend neither one of us is a shifter or an elf, pretend that we actually find each other attractive, and get this knocked out before high noon. Then, we’ll both be on our way and forget this humiliation ever happened.And never speak of it again.”
“Well.” I slid to the right—and, fuck if that gift didn’t stay locked dead center on my chest.My Fae, how to put this delicately.“Bishop…”
“Spit it out, elf.” His head teetered back and forth. “Or don’t, and swallow. Whatever you’re into. I don’t judge.”
This just gets worse.My dagger may be needed soon. “While it’s clear you don’t have an issue with enjoying a man…I do.” I kept my dark blue eyes on his wicked shifter gaze. “I only like women.”
The deadly shifter froze in place.
Too bad we were both heating up from theurge, our scents even freaking flaming already, the Fae damned arousal hitting hard.
With the wrong people.
“That…is a problem.” Bishop stared, dumbfounded, for the longest second, then looked even more narrowly at me, running his shifter gaze all over my face. Finally, he dipped his head down to examine my features, his words highly doubtful. “You’re telling me, after what I saw today,you’venever had a man in your bed before?” His black brows lifted as if he knew I’d lie, griping brusquely, “Not even once? Because the man who owned that entire street earlier—with just a smile—could have anyone he wanted.”
How long had this bastard spied on me?
Asshole shifter.
After a quiet moment, I stayed on track and hedged, “The term ‘in bed’ is so broad.” I used my free hand—not the one hiding my dagger—and tapped my fingers against my lips, pointing at him absently. “Of course, there’s been men in my bed before. I’ve shared many women and men have shared with me. But never has there been a cock inserted—or vice versa.”
“Hm,” he growled and straightened slowly to his full height, making my head fall back to keep eye contact—as he continued to eye me with skeptical disbelief. “You might not be lying right now.”
“I’m not.” I blew a slow breath, trying to figure out how to fix this. “Perhaps if we brought a woman in with us—”
Hegrowledsoftly under his breath, giving voice to the furious gorilla inside him, cutting me off. “You know it doesn’t work that way. The true act needs to be between us.” Hehuffed. “And I’ve tried with women before. It doesn’t work for me. If you brought a woman in, my dick wouldn’t cooperate with tits and pussy flashing in my face.”
With hot sweat beginning to dot my brow from the urge, I rubbed at my forehead with furious fingers—and ignored the gift still shoved against my chest. “What in the Fae fuck would you suggest then?”
He snorted under his breath, a flicker of annoyance entering his cynical gaze. “You want my blunt truth in this shithole scenario, elf? Of course, you won’t like it, but…suck it up, buttercup. You know how this is going to end.”
When I emitted cold death from my eyes, he nudged his big fist against my chest with a soft touch, the shifter being remarkably gentle, with the gift staying pressed against my chest. “For what it’s worth, those mutual acquaintances you mentioned before seem to have gotten over their sexual hang-ups together. Mayhap you just don’t know what you’re missing.”
“I can’t even stand your shifter accent, much less your fucking dick.” I finally grabbed the damned gift out of his hand and waved the bag in his face. “No amount of sweets is going to help this. Understand me, shifter?”
Bishop rubbed his lips together, studying me quietly. Then hesnarleddeeply inside his chest and abruptly looked to the side, keeping his disturbed eyes off me as he growled, “Would it help if you fucked me—and not the other way around?”
Fucking Fae…
Look what you have done to us.
Bastards. The whole lot of you.
“Just…” I couldn’t breathe right now, my chest heaving in great gulps of oxygen. “I need a moment to think without your scent giving me a hard-on.” I wiggled my shoulders, and since this wasn’t my enemy’s fault either, I muttered breathlessly, “I apologize in advance about this.”
I spread my ice power in a viciousblastof frigid ice, circling where he stood within a mere blink of an eye, thickening the blue see-through freeze hard enough to hold off a shifter of his stature.
Bishop jolted where he stood, his eyes widening in fury as he peered all around him, seeing he was caught within the impressive icy embrace cocooning his person. He raised his right hand…and punched the shit out of the frosty cage, level with my face,snarlingfuriously inside the ice bubble surrounding him.
The bitch actually cracked it.
I swiftly added a few more layers of protection, not expecting that level of strength—when it hadn’t looked like he’d even hit it with his full might.
With his scent now captured within my power, I lifted a swift finger when he started to look genuinely pissed. “Just give me a minute, dammit all.I need to think.”
