Esther blinks at me, shock and desire commingling in her expression. “I can’t believe I had an orgasm in front of all those people.”
I shake my head, and bite my delicious snack, my cock hard from the memory of her on my lips. “I’m sorry. I really thought I’d be able to control myself. But your scent was so strong and I’m not used to being around my mate, I had no idea what control your scent would have over me.” I get closer to her, dusting my lips against hers, my cottontail making an appearance as I skate my tongue along hers. “You are irresistible to me. I hope you’re not mad I did that.”
She pulls back, looking a little drunk. “If anyone else had done that, I would have screamed. I would have stopped the meeting, stood up and screamed,” she says, eyes searching mine as her tongue sweeps her bottom lip. “But it felt so good, like, so, so good,” she beams, awe in her voice.
I nod. “Bunnies have soft noses and talented tongues.”
She frowns. “If I’m your mate, does that mean the only way we’d mate is… when you’re Hopper? Does Jack ever get to mate?”
I can’t help but smile because this question means I’m growing on her. It means she feels the fated pull between us, too.
“We have to undergo one mating ritual on Easter,” I explain to her. “You have to accept me as your mate and let me breed you as Hopper,” I continue, hoping she’s as interested in me as I am her. “After you’ve accepted me as your mate and we’ve consummated once, I am free to shift as I please. Sometimes I won’t be able to help it, like on full moons, as I mentioned, but otherwise, I can give you either version of myself you like best.”
She doesn’t say anything about the shifting beyond that, but pats my knee, making my leg thump. “We beat the Mayor, by the way.”
6
Back at the Burrow, I need an ice cold shower to shake these thoughts from my brain. But Esther Basquette and her TED talk about Easter and why we should honor both the holidayandthe Eggstravaganza?
I can’t stop jerking off.
Every time I think it’s out of my system, I replay her romanticizing the way egg dye clings to her fingertips long afterSunday, how the wind felt in her hair when she ran through the long grass searching for eggs, the smell of chocolate simmering on the stove—it was such a spiritual and emotional speech. It's almost like Easter turns her on as much as it does me.
All signs point to her being my mate. Scent aside, she’s my dream woman. Paws down.
She couldn’t resist me beneath the table earlier, and something tells me a woman as strong and beautiful as Esther Basquette doesn’t just let any jack rabbit lick her pussy.
Tugging on my jeans and flannel shirt, I toe into boots, swipe a comb through my hair and head over. Esther and Chelsey are folding treasure maps tonight, ones that will be stuffed in the kids’ baskets before the big hunt. They have over one thousand to fold, so I offered to help.
Esther’s sister, my long-time neighbor, pulls open the door, a wide smile on her face. “Hi Jack,” she grins, hobbling back to make room for me. I nod at her foot as I enter, closing the door as she hops to the counter. “How’s the foot?”
Leaning over the counter, she sighs. “Oh it’ssuperhurt.” She catches her face in her palm, blinking up at me with doe eyes. “Like mega hurt. But… Are you having fun with my sister?”
Peering down the hall, I notice the door to Esther’s room is closed.
“She’s showering,” Chelsey tells me, reading my mind.
I drop my voice to a private whisper. If I can smell her hungry pussy from a mile away, whose to say Esther can’t sense me or hear me in some way, too? People are pretty regular, but I don’t know all their secrets, and I can’t take any chances.
“I really like her, Chelsey. I kind of wish you would have invited her over sooner,” I admit, not wanting Chelsey’s foot to be hurt, but knowing I could have had Esther in my life sooner makes me a little sad.
“She never visited before. Her ex boyfriend hated little towns like Carrot Creek, so they stayed in the city. I’d meet them halfway when I’d see her.”
My hands fall into fists at my side. “Not letting her go to her own sister’s house is a dick move.”
The oven dings, and she motions to it, tossing me a spare mit. “Take the cake out?”
Nodding, I take the oven mit and slip it on my hand, then pull open the door. Warm, spicy air nearly knocks me over as I reach inside and find a tray of carrot cake. “This smells so good. It’s my favorite, you know,” I explain to her as I slide the hot tray over an egg-shaped trivet.
“I know,” she says, then backtracks a little when my brows furrow in reaction. “Well, I assumed, you know, since you have that whole garden full of carrots.”
“Hi,” Esther says, appearing at the end of the hallway, her hair wet and down around her shoulders, skin glistening.
“Cad Berreigh brand body wash,” I hear myself say, my nose working overtime as my groin tightens. And at the sight of me, Esther grows immediately aroused, and my nose twitches, spotting the scent.That one I keep to myself.
Chelsey slow claps. “You’ve got a good nose on you.”
Realizing that I haven’t told her about my shifter background, and guessing that her sister hasn’t quite found a way to break the news, I scrub a hand down my face, smiling. “Yeah, but Cad Berreigh is everyone’s favorite brand, isn’t it?”
