“Let’s talk about it, then.” He watched her, the potency of his gaze unnerving. “If you can remain truthful, that is.”
He was still all tied up about her lying to him? She groaned. “You have to let it go, for goodness sake. Enough with the digs. I swear, sometimes I just want to kick you in the balls.” He wanted honesty? She’d give it to him.
His smile was slow and challenging. “That’d be one way to get things going.”
Amusement attacked her, and she laughed, her body finally letting go of some of the tension. “How can you joke about this?”
“I enjoy your laughter,” he said.
She paused, pleasure heating her. “Oh.” Her hands started fluttering, so she flattened her palms on her jeans. If he was finally going to open up to her, she was going to take the moment and enjoy it before she left this world. “I guess in your day there were many arranged marriages or matings?”
“Aye,” he said softly. “It was a way of life, and frankly, more people stayed together in those days than they do now.”
She wrinkled her nose. “Getting intimate with a stranger would be difficult, don’t you think?” At least she and Adare had known each other for years, and the attraction was there. Oh, was it ever there. The idea of his impossibly hard and naked body had kept her up for more than one sleepless night.
He shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t think we’d have to worry about that.”
Was he flirting with her? Why not daydream a little? She swallowed. “We wouldn’t?”
His grin, this time, was more wolfish than boyish, but it was endearing nonetheless. “Oh, I’ve wanted you for years. Based on your reaction the other night, I believe it’s mutual.”
Yeah, there was no reason to deny that fact. “Aren’t we so adult discussing this?” It was too bad they couldn’t just find a couple bottles of wine to get sloppy drunk and then naked. But it was not to be.
He exhaled slowly. “Thus far, I’ve kept my distance from you, and it has probably appeared that I’m easy-going. I’m not.”
She burst out laughing. Full out, relieved to deal with the tension, belly laughter. “This has been youeasy-going?”
Both of his dark eyebrows rose, instead of the usual left one. “Well, yes. Why are you laughing?”
She quieted. He wasserious? “Dude.”
He frowned. “Maybe this is a good time for you to express what you’d like out of this mating, and then I’ll do the same.”
Express? Seriously. “We are not mating. You really need to listen to me.” She lifted her hands, gesturing.
“Huh. All right. Before we argue, how about you hypothetically tell me what you’d like if we did decide to trust fate and science and mate again?”
Oh, she wasn’t strong enough to resist playing along. “Well, hypothetically, I’d like for you to pull the stick out of your ass and show some real emotions.” She leaned forward, on a roll, losing the battle to be an adult. “This brick wall you’ve built around yourself has to end. I can’t break through it, and I would not beat my head against it for eternity. Or even for a while.”
“Meaning?” he asked, his rough voice silky.
She swallowed and fidgeted. Might as well give him the full truth. “Well, we’re talking about options, so there might be a couple we haven’t discussed. If we got crazy and did fully mate, and if I regain my strength and don’t kill you, then we’d be like any other mated couple. Physically, I mean.” When he didn’t respond, she continued. “In that case, I’d be strong enough to take the virus, as would you, and then we could go our own ways.” Yeah, the virus would be risky since they’d both still be living, but it was necessary to discuss all options before they made a commitment. He remained silent, which wasn’t a shock. “Speak,” she snapped.
“All right,” he said. “Let’s start with the beginning of that statement. I’m not an emotional person. Never have been.”
It was like pulling teeth with a tweezer. “I don’t want you to start sobbing about losing your virginity, Adare. I just would not be able to mate you without knowing you. There would have to be something intimate between us.” She bit her lip. “I think it was Billy Crystal who said that women need a reason for sex and men just need a place.”
“We have both a place and a reason,” he murmured. When her eyes widened and her temper was about to burst out, he lifted a hand. “I understand. I will work on the emotions. I actually quite enjoyed losing my virginity. It was with a wolf shifter who was several centuries older than was I.” He smiled.
“What is it with you and shifters?” she muttered.
“They’re wild in bed,” he responded instantly.
So now he decided to open up. Wonderful. She had to turn this conversation. “You know I think we shouldn’t mate. I don’t want to kill you.”
“You won’t. I’m glad you’re discussing it now.”
She sighed. “Yeah, I want to live, but not at the expense of killing you.”
