“Exactlywhat?”
“They might find it weird that you and I . . . youknow. . .”
He smiled down atme.
“You’re enjoying how nervous this is makingme?”
“A little. You’re cute when youblush.”
“Puppies are cute. And I don’tblush.”
“You do. And fine, you’re drop-dead gorgeous, and I’m the luckiest bastard in the entireworld.”
I rolled my eyes. “You don’t have to overdoit.”
“That was me stating a hard fact, Ness. Youarethe most beautiful girl, and Iamthe luckiest guy.” He leaned in and stole a kiss. “But I don’t think we’ll be able to hide this for weeks. Days,possibly.”
I nodded. “Days aregood.”
He kissed me again, dragging my mouth open, deepening the kiss until the tiles beneath my feet vanished. And they really did, because he lifted me and pressed me into the warm wall. Before I could fall, I wrapped my legs around his waist and got so carried away with our make-out session that my brain turned blissfullyblank.
But then a phone rang, and Cole’s voice resonated outside the door, and I landed with a thump back into the present. August set me down gently, the stiff swell tenting his towel brushing along the insides of my thighs. Dizzy with lust, I leaned back against the wall to even out my scatteredheartbeats.
August bracketed my head with his palms, breathing in the air I panted out. “I might have to take another shower.” His gravelly voice intensified my lust-induceddaze.
There was a knock on the door. “Guys, sorry to interrupt, but there’s been a development, so if you two don’t mind taking a little breakfrom—”
I opened the door so fast Cole almost stumbled inside the bathroom. “Whatdevelopment?”
“Julian just challenged CassandraMorgan.”
I frowned. “Challenged her to dowhat?”
“A potato-sack race,” Cole said, just as August whispered, “Noway. . . ”
“Yes, way.” Cole spun his phone between his fingers. “And I was kidding about therace.”
“He challenged her for leadership of the Creeks?” I blurted out. “What did shesay?”
He inhaled a long breath. “When an Alpha challenges another Alpha, Ness, there are two solutions. You either relinquish your territory and scram, or you accept to duel and hope you’ll catch the challenger on a badday.”
“She’d have to give up Beaver Creek?” Iasked.
“And the inn. And any other land that belongs to them. It’s the law of the packs . . . the law of thefittest.”
“That’s a ballsy move on Julian’s part,” Augustsaid.
Cole stopped twirling his phone. “He’ll either go down a legend or an imbecile, that’s forsure.”
“Do you think he’ll challenge Liam next?” Iasked.
“Julian would’ve done it before now if he’d wanted our pack’s land,” Augustsaid.
“Julian was probably frightened of doing it before,” Cole said, “what with the whisperings of the pack being soevolutionary.”
“Evolutionary?” Iasked.
“All-male,” Cole said. “And before you rip me a new one, I neither came up with the term, nor did I believe we were more evolved. I was simply guessing at a reason Julian never challengedHeath.”
