I pressed my lips together to avoid bringing her up. I wanted Liam all to myself for the next hour, or two, or however long we had before someone inevitably called upon him.
“So, what is it we still needed to discuss?” I planted my hands into the pockets of my oversized polar fleece sweater, mostly to keep my fingers from reaching out and wrapping around Liam’s.
His attention, which had been on the road, moved to my face. “Hmm. Let’s wait until we’re indoors to have this conversation, all right?”
The nerves the beer had quieted revved anew.
“Don’t look so alarmed. It’s nothing bad.”
A few minutes of copious silence later, I turned down the path that led to my dark and empty cabin. As I unzipped my bulky sweater, Liam reached out and held the collar. The staticky material clung to my black T-shirt and pasted it onto my skin. I plucked at the sleeves to get them unstuck and to give my twitchy fingers something to do.
I knew Liam intimately, and yet the man still had the power to make me nervous. Go figure.
“I’m going to preface what I’m about to ask by saying that I still want to take it slow.” Liam rubbed the edge of his jaw, the sound of his calluses catching on his stubble.
“Okay . . .”
“When you pointed out you weren’t my girl, it really ticked me off.” He started on the nape of his neck, scouring his skin like Dad scoured the bottom of his giant pots. “So? Would you?”
I frowned. “Would I what?”
He blew air out the corner of his mouth, then mumbled, “Officiallybemygirl?”
It took my mind a minute to parse out his inarticulate sentence. When I did, I smiled so wide my cheeks hurt. “You want to date me?”
In slow motion, his hand fell away from his neck and settled loosely at his side. “Is that a yes?”
“Is my smile not wide enough?”
“It’s pretty wide, but you’re a generally very smiley person.”
I took a step forward and wrapped both my hands around his neck, pulling his face down toward mine. “I can’t believe how nervous this made you. I didn’t think anything could rattle my stoic Alpha.”
“Apparently something can.Someone.” He enclosed my waist between his large hands.
“I always dreamt of having a superpower.”
A smile finally eased onto his face, brightening every shadow. “Youareaware you can transform into a wolf, right?”
I laughed. “I am, but I wanted an edge.”
“I saw your art. That’s definitely a superpower.”
I cocked an eyebrow. “Where?”
“On your tablet once. Then I might’ve stalked your social media.” He bumped my nose with his.
“Huh. Imagine that. A great pack Alpha using Instagram. Let me guess . . . your handle is BigBadAndSexy or MisterBigBad?”
This time, he laughed. “No. And I don’t have an account, but Sarah does for her deejaying. I borrowed hers.” His hands dipped into the back pockets of my jeans and squeezed. “And I really mean it. About you being talented.”
“You’re not just saying that to get laid?”
“Isn’t getting laid a prerequisite in a relationship? Speaking of . . .” He tipped his head toward the hallway. “I’d really like to get bored with you right now, Miss Freemont.”
I laughed as he walked me backward into my bedroom.
Behind my closed door, our lips collided and our clothes came off. Fingertips and tongues met bare skin. Every place Liam tasted blazed, every spot his calluses scraped tingled, every area his breath struck heated.
