“Or you know. Candles could be good.”
She scribbled it down. “Candles, okay.”
“And maybe we could also have some music on.”
“We can do music,” she said. “What kind were you thinking of?”
“You know. Like a playlist. Of the sort most people make when they do this.”
“Seth, I have no idea what other werewolves listen to when they bone.”
“I wasn’t talking about werewolves. I was talking about ordinary people being—you know. Intimate. And the kinds of music they might listen to. Like, to set the mood. To make things seem sexy.”
She stopped scribbling and looked up from her notepad.
Because the candles thing—well, that had almost made her wonder about what exactly he was suggesting. But sexy mood music on top of that? Yeah, that definitely took what he was saying frommake things less sterileto something else entirely. Something that made her want to laugh.
Much to his exasperation.
He took one look at the trembling near-grin she was trying to suppress, and didn’t just roll his eyes. He rolled his whole body.“See, this is why I didn’t say anything. I knew you’d find it weird,” he said. So now she had to somehow explain that her amusement wasn’t mockery.
Withoutletting on what had actually caused it:
An absolute cavalcade of purest joy, of the kind she could hardly contain. God, she almost wanted to burst with it, for a moment. To tell him something inadvisable, like how much that did her heart good to hear. But then she remembered she wasn’t supposed to be doing good in the heart department. She was supposed to be problem-solving.
And reined herself back in.
“I’m not finding it weird, Seth. I just wasn’t expecting this.”
“Well, you should have. You know I like things to be a certain way.”
“So this is like creating a nice study environment, but for fucking.”
She gave him a single incredulous eyebrow. But he just snapped his fingers. “Yeah. Yeah. Let’s say that. Let’s put it that way,” he said. And okay, that was a little bit more practical than she’d expected. But that was good. It helped her maintain an air of professionalism about this.
Less glee. More straightforward questions.
“Okay, so what else would help?” she asked, briskly, and almost wavered over the delighted grin he gave her. It lit up his whole face. She came close to leaning forward and licking it, and was only saved by him speaking.
“Well, I mean, we had almost all our clothes on.”
“So that was abadthing to you. You actuallywantme completely nude.”
“Maybe not completely. I mean, I can see your tortured expression at the very idea.”
He pointed at her face as he said it—as if she didn’t know what was there. It was fine though, because her expression was already turning into something better. Something that felt like relief, at his acknowledgment. And it deepened, when he added, “But youknow, I thought possibly we could be a littlelessdressed. Like we could be dressed in something that’s more the kind of thing people wear when they have sex.”
Because oh, she knew what he meant.
And it made her words come out a little breathless.
“I feel like this is a roundabout way of saying sexy lingerie.”
“It doesn’t have to be lingerie. Or sexy. Just whatever is most you.”
“Most me would be that nightdress you saw me in, in the basement,” she said, sort of laughing. Only somehow his eyes went bright and big the moment she said the word. And the weirdly thrilling realization sank in. “Which you are apparently into. You are into that. Despite the fact that it makes me look like an old lady.”
“It doesn’t make you look like an old lady. It makes you look like—”
