Rhett settled in bed beside me. When I didn’t stop shivering, he rolled over, draping his legs over mine. His head settled onto my chest, fitting perfectly between my breasts.
I sighed despite myself. He really was so dang warm.
Something hard pulsed against my thigh, and my throat felt dry.
Of course, he was hard. He had boobs in his face. What man wouldn’t get a little aroused from that?
Mature adults. Just two mature adults sharing a bed because they were pretending to be in love.
Being in real love with a shifter was sounding more appealing by the minute, though. Maybe I could come back to Alaska whenall of this was done. Get my fresh start in a middle of nowhere shifter town with some hunky wolf shifter that wasn’t going to wait half his life for a fated mate.
The problem was that I didn’t want just any wolf shifter. I wanted one in particular, but he wasn’t in the market for a real mate.
What was he going to tell his mom when I went home next week?
I sighed again, running my hands through Rhett’s hair. If snuggling wasn’t off limits, then neither was this.
Rhett made a noise like a purr, and his head bounced as I giggled.
“Why are you so warm? It’s not fair.”
“Perks of being a shifter.”
“You’re always warm, you can eat whatever you want, and apparently you heal like Superman. What do I have to do to become a shifter?”
“It doesn’t work like that,” he mumbled, eyes closing as my fingers tickled across his scalp.
“Are you sure? What happens if you bite me? Will I turn into a werewolf like you?”
Rhett jerked up, irises bright and wild. “You would be my mate. That’s what would happen if I bit you.”
There wasn’t an ounce of playfulness in those words.
This time, it wasn’t the cold that made me shiver. My throat worked. I was too hot, and the ache blooming between my legs was suddenly unbearable. I tried to press them together discreetly, but his thigh was nestled between mine.
Only the tiny sense of pride I had left kept me from grinding against his leg. I laughed awkwardly, pulling gently at his hair until he laid his head back down.
When his breathing slowed, and my unbidden arousal ebbed, I took a deep breath and asked, “Are you waiting for your fated mate too?”
He was quiet for so long that I thought he was asleep until he whispered, “I wasn’t not waiting for her. I just wasn’t expecting to find her either.”
My fingers stilled in his hair. The way he said it made it sound like he already knew who she was.
He couldn’t. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be here.
Unless…
“What if you meet your fated mate and you both hate each other?”
“I don’t think that’s ever happened.”
“Can you decide that you don’t want to be with your fated mate and find someone else?”
Rhett’s entire body went rigid. He wasn’t even breathing. When he spoke, it rumbled out of his throat like thunder. “I don’t think that’s ever happened either.”
“Because of the bond.”
“Because you’re made for each other. The perfect match. Why wouldn’t you want to be with someone who’s perfect for you?”
