“I feed on pleasure, Carter,” I whispered, nipping at his jaw. “Sex. Orgasms. Does that make medirty?”
He let out a shuddering breath, one of his hands gripping my naked thigh, sliding under the hem of my shorts.
“In a way.” His throat bobbed. “Does it makemedirty that even though I didn’t want to…taint you, the thought of not finishing at your hand—ormouth—brought violent thoughts into my mind?”
I grinned, catching his bottom lip between my teeth to pull softly.
“I’d say it makes you depraved.”
A smile stretched his lips as he kissed me again. “What now?” he asked.
I thought about it. The fact that my blood somehow quieted the voices in his head. Voices that may have been responsible for his bad behavior since I arrived. The fact that he looked terrified at the thought that I’d go dormant, enough to go over his initial “repulsion” of me and give me what I needed.
“Now, I’m going to go back to the apartment,” I said, heart constricting at the confusion and hurt on his face.
“What? Why?”
His hold tightened possessively and my shoulders dropped. “Because I don’t trustus,alone together for a long time. Because this, tonight, wasgood, and I don’t want things to go back to how they used to be. I’m tired of fighting all the damn time.”
“I don’t want to fight either, I—”
“Carter,” I cut him off. “I—wecan make this work. Take things slow, start again? Starting by being friends or something.”
He frowned, searching my face. “Friends.”
“The way it started between us, the way you acted. It hurt me. Even more when I learned you were my mate and you still decided to push me around and insult me. And I…I need time.Weneed time to be better to each other.”
“Friends,” he muttered again, turning his face to look away. “Do friends do things like we just did?”
Did they? I guess some of them did, even though my experience with friends was probably as weak as his. My only reference at the moment was Marcus, and I wouldnotgo there.
“I don’t—”
“I’m not asking you to move in with me so we can get married and have kids,” Carter scoffed, rolling his eyes. “I’m just saying it would be more practical. You’d be just a bite away if my sanity ever slips away again, and I would be at your disposal for any energy related issues.”
Oh.Hellno.
“I’ll pass,” I said, forcing a smile, standing up while trying to avoid touching his wings. “I’m not letting you use an arrangement to control me like Arc did. I’ll come by if you need a bite or if my energy gets too low, but that’s about all I’m willing to offer you.”
In a swift motion of his shoulder, he retracted his wings, standing up as quickly as I did while tucking himself back in his underwear and buttoning his jeans back up.
“So we went from being—whateverwe were to friendly…booty-calls?”
I thought about it for a minute before shrugging with a nod. “That’s about it.”
“Great.” He smiled, but his voice had an edge to it. “Well, don’t let me hold you longer than necessary, you know the way out.” He pushed me out of the kitchen, turning around toward the fridge as soon as I stepped into the corridor. “See you around—pal.”
Something stirred inside my stomach as I climbed the stairs to pack my bag—for the second time of the day—and get ready to go back to my apartment.
Carter was obviously back to being mad at me. But I wasn’t sure why. What happened tonight was nice, but it didn’t mean anything.
Right?
Chapter 11
Carter
The wooden floor creaked under my heavy steps.
