My gaze drops to her lips. “We’d give her everything she wanted. Everything she didn’t even know she needed. Protect her. Ruin her for anyone else.”
She’s staring up at me like I just handed her a loaded fantasy. Her pulse flutters in her neck, and her lips are parted like she’s already imagining one of us between her thighs. Or maybe I’m just losing my mind.
“Well,” she whispers, a little breathless, “when you put it like that… why are you single, again?”
I huff out a laugh, rough and low. “Fuck if I know.”
But as I study her, I think I might’ve just found the reason to stop being alone.
She bumps into me playfully, and the contact sends electricity racing through my body.
I want to grab her. Pull her against me. Show her exactly what four Alphas could do for her.
But I hold back. Barely.
We keep strolling, and the snow starts falling again. Small flakes catching in her hair, on her eyelashes, on the shoulders of my coat.
She’s walking beside me when suddenly her foot goes out from under her.
One second she’s upright, and the next she’s falling, arms flailing, a startled gasp escaping her lips.
She desperately grabs for my arm, and I catch her instantly, one hand gripping her elbow while my other arm wraps around her back, hauling her against my chest.
“Shit,” she breathes, her hands fisting my shirt.
“I’ve got you.” She’s soft and warm against me, her body molding to mine like she belongs there. Like the world finally made something that fits just right.
She’s trembling. I sense her heart pounding against my chest.
“Might need to carry you home at this rate,” I murmur, my lips brushing the shell of her ear.
She shivers again.
Her laugh becomes breathy. “I can walk. Usually. When the ice isn’t trying to murder me.”
She still hasn’t moved. Neither have I.
I shouldn’t hold her this long. Shouldn’t breathe her in like that scent was made for me. But fuck, I can’t help feeling like it’s bonding to me as though she might be my scent match. Except, something’s not fully right with it either… Still too faint and barely there. Not to mention, she has a waft of Ash’s scent, which must be from being siblings and living together.
Then she glances up at me and says, “I love your muscles.”
Her hands still linger on my chest. Her cheeks are flushed, eyes wide.
A second later, she laughs. Nervous. Embarrassed, maybe. “Sorry. That might be the beer talking.”
“Don’t apologize,” I say, letting my hand slide down her back as I slowly, reluctantly let her go. My fingers remain just a second longer than they should. “I like bold.”
She wobbles slightly on her feet, and I catch her again without thinking. This time my hand settles lower on her waist.
She doesn’t flinch. Doesn’t pull away.
Fuck, she’s going to break me.
We start walking again, shoes crunching over snow. But something is different now. The air is heavier. Buzzing. Like the moment is still holding its breath, waiting for one of us to cross a line we can’t uncross.
“It’s nice having you in town,” I say, keeping my tone casual, even though I can’t stop watching her from the corner of my eye. “New energy. New… everything.”
She stares up at me, a spark in her expression. “Is that the only reason I’ve got your attention? Just the shiny new thing?”
