He cocked an eyebrow at me. “Careful with laying on the sweet talk so thick. I might get the wrong impression.” But he led the way to the bed and pulled the covers back.
I stripped off my shirt and my pants until I was just standing there in my boxers. I moved with brisk, matter-of-fact motions, but my heart had begun to pound at the idea of being physically close with him. I had never done this with another man. Definitely not with the express purpose of deepening some sort of connection.
I was nervous—heart-pounding, blood-in-my-ears nervous—but I alsowantedto.
Reed watched me, still fully clothed. “If you’re not ready…”
“Get in the bed.”
“I’m the alpha,” he reminded me.
“Not with me, you’re not. That shit only works on your pack.”
Reed considered me, then stripped off his shirt. My gaze lingered on his lean muscles, the hair across his chest. And I wanted to touch him. To feel his heat and solidity against me.
He unzipped his jeans and stepped out of them. His ass was perfectly round in his boxer briefs. I started to get hard just looking at him.
I climbed into bed and pulled the covers up before he could see.
Reed stood there, blinking at me, amused.
“Huh—that was fast.”
“It’s cold. I’m preserving body heat.”
“You won’t be cold for long,” Reed said, turning off the lamp on the nightstand and climbing into bed beside me. “Wolves run hotter than humans.”
Once he was in bed, I realized I had no idea what to do next.
I wasn’t ready to have sex with him yet, even if he was my fated mate. I wasn’t even sure how it was going to work with another guy. But now that we were here, I realized he might expect that from me. He might want me to know what I was doing. Was he going to get pissed if I got him into bed—quite literally, albeit with the intention ofsleeping—and then put the brakes on?
“You said we ought to take it slow,” Reed said quietly, no doubt reading the tone of my thoughts through the bond the same way I sometimes read his. “I’m willing to wait.”
Relief flooded through me and my breath—which I had been holding—escaped my lips in a rush.
“Yeah, that’s probably good,” I replied. “Thank you.”
“Sometimes I’m even a gentleman,” Reed said with a self-deprecating smile. “Every once in a while.”
That decided me. “I want to… uh, can I hold you?”
Reed’s expression went molten. “Yeah.”
He rolled over onto his side and slid closer to me. I wrapped an arm around his waist, his back against my chest. I was fully hard when he settled his ass against my groin, but neither of us said anything about it. We both just breathed in the darkness.
“I’m sorry I was a dick to you that first day,” Reed said quietly, after a long moment. “I shouldn’t have been.”
“You had your reasons.”
“And for the dreams. Not telling you for months. I was…” He hesitated, his breath catching. “There’s no excuse. I was wrong.”
“I forgive you.”
“Thanks.”
Then I froze. “Wait—the dreams…”
Reed was perfectly motionless in my arms. He said nothing.
