“She didn’t. The point, Garrett, is that she is a stranger. They all are.”
“Give it time.”
“Doesn’t matter. They aren’tyou.”
I scoff. “You have a crush on me because I rescued you. Thattoo will fade with time, along with your insecurities about a pack you don’t yet know.”
She gets onto her knees and moves to the end of the bed until she’s level with me. “I’m not some naïve teen. I’m twenty-nine. Not as old as you, perhaps, but old enough, to know how things work. To know myself.”
“Just how old do you think I am?”
“Ancient. Forty. Fifty.”
“Fifty?”
Soft hands glide over my pecs as she tangles her fingers in my chest hairs and playfully tugs a hair. “Silver.”
“I’m a silver wolf.”
“Your wolf had black fur with white highlights. No silver.”
“I’m thirty-five, smart ass.”
“Definitely ancient.”
I smack her ass, which despite giving me a thrill, makes me realize how she’s reeling me in like fish. Fabulous scent of a young female aside, her playfulness, wit, and the seductive way she lifts those clear blue eyes with just the hint of a smile makes resisting her damn near impossible. I can see how she lured shifters into that mountain pass.
That thought sickens me. Not because what she did, but because I would even for a moment consider that’s what she’s doing to me.
“Leave, Angel. While you can.”
“Meaning?”
Meaning I’d like nothing more than to strip her bare and pin her to my bed, where I’d take her hard and fast. Once I got this crazy need to claim her out of my system, I’d take her again, slow and gentle. Over and over.
She drags a hand down my bare chest, waking every part of me. “I didn’t come here to seduce you, if that’s what you’re thinking, Garrett. Though it wouldn’t take much to convince me to dojust that. Sleeping next to you in that bed felt right. Natural. Like back in that cabin.”
I hold my ground, praying she doesn’t go lower. If she does, I’m not sure what I’ll do. “We shared body warmth, nothing more.”
“And it felt good, didn’t it? Damn good.”
I run my thumb over her lips. What I wouldn’t give to see them wrapped around my cock, taking me inch by inch, while those pure blue eyes watch me with nothing but innocence and desire.
The second her hand moves, I grab hold of her wrists and raise them where she can’t tempt me. “We are not a couple. Nor will we be.” I release her hands and step away from the bed.
“Couple?” Her laugh comes across forced, which confuses me.Sheconfuses me. “Have you ever considered I might just want a friend?”
“Kiera will introduce you to anyone you want. And Tess seemed to like you.”
“You, Garrett. Even if there’s nothing more than friendship between us, I don’t want to lose you. Dumping me in the middle of that camp…” She shakes her head. “That was shitty of you. You don’t just walk out on a friend like that.”
“I killed the last friend I had.”
She doesn’t shake, doesn’t even blink. “Kiera had a lot to say about that, and about you.”
“I bet none of it good.”
“No, but that doesn’t mean I believe it either.”
