“Too scared to do it yourself?” Gently pinching the rim of her chunky little pot with her thumb and forefinger, she pulled the clay upward, expanding it into something new.
“Definitely.”
When she laughed, he craned his neck forward to press a kiss to her flushed cheek.
“Elliott?”
“Mhm?”
“I keep thinking about how your bear chased me, and you said he wanted to bite me, to mark me.”
His next “mhm” came out more strained than the first.
Pressing a wooden rib against the outside of her bowl and a firm finger to the inside, Fern closed up the wide opening, turning it into a compact little pot. She was a natural. “Noa told me bonding can start one of two ways.”
“Mhm.” Tighter still.
“Is this a beauty blender?” Fern held up a pink sponge from the array he’d offered her.
“Yeah. Works well to smooth the inside.”
“Got it. So, since your bear wanted to mark me as his...”
“Mhm.” He was back on his bullshit.
Her hands shook a bit, warping the edge of her pot. “Does that mean we’re potential mates?”
“Yes,” he lied—and didn’t feel bad about it at all. Potential mates was a great starting point. It came with alotless pressure than true mates for someone who hadn’t grown up exposed to the concept. Fern may have told Noa it was “romantic,” but he knew from experience: Fate assigning you one person could be a little freaky if you thought about it too long.
She applied too much pressure trying to correct her divot, and the wall of her pot flopped in on itself. Fern didn’t seem to care, though. She shoved back into him, rubbing her forehead along his jaw while she leaned her head on his shoulder. “That’s why you haven’t put your enormous cock in me yet?”
His fingertips, covered with drying clay, dug into her hips as he groaned. “Fern. Yes, that’s why. It would trigger bonding.”
“What if we weren’t potential mates?”
“Honestly?”
“Wait—” She leaned forward, adding a fingerprint to her unmoving pot. “No. I don’t want to know.”
Curling over her back, he splayed a palm across her stomach and teased, “Oh, I was going to say I’d have fucked you on every surface in my house by now. But I’d be feeling guilty as shit about it, because things could never work between me and a non-potential mate.”
She snorted out a laugh and nuzzled his cheek before whispering, “I was wondering... Does that mean you think there’s potential here?”
“It does.”
“Okay.” She sat up straight as a board. “I’m done with ceramics now.”
“I take it you’re not ready to leave, though?”
“Not at all.”
He scooted his stool back, and Fern jumped up, rounding on him and grabbing his biceps with dirty hands. “You’re going to carry me inside, and I expect to find two muddy handprints on the ass of my pants in the morning.”
“I can do that.”
With his bear purring pleasantly, Elliott popped to his feet and hoistedFern into his arms. Her long legs wrapped around his waist, ankles locking above his butt while he palmed hers, making sure those handprints wentrightwhere she requested them.
Desire and the sweetest little gasps and giggles radiated from Fern as he carried her inside and straight back to his master bedroom.
