There’s only one way to find out.
I unlock the cabin door and step inside. My eyes quickly adjust to the dim lighting and I find Red sitting up in bed. She eyes me from her position. She’s guarded. Her back is to the wall and her quilt is pulled up to her neck.
I try not to laugh at her. She looks pissed, but she’s so cute that she looks more like a feisty kitten than anything else.
Instead of asking her if she’s okay, which I suspect will get a stuffed animal or pillow thrown at me, I take a seat in the rocking chair, lean back, and cross my legs at the ankles.
Then I wait.
I act like I have all the time in the world because to be honest, I kind of do. I don’t have any pressing career to run to or anyplace I have to be. The only thing I wanted to do was live a calm, happy life away from the pack.
Even that seems to be impossible now.
I know Jeffrey is after Red. She’s made that much clear enough, but to be honest, I kind of figured she was exaggerating. It would make sense for her to do so. She’s a sweet kid, but she has no idea how big the world is.
What makes her so special that he’d want to destroy her?
I wait patiently, but she just sits there stewing. Finally, just when I think I should give up and go for a run or something, she takes a deep breath and asks, “Aren’t you ever going to put any clothes on?”
“Why would I? You’ve seen me naked before.”
“Not like that!” She gasps, as if the idea of a naked man in her home is the worst thing she could possibly think of. I roll my eyes.
“You know, if you want to be technical, little Red, I was here first. If you have a problem with my nudity, perhaps you should just get out,” I rise from the rocking chair, standing in the middle of the room, just staring at her. Then I jerk my thumb toward the door in one quick, harsh motion. Is it mean? Absolutely, but it gets a response. Oh, it definitely gets a response.
She stands up and lets her blanket fall to the floor. If this is her reaction to me being snarky, I’m going to have to up my game. I have all sorts of snarky things I can say. That was only the beginning.
“What are you doing?” I ask, but she doesn’t answer as she quietly sashays across the room to where I’m standing. She wiggles her hips as she makes her way slowly across the floor. Red’s body mesmerizes me as I watch her glide across the hardwood flooring over to where I’m sitting. Suddenly, I’m swept up in her. The room feels small, tiny, and the only thing I can see is her beautiful face.
And Red suddenly seems very, very happy to see me in her cabin.
What happened?
I stand perfectly still, afraid I’ll ruin the moment if I move. I might be a shifter, but Red is the one who is skittish. She’s the one I have to be cautious around. She’s the one I have to be careful not to freak out.
She’s completely naked as she walks to the center of the room and places her hands on my broad chest. It’s the first time we’ve both been naked together and suddenly, the room feels about 10 degrees warmer.
“What are you doing?” My voice is a whisper.
“You saved me.”
“Anyone would have done the same thing, Red.”
She shakes her head adamantly, somehow thinking I’m this great Prince Charming. I’m not. Maybe I should stop her now before she gets any other ideas in her head about who – or what – I am.
“You don’t get it,” she chuckles softly. She runs her palms up my chest and le
ts them rest on my cheeks. She cups my face and stares up at me like I’m the only man in the world she sees.
Oh, damn, Red makes me feel like I’m the only man in the world.
“No one has ever risked their life for me before,” she says. “I can’t believe you did that for me.”
“You knew, didn’t you?” I ask. She had to have known. The entire shifter-and-human thing is way too farfetched to believe if you don’t know for a fact that it’s true, so why doesn’t she seem more shocked? I would have thought she would be in denial. I actually considered that maybe she would try to kill me, but she didn’t.
No, Red doesn’t do anything I expected her to.
Instead, she lifts up on her tiptoes and whispers against my mouth. Her lips flutter against mine with soft, perfect kisses.