ChapterTwenty
SUNDAY
“Sunny, over here!”
Moira snickered beside me as I glanced over to Alek, who was waving me in like I was a damn airplane he was trying to land.
“I know I’m a cat person, but a golden retriever has never looked more appealing.”
I slapped her arm. “Moira, stop. Alek is not a golden retriever.”
“True, he’s built more like a Tibetan mastiff, but I mean... all that good boy, puppy energy. He’s just so damn eager to please.” She snickered. “I’ve heard of being dick drunk, but girl, you have that guy so pussy possessed...”
My cheeks burned as I thought back to the marathon after-battle sex we’d had, both in the library, then back in his room. It ended up being ten rounds, not seven.
“Have I mentioned how athletic he is in bed? The things he did to me... I’m glad I do yoga.”
“Tossed you around, huh?” She grinned. “Good to know those muscles are for more than show. Oh, speaking of, you should have him show you some of his moves in the gym. Defies gravity, I swear.”
That had my eyebrows rising. “It must be something special if you took note of it.”
“Trust me, girl,” she said as we slid into the row with Alek and Kingston. “You want in on that magic. Thank me later.”
Kingston’s gaze locked with mine from where he sat, with one seat between him and Alek. The cocky wolf looked like I was a foregone conclusion, and he was right. One arm was thrown across the back of the empty chair, his knees spread, a smirk on that handsome, rakish face.
“Miss me?” he asked.
Alek let out a soft chuckle. “I don’t know if you were on her mind at all recently.”
Kingston cocked a brow. “I’m always on her mind. Just like she is for me. It’s amatething.”
There was no outward reaction from Alek to the reminder that while Kingston and I were mates, Alek and I weren’t. But I could feel the angry tension coiling in him. His building rage was icy, and it made me want to thaw him back out.
I slid my hand over his balled-up fist, weaving my fingers through his. “He’s just trying to make you jealous.”
Alek smiled. “I woke up to my dick inside you. I have no reason to be jealous.”
“Sleeping through it, huh? Wow, you must be a boring as fuck lay, Viking.”
“Not the word I’d use to describe it,” I said, giving Kingston an annoyed glare. “Stop trying to be the bully. You took that mask off when you agreed to work together to stalk me.”
“Not stalk,” Moira tossed in from the other side of Alek. “Protect. There’s a difference.”
I rolled my eyes. “Maybe to you.”
Kingston leaned in and ran his nose across my mark. “I’ve missed having you close.”
A shiver ran up my spine at the contact and the sweet words. “Me too.”
He inhaled deeply, a low growl rumbling in his chest, almost a kind of purring noise. “You... are you in heat?”
I stiffened. “What? Why would you ask me that?”
He took another long sniff, running his nose from my mark up to the spot just behind my ear. “Because one whiff of you has me rock-hard and ready to mount you. Which, to be fair, is pretty standard, but this feels different.”
“Are you trying to tell me your hard-on is special?”
His grin had me squirming. “Isn’t it, though?”