I finished my shower, and he handed me a towel through the edge of the curtain. I was pretty sure he did it for his sake, not mine, but was grateful for the gesture anyway.
“Thanks,” I said quietly, tugging the curtain out of the way and stepping out. Our eyes met, and my stomach clenched a little bit.
Maybe it hadn’t been stress about the lock, earlier, after all. Maybe the climax was trying to push through my exhaustion or something.
I really hoped it was just stress.
If I could just skip the climax altogether, that would be ideal.
Squeezing excess water out of my hair, I told him, “I can stay awake long enough for you to shower, if you want. If your wolf’s not letting you walk away from me and all.”
He dipped his head in a nod. “That would be great. Thank you.” His lips curved upward, just a bit, before he stepped inside. His sweats hit the floor, followed by his boxers.
I bit my lip, hard.
Memories of Elliot in bed, naked, flashed to the forefront. My damn wolf hadn’t looked away for a second when the man was naked—and she probably knew exactly what she was doing when she did so.
And he always slept naked.
Every.
Single.
Night.
The damned animal was definitely on the climax’s side, not mine.
I grabbed Elliot’s comb out of the drawer I knew it still sat in, and started on my tangles, ignoring the way my towel started to droop over my boobs. Elliot hadn’t moved any of my stuff from Char’s place—he had been waiting for me to decide whether I would or not.
And I could move back there. He would let me, and so would Char. Sab’s house would be done soon, too.
But… did I want to?
Elliot had his own place. He was good to Evan—and good for him, too. Ev needed a good male role model, especially considering the asshole his sperm donor had turned out to be. Between Elliot and his pack, Ev would have more than enough of an example to follow.
And people liked Elliot. Not just his pack—pretty much everyone in town did. He was a high school teacher, and a good one at that. He had sway. He could figure out a way to get Ev into a pack, unlike me. As an alpha who’d been alone far too long, I knew as well as Elliot did that wolves needed packs. Hell, I knew better, probably. It was hard to be on your own.
I’d had Sabby, always, and I loved her to death. But my wolf needed a family. She craved a big one, with multiple kinds of people who watched out for each other.
I craved that, too.
On top of all of that, Ev’s life was better at Elliot’s place. He had a house to roam free in, lots of toys, and a fenced-in backyard that was safe enough that I’d trust him to be alright playing out there alone in a year or two, when he wasn’t quite so crazy. He had a man who took care of him like a father, there—one who’d learned even the shitty sides of parenthood that I’d hidden from Sabby.
“Do you want us to stay here? To live with you?” I asked Elliot, as the water shut off and he grabbed a towel off a hook without stepping out of the shower. “I know we’re mates, but you and I both know Evan is a handful and a half. Your life has gotten insane, which you didn’t plan on. And you’ve been really good to Ev, which I appreciate tremendously. But if this isn’t what you want—if it’s not really, honestly, the future that you want to keep—then just say so. I’ll understand.”
The shower curtain slid open, and Elliot stepped out, a towel wrapped around his waist. Our eyes met in the mirror, and he stepped up beside me. His fingers carefully wrapped around my arm, and when he gave a gentle tug, my body turned to face his.
He looked down at me, and I had to tilt my head back to meet his eyes.
His gaze was gentle, but sure. “You and Evan are the only future that I want anymore. There isn’t one piece of me that wants you to leave, Liz. This is everything to me.” He lifted my wrist to his lips and slowly, gently, pressed his lips to the sensitive skin there.
I swallowed, hard. “Then we’ll stay.”
He released my wrist, seeming a little reluctant to let go, though his shoulders relaxed significantly with my admission.
I grabbed the towel that had slid down a bit lower than it probably should’ve, and held it in place as I crossed the hallway. Sabrina’s excited voice met my ears as we walked, and I calmed a bit at her familiar way of talking to Evan.
My baby was fine.