He turned to me and asked, “So you are planning on only kissing one man your entire life?”
“Is there something wrong with that?” I asked defensively.
“Just seems kind of boring.”
“It doesn’t seem boring to me.” As I said it, I wasn’t sure if I liked the idea as much as I had thought my whole life. My stomach trembled as I imagined what it might be like to disregard all my prior convictions and kiss Blake. I couldn’t help but focus on his lips—they were quite alluring, rosy with a full bottom lip. I envisioned them being both firm and gentle, wagering he knew how to use them too.
“What if you don’t meet your mate anytime soon? What if you’re still mateless at thirty?” he asked, distracting me from my thoughts.
“I never gave it much thought,” I replied. We sat in silence for a minute. Then I asked, “What about you? Was your first kiss with your mate?”
“Nah, I was a horny bastard in high school. Being the future alpha definitely has its advantages in that area.”
“What happened to not screwing around with pack members?”
“Let’s just say I learned that lesson the hard way.”
I looked at him curiously, wanting to know more about him. “If you don’t mind me asking, when did you meet your mate?” He seemed to hesitate, letting out a deep breath. “It’s okay, you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to,” I said, realizing that maybe I’d overstepped a boundary.
“Not long after I turned eighteen,” he replied suddenly. “She was two years older than me, and I’d always known her, but we’d never hung out, so I didn’t know much more about her than her name. She was a warrior. She was extremely tough and beautiful. I used to call her my Amazon woman. We locked eyes during training one day, and a realization came over me that we were mates.” He looked out into the distance as he told me this story.
“What was her name?”
After a beat he said, “Ria.”
“Are you afraid you won’t find another mate?”
“No, I’m not interested in finding another mate.”
“Don’t you want an heir?”
“I didn’t say I wouldn’t fuck anyone else.” He turned and smiled at me, but I could see there was a bit of sadness behind his eyes. “Anyway, what’s this? Twenty questions?”
“I’m just curious about you,” I responded quietly, realizing I had definitely asked too much, and this was a touchy subject for him.
“Enough about me, why don’t you tell me more about you. What do you do for fun?”
Not able to think of anything interesting to tell Blake, I replied, “I’m pretty boring. I mostly just work and go to school. I’m also part of the temple choir.”
“You’re right, that’s pretty boring.”
I chuckled and continued, “Like I said, my parents are really controlling. They basically have me on a tight leash.”
“What would happen if you just stopped doing what your parents said and started making your own decisions?”
“I’m pretty sure they would kill me. My mom can be pretty scary when she’s angry.”
“Good thing she doesn’t know you’re alone with a dead sexy man in the middle of the woods. And good thing I have the alpha aura, so if she goes after anyone, it will be you rather than me.” He started laughing. “Either way, I haven’t given up on getting you out of your clothes today, and it’s starting to get really hot, so I think I’m getting closer to my goal. Let’s hike down to the water I was telling you about earlier.”
He led me down a different path this time. It took about another hour to get down to the bottom. He was not wrong. The sun was beating down on us.
By the time I reached the water, I was ready to jump in. He started peeling off his clothes until he was only wearing his boxer briefs, his muscular body on full display. My breath hitched as I tried hard not to stare while the sun reflected off his broad shoulders and bare torso. Damn, he was so jacked and sexy. Before I could lose myself in my gawking, he sprinted to the water on his bared, muscular legs and jumped in.
“The water feels great! Come on in! I know you want to!”
I had an internal argument with myself. It was ridiculously hot, and, logically, underwear wasn’t much different than a bathing suit. Thank Goddess I had chosen dark-colored underwear this morning. The devil over my shoulder won this time. I gestured for him to turn around. He rolled his eyes but still did it. Once his back was to me, I stripped down out of my jeans and T-shirt until I was standing in my dark purple underwear and black bra. I then started walking into the water. He turned around and I glared at him. He got the hint and turned back around. He wasn’t wrong, the water did feel very refreshing after roasting under the sun all that time. I kept going until I was close to Blake, submerged practically to my shoulders.
“Ok, I’m in,” I said, and he turned so he was facing me.