Page 24 of His Arranged Plus-Size Mate

She shrugged. “Am I wrong?”

“Hazel, if I wanted to seduce you, I wouldn’t need to bring you to dinner. I know very well how to get a woman’s attention.”

She smirked. “Oh, is that so? You sound pretty confident in that.”

“I’ve dated. I know what catches a woman’s attention.”

“Is that so?”

“It is, because if I did it right, I’m not the one who will be begging to get into the other’s pants.”

Her face went red, and I watched her mouth hang open a little like a fish out of water. I took a sip of my water and cleared my throat. “You were the one who brought up seducing.”

“I didn’t mean it like that,” she whispered, her face still red.

“Yes, you did.” I leaned back. “Any other questions about my love life?”

I expected her to shake her head, but I watched the way she leaned back in her chair. A small smile pulled at her lips. “Fine. Do tell me more about your love life? Should we see who had it worse?”

I felt my stomach bottom out as she teased me, and I wondered if maybe this was a step forward.

Chapter 8 - Hazel

I woke the next morning and found the living room filled with people. Asher was sitting on the couch with a coffee, with Brandon next to him. Westley and Kaleb were talking as they stood across the coffee table. I froze as I got to the end of the stairs.

“Morning, Hazel.”

I blinked, not expecting them. “Morning, what’s going on?”

“We were just talking over the plan for the hunt today. We’re going to an area that Asher’s been monitoring since we all got here, so he is joining us today.”

“Oh, so you’re all going out?”

Brandon nodded. “We won’t be all out for long. Just a couple of hours and Asher will be back. It’s not that far from the pack, so if anything happens, we can come back quickly.”

I nodded as I turned, heading into the kitchen. I poured myself a coffee and sat down on the island. They continued to chat, and I felt my phone vibrate. I glanced at it and saw it was a message from Gabriella. I wondered if she was nervous about today.

“Are you going to be good?” Asher stepped into the kitchen, placing his mug into the sink.

I looked up at him and nodded. “Yeah, I’ll be fine.” I couldn’t deny that my stomach dropped a little with the knowledge that they were all going to be out of the pack. I knew that with the barrier up, we would be safe, but that didn’t calm my head.

“Besides, Gabriella just messaged. Maybe she and I will spend the day together.”

He nodded. “That should be fun.”

I nodded, feeling like things were a little awkward with how our conversation went last night. I felt hot as he described how he knew how to get a woman. That he didn’t play games, and if he wanted to, he hardly had to try. I knew that was probably true, but for him to tell me just made something stir in me.

“Are you okay with that?”

He frowned at me. “It’s your house too, Hazel. If you want your sister over, have your sister over.”

The guys left twenty minutes later, and I threw myself onto the couch. I pulled my phone up and called Gabriella while lying back. I stared at the ceiling as the phone rang.

“Morning,” she chirped.

I smiled. “You want to come over?”

I could hear shuffling on her end. “Give me ten minutes, and I’ll be there.”