Page 22 of His Runaway Mate

I listen to it all with a little half-smile on my face. The sexual intimacy we shared was one thing. This is another, maybe even deeper kind, knowing what she is going to do before she does it.

I hear the door close, a little harder than she wanted it to. I hear her curse to herself under her breath. My smile grows wider.

She runs off, as I knew she would, getting into the cab I called for her, which has circled the block several times waiting for her to come out and flag it down. Silly little thing. She really needs me to be the villain in her story. Fortunately for her, I would do anything for her. And, I have to admit, I am quite talented when it comes to villainy.

* * *

Nicky

My heart is pounding throughout the car ride. I am sure I absolutely reek of sex, but if I do the driver has the sense not to say anything about it. It’s a woman, which is nice.

The way that ended was wild. At first I thought he was just going to let me go, then he flipped it, then he somehow let me go anyway. I’m still not sure what to think. I definitely do not know what to feel, besides how tender my ass is where it meets the seat of the car.

We pull up outside the Runaway warehouse and I have a brief moment of not being able to believe he actually let me do this. I’ve run, and he’s let me.

“Thank you,” I say as I realize it’s time to get out of the cab. “How much do I owe…”

My question trails off as the driver smiles at me in the rearview mirror, while zeroing out the meter with one well-manicured finger.

“It’s already been paid for by Mr. Regent,” she says.

“Of course it has,” I say, slinging my door open and practically tumbling out. He knew. He knew the whole fucking time.

I’ve defied Rex, and he’s made it very unsatisfying for me to have done so. I really thought he would have properly insisted on keeping me. I would have freaked the fuck out if he’d done that, of course. I would have called him a monster, and I would have meant it.

Even worse, I miss him.

I miss everything about him. His scent. His presence. The energy I feel when I am around him. Walking back into the office, everyone knows what happened to me. They can smell it. They can sense it.

I don’t say a word, but they all react anyway. There are rounds of cheers and laughs, whooping and general tomfoolery amongst themselves.

“Boss got laid!”

I don’t know who shouted that. One of the guys. I don’t want to know who did it, either. I’m not in the mood to kick some overgrown frat boy’s ass this morning.

“Do none of you have any work to do?” I smile as I ask the question. It’s nice to be back among my people. I can’t imagine what it would be like to inhabit Rex’s world. His apartment is nice, of course.

“So…” Laura grins when I get up to the office. “When’s the wedding?”

“Please don’t,” I groan.

“We’ve all missed you,” she says. “I mean, we woke up, wondered where you were, wondered why the place smelled like wolf… we were getting ready to come after you. Thought he might have taken you off. But he let you go.”

“Yeah. Well. I left. But, yeah. I guess he did.”

She stares at me, her jaw properly dropped. I’m tempted to reach out and close it for her, but then she says what’s on her mind.

“You left? You mated with him and then you left?”

“Yeah,” I say. “It’s not a big deal. I’m an adult. I can have sex. It’s fully legal and everything.”

“That’s amazing. Most shifter girls would never leave their mate once they’d experienced his love.”

I just got done having the most amazing sex of my life and I still want to gag at the phrase, experienced his love.

“That’s propaganda,” I tell her. “It’s not like that.”

She rolls her eyes. “Maybe you didn’t do it right,” she says. “Or maybe he didn’t do it right?”