Page 121 of A Shade Too Far
He sat up. “There’s nothing to discuss. I was mad, yes, but we were still okay. Do you think your friendship with Jude is over if you fight?”
“If it’s a big one like we had? Yes. I worry that it could be.” I traced a finger through the dark hair dusting his chest, marveling at getting to touch him this intimately.
“I’m sorry about lashing out at you,” he said. “I was scared and hurt. But people fight. Then they find solutions and move on.” He shot me a wry smile. “Or so I’ve been told. Supposedly I have these lone wolf tendencies, but I’m trying to do better.”
His admission elicited a small smile from me. “You say that, but—” I struggled to find words that wouldn’t hurt him. “You don’t let many people get close to you.”
“That’s why—” He cut his soft words off with a brisk head shake, his expression turning cocky. “You are correct. I am an arrogant, insufferable bastard who abandoned his pack when they needed him and still refuses all contact with them.”
I raised myself up on one elbow, wishing he’d finished his first thought. “That’s not what I meant.”
He pressed a finger to my lips. “I hate most people.” When I called him a liar, he clapped a hand over my mouth.
I licked it and his eyes gleamed.
“Do not distract me with your womanly ways, Miriam,” he said.
I curled my toes under like a giddy fifteen-year-old.
“However, some people keep coming back and caring about me despite all my best efforts, so even if we fight, what am I to do?” He fell back in a long-controlled movement, the mattress bouncing. “There is no point being mad. I allow them to adore me.”
“That’s so magnanimous of you.”
“You think I do not know that word.” He tapped his head. “Book learned.” He rolled over to face me, completely serious. “We are okay. Yes? You’re not mad at me for stealing the gloves?”
“Would I have slept with you if I was?”
He scratched his stubble. “I don’t know. I haven’t discovered all your kinks yet. Hate sex could be one of them.”
Even I could smell my arousal at that idea.
He smirked. “Time to start a new to-do list.”
I buried my face in the pillow. But only briefly because I didn’t want to miss a second of this playful Laurent. Was this the man he’d been before tragedy struck? He reminded me of a shy little kid who never really said much until they warmed up to you and then you couldn’t get them to shut up. How starved had he been for company? How many conversations did he have stored up in his head, waiting for someone to stick around long enough to have them?
I hugged him tightly, burying my face in his chest.
“Are you sniffing me again? Another fetish?”
“You’re impossible.” I reached for my bra, hoping things didn’t suddenly turn awkward because it was after midnight, and this wasn’t a sleepover.
Laurent hopped back into his jeans. “Come. I’ll feed you before you go back to Tatiana’s.”
It was the perfect thing to say. Also, the best thing about hanging out with a werewolf was that he made my portions look dainty in comparison.
He cooked me an omelet with tomato and cumin, the way his Moroccan parents made them. I played with Boo, watching Laurent whip up our food, telling him how Zev was going to ward me up, and about the enthralled woman that I’d saved. I kept Naomi’s story to myself.
“It’s nice hanging out and talking about normal stuff,” I said.
Laurent flipped the omelet one more time before sliding it onto a plate and setting it in front of me. “Yes. A vampire warding a house up against demons and severing ghosts from bodies is completely normal.”
“It is now.” The omelet was delicious, the cumin giving it a depth not found in a regular cheese omelet. I could get addicted to this.
He topped up my glass of chilled white wine. “You might want to reevaluate your life choices, Mitzi.”
Just for that comment, I reminded him that I expected him to host the playdate between Evani and Boo. He bitched about that, but he also spent another five minutes kissing me before he walked me to my car.
I drove away, watching him in the mirror with his hand raised in goodbye until I could no longer see him. I was a grown woman who’d had mind-blowing, no-strings-attached sex. There was no regret or embarrassment or agonizing over my body being less than perfect. I was a modern, confident woman meeting her needs with a freakishly sexy younger man.
That said, I still texted Emmett to make sure Tatiana was asleep before I crept into her house. There was confidence and then there was my boss, Laurent’s aunt. I could face a vampire, but I wasn’t brave enough for her knowing looks. Baby steps.
