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“Knock it off brat and get dressed. We’re going for a hike.”
My eyebrows shoot up, ready to fight back, even though we both know I’m going to go along with whatever he says.
“Who says I don’t have plans?”
“Seff is off on pack business with his dad, your brother and Caelan are busy planting today, and it’s Seldon’s day off, and I know he’s hanging out in Twin Heads with his cousin. You don’t have any other friends. I know you’re free. Stop being difficult and go get dressed.” My eyes narrow, and I try not to react to the authoritative tone.
“Or what?”
“What do you mean?” He shakes his head, throwing his hands up in frustration.
“What if I don’t want to get dressed?”
Flirting like this isdangerousconsidering everything that happened last time and the fact that we’ve both been too cowardly to discuss it. And by that I mean I was. Either way, we’ve been tiptoeing around this thing around us like a bomb waiting to explode.
Unfortunately, this morning I’m feeling brave and more than a little reckless.
Roan leans forward. I can feel the curve of his horn brushing my hair and I suppress a shudder. His breath fans over my skin and I can see the flecks of black in the dark grey of his eyes.
“Then I will come in there andmakeyou. Get dressed, Theo.” There is a thread of something akin to danger in his voice, notthat I believe for a second that Roan would hurt me, but it’s something predatory nonetheless.
This time I can’t contain the shiver that rolls down my spine and I bite my lip, hard this time, to keep from doing something stupid like kissing him. He watches my teeth sink into the soft flesh with wolfish focus.
My breath is harsh as I push myself away from the door frame, legs quivering at the effort of removing myself from him. I can feel him watching me.
“Don’t threaten me with a good time, Roan.” I force a laugh to cover the breathy tone to my voice and pull out a drawer to find a pair of shorts to throw on.
“Just get dressed and meet me downstairs in five minutes. Wear decent shoes.” The door slams before I have a chance to sneak in the last word, so I let him have this one and get ready for whatever it is he has planned for me today.
Roan
He’s going to bethe death of me. Thisfriendshipis going to be the death of me. But I’m determined. The idea of keeping him close like this is the only thing that keeps that Theo-obsessed beast inside of me calm enough to not berserker rage out on everyone.
He’s been working around the clock, and we’ve all seen the change in him. It’s like he’s come to life working at the tavern. From the stories Tor shared about him, and who he was before his kidnapping, I never would have imagined he would be the sassy, smart-mouth man he is today.
I feel a strange sort of pride at every hurdle he’s overcome. It hasn’t been easy for him here, learning to live an entirely new way of life, but he has taken on every single challenge with fierce grit and determination. Not once has he backed down.
Not even the other night when a minotaur had gotten in his face after Theo accidentally spilled a drink all over the beast's fur. Mauvy had to physically restrain me when I tried to rush over to intervene, reminding me that if he was going to workthere, he needed to learn how to deal with the customers on his own.
It’s a tavern after all, and sometimes they get drunk and belligerent.
Despite the fact that the minotaur stood three and a half feet taller than him and was using every inch of it to stand over Theo, huffing and snarling, Theo hadn’t budged an inch. Sure, he apologised first, but the minotaur was determined to start something that night and decided Theo was it.
Theo stood there toe to toe, staring down the predator armed with nothing but a black plastic serving tray and all the attitude and audacity of the generations of his haughty, pretentious, elitist fae ancestors. Gods, he didn’t even have hispowersanymore.
After what felt like an hour but was realistically only probably two minutes, where the tavern was silent enough to hear a pin drop, the minotaur backed down, snorting once more before turning back to his friends.
Theo slid out the back for a moment to compose his shaking hands and then confidently returned to the floor, continuing to serve the group as if nothing had happened. They’d tipped him extra that night.
Mauvy clucked over him like a proud mother until that blush had crept back over his cheeks, and he’d begged her to stop.
We all knew he loved it, though.
But being so close to him and not being able to touch him? Torture. Absolute torture. More than once my hands had wandered, as if they had a mind of their own, reaching for him, straying just a moment too long when I finally got my hands on him, making every excuse to loiter in his presence like a sad little puppy. It’s pathetic. I haven’t been so pent up and horny since I was a teenager. All it takes is a stiff breeze, or a hint of a glance of Theo, and I am hard as a rock.
So, being the incredibly intelligent man that I am, I’ve decided to take him on a hike. On our own. In absolute solitude.
As surreptitiously as I can, I take the chance to look over my shoulder to take in his toned thighs, significantly more muscular since his arrival at the Black Stump, flexing in his miniscule shorts.
