Page 42 of Lured By Shadows

Anna didn’t flinch. If anything, her smirk only widened. “Well, yes,” she replied, casual and unapologetic. “But I was planning to keep my hands to myself. Plans change.”

“Culver,” I murmured, my voice small.

I was still standing here in nothing but skin.

His attention snapped to me, and the look that crossed his face knocked the breath straight out of my lungs. The second he truly saw me, his gaze darkened, dragging slowly from my eyes to my mouth, down my throat and bare shoulders, pausing at my breasts before lowering further. His eyes settled where my thighs parted, and awareness rushed through me so fast it almost hurt. Every inch of my body felt exposed beneath the force of his attention.

His jaw tightened sharply. Desire flashed across his expression before he tore his gaze away, dragging a hand through his hair as though physically restraining himself.

“Gods, Anna,” he muttered. “Was that your game all along?”

“Unfortunately not,” she sighed, sounding bored. “No fun to be had here.”

I should’ve been mortified. Hell, I was mortified.

But my body betrayed me completely. Every inch of exposed skin still burned beneath the memory of his stare, beneath the certainty that he had taken me in without restraint. I crossed my arms instinctively, which did absolutely nothing to help.

Culver stepped closer and lifted his hoodie over his head, the fabric rising just enough for me to catch a glimpse of the toned body beneath. I couldn’t help biting my lip as his stomach disappeared from view again. He didn’t hand the hoodie to me. Instead, he draped it over my shoulders, the fabric settling against my skin and enveloping me instantly with his scent. His hands lingered, steady and sure, adjusting the material until it covered what it could.

Then he tipped my chin up with two fingers, forcing me to look at him. The touch sent a sharp ripple through me.

“I apologize, little lamb,” he said quietly, his voice rough but controlled. “Strike me, claw me, bruise me if you wish, but I lost the will to look away. I indulged in every inch of you.”

My mouth parted, caught somewhere between snapping at him and melting beneath the force of his attention. Heat climbed steadily into my cheeks, my pulse racing. Being spoken to like that while trapped beneath his gaze felt unfair, like he was stacking every advantage against me on purpose.

“I noticed,” I muttered, narrowing my eyes. “You weren’t exactly subtle, you perverted wolf.”

He exhaled, not quite a laugh, and shook his head with an unreadable expression that unraveled me. I caught myself staring again at the way his shirt clung to his chest and the quiet strength in his arms and hated how effortlessly he still pulled me apart.

“Take your time,” he said, turning slightly. His voice softened, clipped but gentle. “Change in the dressing room. I need a moment alone with my sister.”

His sister.

There was no hidden lover, no scandal. Just complicated family dynamics I had walked straight into without a map.

I nodded, forcing myself to move as I padded back toward the dressing room. The hoodie swayed around my thighs, soft and oversized, and I clutched it with one hand. I pretended modesty, pretended I wanted to hide, even while a tiny, unholy thrill sparked at the idea of him watching me walk away.

Yeah, I definitely wanted him staring at my ass. I didn’t look back. But I felt him.

And something told me he hadn’t stopped looking.

By the time I leaned back against the cool dressing room door, my head was spinning. In a single day, I had accidentally groped Culver, stripped naked in front of his sister, and stood frozen while he looked at me like I was something he wanted to consume. And yes, “consume” felt like the right word. His gaze had dragged over me with unmistakable hunger. The memory alone made my thighs clench, warmth pooling low in my stomach with a slow ache that refused to settle. I pressed my legs together instinctively, searching for some kind of relief from the tension still winding through me.

I bit down hard on the inside of my cheek and focused on breathing.

At this point, I deserved financial compensation for emotional distress.

Curiosity won out before common sense could stop it. I pressed my ear to the dressing room door, straining to catch anything beyond it.

Muffled, Anna’s voice drifted through, smooth and teasing. “Aren’t you just the gentleman?”

Culver’s reply came sharply. “What are you doing here?”

A silence stretched between them before Anna spoke again, her voice purring. “I came to visit Ira, of course. She is family, after all.”

Family?

My brows furrowed as my pulse jumped unevenly again. That was new information, and the way she said it made my skin prickle, as though there was more buried beneath that word than I was meant to understand yet.