Page 31 of Warlander Grizzly

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“Do you want something from me?” she asked.

“For what? You don’t owe me anything.”

“Oh.” She frowned at the floor, overwhelmed with confusion. So many emotions were swirling around in her mind.

She could feel the exact moment he approached, because the air got heavier. It did that with dominant shifters, and especially males.

“You’re confused,” he rumbled low, and a snarl was in his voice. “Don’t like it. I don’t like you being confused. How do I stop it?”

Lucia lurched forward fast and wrapped her arms around him awkwardly. She squeezed him hard enough to make him grunt in surprise, and then released him and skittered backward. “I’m better now.”

She dared a glance up. Landon’s bright-silver eyes were wide as saucers, and a small smile tugged at the corner of his lips. She could hear his heartbeat racing from here. Or perhaps that was her own.

“I’m going to win this game now,” she said.

“Yep.” He pursed his lips. “You already won the fuckin’ game, but okay, win this one too.”

Baffled, she mulled over his words as she lined up the cue ball to hit the eight ball that Landon had somehow lined up in the easiest shot in the history of pool. Reverse cheater.

When the eight ball sank into the pocket, and the cue ball directly after it, she stood up waiting on a celebration, but Landon wore a dead-eyed look. “You scratched on the eight ball. You somehow still managed to lose.”

She couldn’t help her evil-sounding laugh. “And after all that effort, you still won.”

“Now I gotta lie to my mother.”

“About what?”

“She told me not to let you lose!”

“What’s she going to do, you grown man. Ground you?”

“She won’t make me my favorite pot roast for my birthday tomorrow. She told me that. She said I will get a plate of dog food if I don’t be nice to you.”

“Wait, your birthday is tomorrow?”

He ran his hand over his hair and then pointed to the pocket she’d sank both balls into. “How did you even do that?”

“Skills. Look, maybe I was letting you win. Ever think about that? Huh, birthday boy? How old will you be?” she asked, trying to do the calculation in her head.

“I feel like I’m going to be nine hundred years old.”

She couldn’t help the grin that stayed plastered on her face. It was kind of funny watching him throw this little tantrum. “Thirty-three? Thirty-four?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know, one of those. I don’t really care about birthdays, other than my mom making me my favorite meal, and now it’s going to be dog food.”

“I’ll fix it,” she promised as she pulled up her camera.

She grinned as Landon caught on that she was taking a selfie of them. He leaned in and wrapped his arm over her chest, pressed his cheek against the side of her head, and smiled the hottest smile she’d ever witnessed on a man. Okay, he was a professional selfie-taker. As for her, this was her first. “Is this okay?” she asked him, showing him the picture she’d taken.

“No. You look like a trauma survivor. Look at your face.” He pointed, and she asked, “What’s wrong with it?”

“You’re grimacing. Not smiling.”

“Oh. Right. Re-do?”

“Give me this,” he uttered. He took the phone from her hand and held it up at just the right angle.

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