Page 9 of Haunted By the Shadow of Death

“I didn’t sleep with her. Can we leave it at that?” His eyebrows were halfway up his forehead.

Had she rejected him? Maybe she was mad he had claimed a mate?

“Oh.”

“Oh?” he said.

Was he really going to pretend he was confused?

“You know, it’s understandable. She’s certainly very attractive,” I said. “It would be understandable if she was upset with you. You have to see how that would be a hit to her ego and make her less inclined to, you know…”

“I was not rejected, if that’s what you are implying.”

He turned, stripping off his shirt and digging through his bag, as if he’d moved on from this subject and couldn’t be bothered spending another few seconds on it.

His mood certainly had taken another nosedive even as mine improved. It shouldn’t have, but the image of him and her…

No. Wasn’t going there, because it hadn’t happened.

“I’m just saying if she didn’t want you, I wouldn’t take it to heart, as if you’re unattractive.” I didn’t want to giggle, yet somehow it sounded like I did as I spoke.

He finished getting undressed and I averted my gaze, intent on not sending any of the wrong messages in any possible way.

The bed sank. “She didn’t reject me. Can we stop talking about it now?”

“It’s okay if she did. I just didn’t want you to feel like—”

I squealed as he pulled me to the center of the bed, leaning halfway over me, his eyes drifting to my mouth in a way that made me lick my lips.

“I wasn’t rejected,” he said. “I didn’t want to sleep with her.”

“There’s no reason to—”

My words were smothered by his mouth covering mine.

It was so hot and intense it was like getting hit with a blowtorch. If he’d asked me what I was about to say, I wouldn’t have been able to tell him. All I could think of was the heat of his body touching mine. The taste of his mouth. His thigh slipped in between mine as he gripped my hip and pulled me closer. I arched my back, a groan on my lips.

“I love how you feel,” he said, moving his mouth to my ear.

There was a banging at the door.

Kicks pulled back, a mixture of heat and shock in his eyes, as if he hadn’t meant for this to happen.

“Piper? Kicks?” The sound of Buddie’s voice had me jumping out of bed like I’d just been caught in a crime.

“What’s wrong?” I was yelling before I got the door open.

Buddie was there with Charlie beside him.

“Everything is okay. Charlie just had a dream and wanted to sleep with you.”

“Are you okay?”

“I dreamt I got lost in the woods,” Charlie said.

“No one is losing you.” I grabbed his hand, pulling him into the room and nodding to Buddie before he left. “Why don’t you sleep here, nice and nestled in between us so you’re not scared anymore.”

Charlie hopped into the bed, settling in the middle as I took the other side.

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