Page 4 of Deadly Wolf Bite

“Like what?” she asks.

I don’t want to admit to all the crazy scenarios I dreamed up out loud, so I shrug. “I don’t know.”

Going into it would be pointless. Besides, more than anything, I want to find steady footing again. I want to know why things went badly this morning. Convince her to trust me again. Not easy when the reason she’s here in the first place is because I kidnapped her.

“Things felt a bit awkward this morning,” I say finally.

Her expression is blank for a moment before she nods. “Right. I almost forgot.” At my raised brow, she adds, “A lot’s happened since then.”

“Can I ask you something?”

Fear flashes in her eyes, before she blinks, and it’s gone. “Sure.”

Nerves grip me, and I have to shove the question out of my mouth before I chicken out. “Would you have come to dinner if you weren’t sick?”

“What do you mean?”

“Was being sick the only reason you didn’t come?”

“Yeah,” she says uncertainly. “We had a deal, remember?”

A deal. Right. I agreed to help her figure out how to access her wolf if she ate dinner with me. “I see.”

“Did I say something wrong?”

I shake my head. “How’s your stomach now?”

“Better.”

I reach out and snag a strand of her wet hair, and she flinches, so I let it fall again. She meets my gaze with something like an apology written there.

“I’m just tired,” she says, the truth of her words evident in her pale cheeks and shadowed eyes.

“Get in bed,” I say as gently as I can. It’s not easy to let go of the tension I’ve carried all evening, but I do my best. “I’m going to tell Ramsey to go.”

She nods, a strange look passing over her face. “I think that’s a good idea.”

I press a quick kiss to her forehead and head for the living room. Ramsey’s standing at the bar with a drink in hand. From the glassy look in his eyes, it isn’t his first.

“Everything okay?” he asks.

“You could’ve told me she was sick, asshole.”

He blinks then shrugs, gulping his drink.

I shake my head. “I’ll talk to you later.”

“You sure she’s worth it?” he asks.

I pin him with a dark stare. He looks away first, and that satisfies me more than it should. “Yeah,” I tell him quietly. “I’m sure.”

He empties his glass then sets it aside. “See you, brother.”

“Later.”

He walks to the elevator and gets in. When he’s gone, I engage the master lock on the keypad and arm the alarm system. We won’t be disturbed again tonight.

Outside my bedroom, I hesitate. I told Lexi to get in bed, but I didn’t say which one. I don’t want to order her to come to me. I want her to do it willingly. To want me the way…

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