Page 2 of A Husband for Max

“Go after him, Tesh,” Nona was warm, “see if this boy is supposed to be with you.”

I didn’t need to answer. My family knew how I felt. I would have to use all my senses to find him again, but I would. Then we’d get to see if the dream could happen twice.

***

Having a bath after taking that fall was what my body needed. It didn’t matter how overwhelmed my mind might have been.

Every time I closed my eyes, I couldn’t help but see the molten silver eyes of that young man. I hadn’t expected to have such a reaction, but there was no denying just how obsessed I was becoming. There hadn’t been anyone in my life since Zoey had bailed with her boss. I’d poured myself into my job; no one sparked my interest anyway.

A few hours ago, I would have sworn black and blue that I was straight as any other blue collared construction worker I knew. Not that that was a problem; I went to the pride parade every year. But no man had ever turned my head.

Not until the little silver eyed man with a stolen coat.

“Stupid,” I muttered. The water was warm, and it was heaven on my tired muscles. Thank goodness the heater in the building was the best on the street.

I closed my eyes, leaning back in the cramped bath against the cool tiles. The juxtaposition of the cold and hot was just what I needed. While it cooled my head, it did little to cool the racing feeling in my body.

Everything in me was swamped with the memory of the silver eyed man.

I didn’t think I’d been this hard in the last two years, and with a groan of frustration, I reached into the water and gripped the base of my cock. I squeezed it, trying to slow the arousal, but it only seemed to make it worse. The involuntary spike of heat made my heels press into the bath as my hips canted up.

The water splashed around. I’d regret the clean up later but right now, with the feelings that zinged through my veins, the thought was only fleeting. I dragged my fist up my cock, twisting my wrist at the right moment to make my brain stutter. Those silver eyes and pale skin, high cheekbones... and fuckable lips.

The thought made me pant and my imagination skittered around the thoughts of easing the man’s lips over my head, pushing him down to my balls. Feeling his choking throat constrict around it, I panted, chasing the feeling. The need. The dirty feeling of owning that stranger as mine.

I wish I’d had a name to go with the angelic face. At least this way I didn’t feel too dirty thinking about fucking the face of someone I knew.

Just as I reached my peak, skittering on the edge of oblivion, the doorbell rang. Everything came crashing down at that moment and I couldn’t help the spike of annoyance. The timing was beyond the worst and I waited a moment, idly stroking myself. Would they leave?

A delivery guy would leave straight away and maybe I could get back to my daydreams. There was no such luck as the bell came again and I huffed. With a grump that would send most of my workmates scattering, I left the warmth of the bath.

“Just a sec.” A quick dry and the towel wrapped around my hips was the best the visitor was going to get. I wished that they were some heavily conservative door knocker trying to push their agenda to the masses for making me leave the warmth of my bath and the arousal that was starting to flag.

It might have been petty, but with how I was feeling, I couldn’t bring myself to feel bad about it.

As the bell rang a third time, I pulled the door open.

I was standing there, still damp with dripping hair and flushed skin from the warmth and arousal. And before me was the sweet man staring up at me with silver eyes wide in surprise. Something else in that look caused my breath to hitch in a way that made it hard to think.

With a shy smile, the young man pulled his coat around his shoulders a little tighter. He licked perfect pink lips, eyes trailing over my body and making my skin prickle. Apparently, the arousal wasn’t as lost as I thought.

“You never gave me a chance to say thank you.”

***

I could admit that in the time it had taken to find and follow his scent, I’d let myself believe that it had been a fever dream. What sort of human would return a pelt without question? It seemed like they couldn’t be real; there had to be something wrong with them.

But when the man opened the door, I short-circuited. I wasn’t expecting him to be in nothing but a towel. A towel that was too small and covered nothing much.

I could tell the human worked outside. His skin was sun kissed over his arms and neck. The rest of his chest was lightly tanned and speckled with a light covering of hair.

My nose tingled, wanting to snuffle up into the bared chest. No human had ever made me want to be a seal more than this man.

It was overwhelming.

I was on the second step leading into the town house, and the man towered over me. He filled the doorway and he was damp. The cold air made his skin prickle, and I couldn’t help but stare at his chest. His nipples seemed to tighten under my gaze. The view was intoxicating, and I knew this wasn’t a fluke.

I wanted this man in a way I’d never wanted anyone before. If I hadn’t believed in the mate bond before, I certainly did now.

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