Page 27 of Broken-Hearted

“Problem?” he asks, raising an eyebrow.

“You’re pushing it,” I warn him.

He nods. “Duly noted.”

But he leaves his hand right where it is.

“We thought it was wise to keep our heads down, especially since my brother would’ve had time to figure out my old pack doesn’t have as much money as it did before,” Matilda says, distracting me from Nathan’s touch. “Obviously, I wasn’t about to let him get away with treating me like shit.”

Matilda with the sweet, pretty face and soft golden curls, sounds like she might have given her brother hell. And I think I know how she got payback.

“You robbed them?” I grin.

She shrugs. “I took back some of the money the pack only had because of me. If they want more, my brother can figure out how investments work on his own.”

“But you don’t think he will?” Nathan asks.

“My brother is lazy. Noah had pretty much everything handed to him. He won’t put in the work. It’s why he went looking for Damian to fix his problems for him,” Matilda explains.

Steak sizzles as it hits the smoky hot cast-iron skillet, and I’m not sure whose stomach is louder, mine or Nathan’s.

As Simon gets to work making the salad and I try not to fall off the dining table escaping Nathan’s hand, the conversation swings to living in the middle of nowhere, and the unused neighboring land Simon is interested in buying from Jeremy and Savannah.

After our delicious meal, I venture to the outside bathroom to use the toilet and wash my face. Nathan does likewise.

Matilda and Simon retreat to their bedroom after setting up the couch that folds into a double bed in the living room. I have the comforter pulled up to my neck with my eyes closed when Nathan returns from the bathroom and slides under the sheets.

I’m wearing a T-shirt I borrowed from Matilda, and I’m trying very hard to pretend Nathan isn’t lying inches away from me. It isn’t working.

“You asleep, peach?”

“Yes,” I lie.

He chuckles. “Well, I’m staying awake for a while longer in case those shifters try to surprise us.”

My desire to push him off the bed if he puts a finger on me evaporates. I roll onto my side, facing him. Matilda drew the curtains before she and Simon when to bed, so with all the lights off, I can barely see Nathan. “You don’t have to do that.”

He’s stretched out on his back, arms folded over his chest. “Yes, I do.”

“Did you mean what you said before about it being okay if Matilda and Simon wanted to buy land in Hardin?”

Nathan turns his head toward me. “Why wouldn’t I have meant it?”

“I heard about the cold-blooded alpha. So did Martha. She freaked out at first when she heard I would be going to stay with you.”

Because of his reputation. He killed his packmates. Not all, but some. Women, children, and the old alpha.

“Rumors,” Nathan says. “Dayne won’t have a problem with a mated couple settling there if they wanted to.”

“Not all alphas would agree.”

Most alphas would be too territorial to invite a potential enemy so close to his pack.

“Dayne would. He’d want to meet Matilda and Simon first. Get a measure of them and see if they’re liable to cause problems for the pack. I don’t think they would, though. Trouble rarely comes from a mated pair.”

He’s right.

Trouble usually comes from an alpha wanting something that is not his to take.

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