Page 96 of Her Males

“How long until it’s finished?” I ask.

Kato shrugs. “About a week.”

That’s not too bad. I fold up the tarp, and Kato hangs the skin on a rack while I try to put the tarp back on the top shelf of the closet they took it from. Kato washes his hands with a laugh as I struggle to reach.

“Humans are so short,” he teases, approaching.

I shoot him a glare, but my body quickly stiffens as he grabs my hips and lifts me a few inches into the air so I can reach. My fingers shake as I shove the tarp onto the top shelf, and Kato sets me back on the ground in one smooth motion.

The action presses his chest against my back, and I let out an embarrassingly loud, shaky exhale at the feeling of his bare skin touching mine. Kato’s an attractive man, a fact I’ve been working hard to ignore and pretend I don’t notice, but it’s near impossible not to when he’s covered in Emily’s scent and pressed against me.

I should move away and put distance between us.

Kato doesn’t seem to notice my arousal as he drops his hands from my hips and steps back. I take a moment longer to move.

I’m a horrible person. Kato and Emily are happily mated, and I still don’t know what’s happening between me, Gray, and Silas. I’m still slightly convinced they’re out to kill me, even if Rock promises they aren’t, but I shouldn’t do anything until I have clarity.

Kato turns to look at me, his eyebrows pulled tightly together.

“Are you okay?” he asks.

Unlike his wife, Kato seems blissfully unaware of my reaction to him, and his growing comfort toward me only worsens it. I almost miss the days when he avoided me like the plague, but now he sees me as a friend and has no issues with the occasional touch.

Kato looks good, but it’s his mate’s scent that does me in. It turns me on, especially when he’s so close, and it urges me to act on my attraction.

Would it be so bad if I did?

As much as I love Gray and Silas, I’d be foolish not to acknowledge the power imbalance in our relationship. Most of my life has been spent in hiding, and when they purchased me, the only experience I had outside of my home was from the month I spent in the secure Seeker facility.

I want to know who I am outside of Gray and Silas, and shouldn’t discovering who I am sexually be a part of that? How can I say my males are truly who I want when I don’t even know who I am and what I want?

“Charlie?” Kato asks when I don’t answer his question. “Are you okay?” he repeats.

I clear my throat and nod, but it doesn’t seem as convincing as I’d like it to be as he steps forward and ducks to my level. He looks me over, and a quiet hum emerges from his throat as he straightens up and pulls me into a tight hug.

I wish I’d chosen to wear my usual clothing instead of the leathers Emily and Echo gave me. The bandeau top leaves most of my chest exposed, and the feeling of Kato’s bare skin against mine is doing more to me than I’d care to admit.

“Life has been hard for you,” Kato whispers, running a hand down the center of my spine.

I shiver.

He’s trying so hard to comfort me, but my body isn’t getting the ‘this is innocent touch’ memo. My face warms as my cheek presses against his chest, and I listen to his heart beating as I clench and unclench my fists.

Kato’s large, and it’s next to impossible not to realize it when I’m wrapped in his muscular arms. I breathe in, my body softening as Emily’s residual scent fills my lungs. Every inch of his body is coated in her, and while it’s diluted, it’s still distracting.

It smells so good.

My thighs clench as I rack my brain for a response, my mind coming up blank despite how hard I search for one. I flinch when Emily walks back in, and I meet her gaze with wide eyes.

She raises a brow at our positioning, the woman able to easily see how intimate it is, even if the shifter hugging me is clueless.

“Tell me what’s wrong,” Kato urges, his voice rising in pitch.

He struggles with strong emotions, and he gets especially nervous when he can’t determine what’s causing them.

Emily rolls her eyes as Kato panics.

“Charlie’s fine. She’s just turned on.”

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