Page 2 of Vermilion Desire

“Take my room.” He smiles, and I nearly swoon at that beautiful gesture.

I shake my head, hooking my small fingers on his tight black shirt. This way, I can cop a feel of the rigid muscles under his shirt, and he doesn’t disappoint.

“I can take the couch, Mr. Wolf. It’s your bed; you should sleep in it.”

As expected, Mr. Wolf’s answer is an immediate refusal. “No. I don’t want you to be on the couch. It’s uncomfortable.”

I would never let him sleep on the couch. Especially when his body is so much bigger than mine, and he’s going to have back pain in the morning, and it’s going to hinder his ability to perform the best at his job.

“We can share,” I offer; the innocent smile doesn’t have any purity behind the thought process. I can’t let this chance of sleeping so close to him drop off. This is the perfect chance to push him a little more.

I know he wants me. I can see it in his eyes when he looks at me, and I want him just as much. My love for him only grows on a daily basis, and it’s maddening to know that he’s holding back. Either because of his partner, Cal, or Mr. Wolf has too much pride to go after someone way too young for him.

People’s opinion has never affected me before, and it still doesn’t.

“That’s not a good idea,” he says, hesitation is clear in his deep voice.

“You don’t want to sleep with me?” My eyes are downcast, and my lips pull into a frown as I shuffle my feet, gauging his reaction through whatever body part my eyes can land on.

“I do, baby. I want to sleep with you.”

When I look up at him, his face turns a touch of red before he clears his throat. “I meant—the bed is big enough for both of us, and I have to get some shut-eye for tomorrow.”

For a senior detective, he can’t lie to me. I found that out a long time a lot. Mr. Wolf can spin a web of delicate lies to trap in the most vicious criminals who don’t fear prison, but he can’t lie to a twenty-year-old girl that only comes up to his chest.

“Mr. Wolf?” I whisper, testing out the water to see where he is.

“What is it?” he asks back, hand slipping a piece of red hair behind my ear.

I lean into his touch; it’s warm and welcoming as happiness fills my heart. Kissing him would be a dream come true right now, but I need him to make the first move. It’s his choice to take the first step down a path of where he wants, and I might just manipulate that decision with a pinch of that and this.

I want him to choose me, and I will do anything to achieve it.

“Can I ask for one more favor?”

He promptly nods; there’s no hesitation behind his answer. “Anything for you.”

“Can you take me in for six months?” I ask.

I plan on staying with him forever, but one step at a time. This is an opening that I refuse to let go of because he’s mine, and I’d be damned if I let another woman infiltrate his life when all he needs is me.

“Is something wrong with Cal?” he questions, wrapping his big hands around my small shoulders.

I shake my head. “No, he’s okay. It’s just that he has to go get his captain training to be qualified to be the police station’s captain.”

Cal has ambition, and his goal is to be the new captain when the current one retires. He wants to bring the station into a new light and make it more efficient. There is nothing wrong with the place right now, but there is always room for improvement, and Cal has told me that.

“One of the conditions of my international housing program agreements is to have Cal actively be in the house.” I don’t know the full reasoning behind it, but I’m glad that the agreement is in place.

“His captain training is in another place, and he won’t be there a lot. Can I stay with you?” I leave the explaining as vague as possible because it is possible for me to reside in Cal’s home because he’s still technically there, but his training lasts four hours in a one-week time span.

I make it sound like he won’t be there at nighttime at all, but it’s an exaggeration that got out of hand. Well, it’s all or nothing. Cal already sighed the documents to transfer me to Mr. Wolf’s care while he undergoes captain training.

“Are you sure?”

I take out the document and let him see Cal’s signature, he nods and reads over the entire agreement. A page gets his attention, and I sometimes curse his habit of reading every single thing on the paper.

He’s the type to read the Terms and Conditions page with keen eyes.

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