Page 15 of The Teddy Bear's Prize

“What are those for?” Tobias asks, walking up with a couple pairs of jeans in his arms.

“You don’t know what underwear is for?” I tilt my head, placing the two packages in the cart, along with his jeans.

“I know what it’s for, but why do I need it? You aren’t wearing any.”

I hear a loud snort from behind me and look over my shoulder to see a middle-aged man smiling down at a package of cotton shirts before walking off. Okay, maybe this is a bit more embarrassing than I thought.

Tobiasgrowlsand when I turn, his eyes are glowing bright red, the whites shifting to black. When he sneers, I can see the tips of new pointed teeth that I swear he didn’t have before.

“Hey.” I step closer, placing my hand on his chest, but he doesn’t budge. “Tobias.” I cup his cheek with my palm and his eyes dart to me. After a moment, his deep heaving breaths slow as his face returns to normal, “It’s okay.”

“You wouldn’t believe what he was thinking,” he says, his brows creasing in concern.

“I have an idea,” I shrug, my fingertips grazing his sharp jaw before I pull away.

“Are all mortal men like this?”

“Manypeoplehave spicy thoughts, it doesn’t mean they’ll act on them. That’s just human nature, Tobias. It’s the percentage that goes farther that is the problem.”

“Like, Jeff,” he tilts his head, looking down at me.

“What about Jeff?”

“He was going to try and pressure you into sleeping with him. I saw it clearly in his thoughts.”

“Oh,” my hand goes to my stomach. He wouldn’t have succeeded, but Tobias felt the need to protect me all the same. Suddenly, that night makes a lot more sense.

“Are you okay? I can sense you're upset.”

“I—yes. Thank you for looking out for me, Tobias,” I don’t want to dwell on the other emotions blossoming in my chest, but I’m sure he can feel them. The comfort, the appreciation, and buried deep beneath that, affection. “Okay,” I clear my throat, “Do you want to pick something special for dinner? It’s your first day in our realm.” I look up at him, “Can you eat?”

“I don’t know, but I would like to find out.” Tobias smiles at me, his sharp teeth are gone and replaced with just pointed canines. “Can we order Chinese food?”

These feelings will not remain buried for long.

We makeit home at twenty 'til three. Just enough time to shove Tobias through the door with his new clothes so that he doesn’t stick out like a sore thumb or look like a wild weekend fling, the latter only because the truth would hurt my feelings.

“I’m going to make coffee. Would you like some?”

“Please,” Tobias calls out from the other room.

Let me touch you. Please, little doe.His words fromlast night echo in my thoughts, and I allow them to paint a vivid picture as I fix our coffee.

What am I doing? I need to control myself or I am no better than the guy at the store. Tobias is stuck with me for who knows how long, he doesn’t need me crushing on him the entire time.

As I finish adding vanilla creamer to my coffee, the door to my bedroom creaks open.

“I left your coffee black. I could never drink it, but I know people who like it that way,” I explain, looking down at my mug before taking a sip. It is amazing as usual, “I wanted you to decide before?—”

There’s movement out of the corner of my eye, and I look up to see Tobias padding into the kitchen. He’s still wearing the black shirt from before and dark wash jeans that hug his muscled thighs.

I shift uncomfortably, immediately my brain launches to a fantasy of him pushing me back against the counter and kissing me.

I blanch. Shit, he can read minds. How am I going to control my thoughts around him? Maybe I need to practice meditation or something like that.

“Mia,” he says, his gray hand grabs my mug.

“That has vanilla,” I mutter, watching as he places it on the counter.

---