Page 44 of To Challenge a Wolf

“Bachelorhood’s been good to me.” His teeth flashed in the dark.

“Oh, ofcourse. What was I thinking? Irresistible bachelorhood. Guess it makes sense now why you just kissed me like a total monk.”

“I did not,” he growled.

“Uh-huh. Totally did. I had better kisses on the playground in grade school.”

“Liar.” He rumbled the word with a low heat that made her toes curl. At her reaction, his growl deepened with triumph. He leaned in and pushed his fingers through her hair, and a tiny squeak betrayed her further. “Want to lie to me some more, Vivian?”

He lowered his mouth toward hers, and she hated herself as she planted an open hand on his chest (oh, the planes of muscle, defined easily through his shirt—focus, woman) and pushed him away.

“No,” she said. “I told you what I want, and you said no. So this is also a no, Rhett.”

“Fine,” he growled. “Doesn’t change my no. Not with you.”

“Right, so if I were anybody else, you’d at least consider throwing your hat into the relationship ring and seeing if you could pull it off.”

“What? No, I wouldn’t.”

“And what exactlyiswrong with me? It must be something awful. I must really suck.”

He growled. “Don’t.”

“Okay, why don’t we start over. Again.” She tried to gentle her voice, but it came out with something between kindness and exasperation. Getting this wolf to talk about deep things was significantly harder than pulling teeth. “No more glories-of-bachelorhood nonsense. Tell me why you have no choice but to keep me in the friend zone after two blazing-hot kisses in a row.”

“Aha,” he rumbled.

“Oh, please. Stuff your ego and talk to me.”

He let out a low growl and turned away, though she could hardly make out his features in the dark forest.

“Nope.” She scooted over the mossy ground so that she faced him again. “Look me in the eye and tell me why, Rhett.”

“It’s obvious why.”

“Um, I beg to differ.”

“You know what I am, Vivian. You knew me, saw me after training sessions, and I just filled in the blanks you didn’t know.”

“I know the training was worse than I ever imagined. I know it was effective, because a wolf from your own pack says you move like water. I know you’ve never killed a person in twenty-nine years, even though you were brought up fromnine years oldto have no regard for life. If you wanted me to know something else, you left it out.”

“I beat six alphas. Beat them with my fists and enjoyed proving myself.”

“Did you enjoy causing pain?”

“No,” he snapped.

“Okay,” she said.

“Viv, you don’t understand. I hit them for no reason except to prove myself against them, and then I left. I roamed the countryfor years on my own. I’m the worst wolf for commitment that ever lived.”

He was a true idiot, because he believed this. Any hint of sarcasm had evaporated from his voice. She had to prove to him what nonsense it all was, these things he’d gotten rooted into his head.

“So,” she said, “you don’t really like it here. Harmony Ridge, small-town life.”

He shrugged, but the motion was stiff. “I like it fine.”

“But you plan to leave.”

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