Page 237 of Secret Shifters Next Door

“The thing?” he arched an eyebrow.

“Is this gonna be make-up sex? I’ve heard about it,” I said.

Miles laughed. “No. Your first time isn’t going to be hot and heavy post-fight sex. You need to sleep, and so do I.”

I was both relieved and a little disappointed, but as soon as he set me on the bed, deep and bone-tired exhaustion overtook me. I felt like I could sleep for a whole day. Miles helped pull my shoes, socks, and pants off. He then did the same and slid into bed with me after turning off all the lights. It was the earliest I’d ever gone to bed, but as soon as I rested my head on his chest and heard the steady beat of his heart, I was drifting off. Right before I fell asleep, I thought I heard him whisper four words.

“I love you, Celina.”

I wokeup almost fifteen hours later, the sun barely peeking through the windows. I felt amazing. I’d definitely needed the sleep. The aroma of food cooking enticed me to roll over, and I realized Miles wasn’t in bed. He stepped into the bedroom a few seconds later, carrying a plate of food.

“Breakfast in bed,” he said.

I glanced down at the bacon, eggs, and toast. My stomach rumbled, and I started eating almost as soon as I had the plate in my hand. Miles placed a glass of orange juice on my bedside table and sat on the bed next to me.

“I thought we’d spend the day together today. No hunter stuff, no work stuff, just us. How about it? It’s cold as shit outside. Looked like it was sleeting. A great day to stay cozy inside on the couch.”

It sounded amazing. With a stuffed mouth, I nodded, not wanting to speak and spray the hot guy on my bed with chewed scrambled eggs. When we finished eating, we moved from thebed to the couch in the living room and spent the next four hours streaming movies. It was wonderful, one of the most relaxing mornings I’d ever had. I could hear the sleet and snow spitting against the window the whole time. There was something inherently pleasant about being warm and inside when the weather outside was awful. What was the old Christmas song lyric?Oh, the weather outside is frightful?It was accurate beyond belief.

By noon, Miles had gone to the kitchen to make us grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup. That was when I started to get antsy. It wasn’t that I didn’t love spending the day with him, but it was starting to feel like we had our heads stuck in the sand. How would this ever get settled if he was holed up in here with me?

“Miles, are you sure you shouldn’t head back to the guys? I feel a lot better, and I don’t want to pull you away from your work,” I said, feeling embarrassed.

Miles flipped the two sandwiches in the frying pan and glanced over at me. “I’m not going to worry. All that can wait until tomorrow. Today is about you.”

“Positive? We have to figure this out to have any real peace. You’re the best one to help them track this guy down.”

Miles put the sandwiches on a plate and spooned out two bowls of soup. He then took it all over to the coffee table. “Come here and binge-watch this show with me. Let’s forget about the world for a while.”

I smiled despite myself and joined him. He pushed play on the TV, and I snuggled into him, my bowl of soup balanced on my lap. Miles kissed the side of my head. “You know I’d do anything for you, right?”

I nodded and started eating. The theme song to the show started, and Miles set his soup on his lap as well. He ate with onehand as he kept his other arm wrapped around me. I knew he really would do anything for me.

I would do the same for him.

TWENTY-SIX

MILES

Blayne sat at his computer, bleary-eyed and typing away. Since we’d come back to town, most of my time had been spent with Blayne and Steff researching other locations that could be the property we were looking for. Tate spent most of his time on the phone with realtors and property owners in and around Denver, seeing if he could find any threads that added up to anything.

Blayne was focusing on properties owned by Antonio, which had either sat empty for longer than seemed normal or places that allegedly had businesses with very vague titles. None of it had added up to anything yet. It had been several days, and it was getting increasingly obvious that we’d need to go back into Denver to do the real search. There was only so much that could be done remotely.

Before we made the trek back out, I wanted to make sure we had as many things narrowed down as possible. I leaned forward and pointed at Blayne’s screen. “Pull up this window. The list we compiled of the places that seem like the most likely locations.”

He pulled it up. “Here you go. What are we doing?”

“Send that file to me in an email. I’ve got a buddy in Denver. A PI like me. I’m going to hire him to check on these for us. I can’t tell him exactly what we’re looking for obviously, but I’llcome up with something. Get him on the case. He’s local and will have more contacts, plus, he’s not a shifter. He won’t be on the hunters’ radar and might be able to get closer than we can. At least, that’s what I hope.”

Blayne sighed and pulled his glasses off, pinching the bridge of his nose between his eyes. “We’re going back to Denver, aren’t we?”

“Almost assuredly,” I said, nodding sadly.

“Fuck, man. You know how uncomfortable it was sleeping in that white van of ours? And you guys all started to fucking stink after a few days.”

“Well, you didn’t smell like chocolate and roses yourself. We can probably splurge on a hotel room this time.”

“Thank God.”

---