Page 33 of Pack Baines

“That’s my condition. Unless you want me to add more?” he says, raising an eyebrow at me with a teasing challenge.

An offer too tempting to pass, I ask, “What other conditions would you add?”

Lowie’s grin broadens, and his hands drop to my ass in a bold move that makes me grin. “You gonna make me work for a sleepover?”

I shrug. “I wasn’t going to, no. I would have easily said yes had you not brought up more.”

“Oh, so it’s my fault?” he scoffs, squeezing my ass cheeks and drawing me closer. Close enough, in fact, that his lips brush mine when he leans in for a sneaky kiss that I withhold.

I nod, breathing deeply and inhaling his sandalwood and coconut scent like an addict. “Yours and yours alone. So, share what other conditions you’d add and then I’ll decide if you can stay.”

“Hmm,” he hums right before he drops a kiss to my lips, then my cheek, and then my jaw. He trails kisses all the way to my ear before he whispers, “I have too many conditions to list, Angel. Like having you naked all night while I stay over. Maybe forcing you to use my face as a throne so you can cover me in that sugary wetness I only had a brief taste of last night. And if you were a good girl for me, then maybe I’d add a few orgasms to the list.”

Well, shit. I walked right into that one, so I have no one to blame for my suddenly soaked panties and the way I’m perfuming like Lowie just flipped a switch inside me. My body heats slightly, and I shiver against his hard, toned body, and Lowie laughs lowly. Like the bastard knows exactly what kind of effect he’s having on me. I mean, it’s obvious enough by the sickly-sweet scent leaking from me, and the way I warm from head to toe.

Clearing my throat, doing my best to stop a heat spike in the middle of a diner during my first shift, I sink my hand into his hair and mutter, “Well, those sound like very reasonable, and highly acceptable conditions.”

“Oh, yeah?” he snickers, biting his lip as his gaze falls to mine. “So, what’s the verdict?”

I pretend to think about it, leaning back with a put-out sigh, before I finally huff, “Fine. I guess I can put up with you for the night.”

“You’re such a shit,” Lowie growls lowly before pulling me into another bone-shaking, panty-melting kiss that does nothing but thwart my efforts to avoid an embarrassing moment at work. It’s an honest miracle that I don’t whine there and then, my scent already growing thicker while my temp sneaks that little bit higher.

Laughing against his mouth, I scratch the back of his head like I always used to do, goosebumps breaking out over my skin when he groans against my lips. The sound comes close to a purr, and I have to pull back before I fall headfirst into that heat spike and make a fool of myself.

I peck his lips and back away, his arms falling as he gives me a knowing look that I roll my eyes at, and then I walk back around the counter before asking, “So, that’s why you’re staying until my shift ends? So you can come home with me?”

Lowie shrugs, peeling the wrapper off his muffin before taking a large bite. I go about making a coffee for myself, before dropping back into position in front of Lowie, cupping my mug as I watch him enjoy his little treat. He’s eaten half of it before he finally answers me, “One of the reasons. I was going to sneak back to your place anyway, but I figured you’d appreciate me asking first.”

I give him a bland look that amuses him more than anything, so I take a sip of my sugary coffee in lieu of entertaining him with a response.

Snorting, Lowie lowers his own mug and shrugs a shoulder before finally admitting, “One, I didn’t want you to be on your own if you had a heat spike. Apparently, they hurt, a lot, half of the pain of going through a true heat alone, and I didn’t want you to suffer. I had to play and win four out of five games of rock, paper, scissors to secure the honor of asking if I could stay with you. Two, the thought of you going home, alone, and in the dark, didn’t sit right with me. If it means staying up late to ensure you’re safe, then I’ll do it over and over again. But third, and the most important reason of all, I just gotyou back, Angel. If I don’t have to spend another night without you, then I’m not going to. I want to spend every night with you, so long as you’re willing.”

I’m silent for a long moment, staring at the usually surly twin while I try to calm the butterflies taking flight in my stomach and control the beating of my erratic and thundering heart. He stares back, drinking his coffee with an air of nonchalance, like he didn’t just send my entire body into a tailspin and have my insides melting. I see his lips twitch, and I soften instantly, quietly declaring, “I’m willing. I don’t want to stay alone, and I’ll always be happy to have you with me. And the others, obviously.”

That smile I love, one rarely seen but always given to me, finally breaks free, and I’m suddenly putty in his hands. He could ask me to do a backflip right here and now and I’d do it, even if I’d land ass first on the floor, because heavens know I can’t do a roly-poly let alone a backflip without injury.

“Then how about you get this place on lockdown so I can get you home, huh?” the dick says, ruining it all, but making me laugh regardless. “And, if you’re feeling generous, I’d love another muffin.”

“Got a sweet tooth still?” I tease, grabbing him a muffin.

“Only gotten sweeter since you came back,” he winks, and I’m snickering as I go about closing the diner down.

By the time everything is clean and shut down, there’s only one straggler left, the man still nursing his third coffee of the night. He hasn’t spoken other than to ask for a refill, kept to his little nook in the diner, and hasn’t budged all night. It’s a little weird, but hey, whatever floats his boat, right?

“Sorry to disturb you, sir, but we’re closing up now,” I tell him carefully, making a conscious effort to keep my tone soft and voice low and relaxed.

The man, dressed simply in a sweater, collared shirt beneath, and jeans, looks up and smiles. “Of course. I’m sorry. Lost to my thoughts for a while there.”

I nod, attempting to smile back, but struggling against the weird feeling that lances through me at the strange look he peers up at me with. Something I’ve seen too many times over the years of working in establishments as I have is that of someone trying too hard to appear nice when they’re hiding a lurking monster beneath the surface. I can’t be sure what monsters this guy is hiding, but I’m sure the veneer he’s wearing right now is surely hiding something.

“No worries,” I mutter, taking a step back. And then another, and another, until I’m at a safe distance to turn and walk around the counter and to the cash register. All the while, I feel Lowie’s eyes on me, and when I look over at him, I find him frowning. “What is it, Angel?”

I offer some semblance of a smile, and tell him, “It’s fine. Nothing, really. I just want to go home, go to bed, and sleep.”

Lowie nods slowly, eyeing me like he doesn’t quite believe me, but he doesn’t say anything. He simply sits and watches as the guy pays at the register, keeping an eye right up until he leaves with a generous tip left on the table he was sitting at all night. As soon as the door dings with the last patron and the diner is empty save for Lowie and me, he asks, “You got a weird vibe from him, too, right?”

With little use in lying, I nod. “Very weird. But It’s fine, he’s gone. I just need to take care of a couple of things and then I can clock out.”

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