Page 37 of Act of Brotherhood
Garth was very open to being locked in her bedroom for eternity. He’d tie himself to her bed if she simply hinted at it being an option. He chuckled and pulled his T-shirt up and over his head. He washed his arms and hands thoroughly, getting the smeared cupcake off himself. He used the hand towel to dry himself and when he turned, he found Nicolette hadn’t budged.
She was staring intensely at his torso. For a second, he assumed she was checking him out. He wasn’t a shy man, and he knew what his body looked like. He also knew women had always seemed taken with it, withhim.
But Nicolette’s expression wasn’t one of lust, it was of sadness.
“What happened to you?” she asked.
Confused, he followed her gaze to the scar that ran from his upper right chest down to his lower left side. It was thinner than it used to be, and time had left it faded to the point he often forgot he had it. He had many others, but that one was by far the worst. A fair number of tattoos covered most of them. He kept his tattoos confined to his chest and back, for now. All of them had something to do with Norse mythology. After all, that was the religion he’d been born into and grew up practicing.
Garth opened his mouth to give the standard response he’d handed to countless people over the centuries. The one where he told them he’d sustained an injury in battle. That wasn’t what fell out. The truth did.
“My father gave me the scar. My brother was standing next to me. When the blow was delivered, it was my brother who was first struck. Though, he was cut on the face, nearly losing his eye in the process.” Garth touched his face where Grid’s scar was. “And the blade of the sword continued downwards at an angle, across me.”
“Blade? Sword?” she asked, edging closer to him. “Your father sliced open youandyour brother?”
He offered a curt nod, unsure how to express his feelings on the matter. They were something he’d buried long ago.
She cupped her mouth and teared up. “Tell me he was locked away.”
A snort came from Garth. “No. But in the end, justice was delivered.”
Her hand found the start of his scar. She leaned and pressed a kiss to it before glancing up at him with moist blue eyes. Nicolette drew back from him quickly and swallowed hard, her fingers trailing away from his skin slowly.
He caught her hand in his and their gazes collided. Whatever was happening between them was powerful. It made him want to act out of character, say things he wouldn’t say to others.
“I was going to get you one of Cody’s shirts,” she said.
Garth stiffened at the mention of the man’s name. “And Cody would be the friend that spends time here?”
She smiled. “Yep. He crashes on the pull-out sofa when he’s in town.”
Inhaling deep, Garth tried to pick up on the smell of the male but came away empty. If it had been some time since the man had been in the home, it would lessen his scent. And the damn cinnamon, cloves, and vanilla that lingered in the air continued to confuse his wolf senses. There was no reason to be jealous about another man when it came to Nicolette. After all, it wasn’t as if Garth and the woman were an item or anything. Each of them was free to see and do what they wanted.
His gut clenched at the idea of Nicolette being touched by another man.
Stop it. She’s just a random woman.
He couldn’t be certain, but it felt as if his wolf actually laughed at his denial. That couldn’t be good. But he was right: she was a woman he’d happened to walk into on the street. It could have been any woman. It just happened to be this one. Had he slammed into a different woman, he’d have more than likely wanted to ravish her as well. It was the shit Auberi gave him. It had to be.
Even as the thoughts filtered through his head, Garth knew deep down that something felt off. He remembered the four women in the tight, short skirts. Yes, he’d found them attractive and had entertained having some fun with them, but this was different. He didn’t want to merely have some fun with Nicolette. He wanted to devour her sexually and emotionally. He wanted to see her face when he brought her to culmination, and he wanted to wrap his arms around her and hold her close afterwards.
The fact he wanted there tobean afterwards spoke volumes.
He’d been a bachelor all his life and never planned to change his bad boy ways. Sure, he wasn’t quite the playboy his friend Malik had been before mating, but Garth was no slouch. In all his years, he’d never once longed for something more with a woman.
Something real.
He wanted that with the woman standing near him currently. It didn’t help to see her genuine heartache for what his father had done. There was no pity in her gaze as she looked upon him. Just kindness.
Nicolette made a move to leave the area, but he caught her hand. “I don’t need another shirt right this second.”
He wanted her to remain close to him. It was then he noticed he was caressing her wrist with his thumb. He tugged gently on her hand and she came to him. He lifted her hand and kissed each of her knuckles, one by one, his gaze never leaving hers.
She closed her eyes briefly, and then stepped away from him all the same, leaving a sense of longing remaining in him. He knew why she’d done it. She felt overwhelmed too. That meant the pull went both ways.
Nicolette headed down a short hallway to the kitchen. He followed behind her, leaving his shirt in the bathroom. Nicolette stretched upwards near the refrigerator and it took Garth a second to realize she was trying to get a bottle of wine from the rack built above the appliance. He moved up behind her, his body crowding hers, and he reached up. Bending, he put his lips to her ear. “What do you want?”
She melted against him and the scent of her arousal nearly shattered his already feeble self-control. “You. Erm, a merlot. Do you like wine?”
