Page 72 of Heroes & Hitmen
His smirk deepens. “Ah, so youdolisten sometimes.”
“When it counts,” I say, wrapping my hands tighter around my coffee mug as I bring it to my mouth.
“But not when I say we’re really fated mates.”
“Don’t even start,” I sigh.
“I know you feel the pull,” he replies, voice smooth as velvet. “Why else would you have jumped my bones last night?”
“Did not,” I scoff, taking a sip.
“Did too. Not that I’m complaining.” He sets the bowl of eggs on the edge of the counter, pivoting toward me with a devil-may-care grin. “I learned a little something about you when you seduced me in the alley.”
I nearly spit coffee across the kitchen, forcing myself to swallow it down. “Excuse me? I did notseduceyou.”
“No?” he muses, arching a brow. “Well I’m not the one who unzipped my own pants in a public alley and started sucking dick.”
I make a strangled sound, forcing myself to set the coffee mug down on the counter before I hurl it at his head. “That is… a deeply misleading retelling of events.”
He laughs, shaking his head as he pivots back toward the stove and goes about pouring the eggs into a hot skillet. “Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone you’re a freak in the sheets. I’ll let you keep up your prissy girl image as long as you’ll still be a dirty girl for me.”
He tosses me a wink, and I resist the urge to go full wolf and bite his damn head off.
“I’m not… I…” I sputter, the English language suddenly evading me.
“It’s nothing to be embarrassed about,” Ares chuckles as he reaches for a spatula, clearly enjoying my discomfort. “It’s hot as fuck, babe. And it’s only natural that you’d let go and give into your true desires with your fated mate.”
I tip my head back, scrubbing a hand over my face in exasperation. “Here we go again.”
“You can’t deny the signs any more than I can,” he murmurs, pushing the eggs around the skillet with a spatula. “This insane attraction, the way I’m addicted to your scent, the way my wolf is possessive over you. The sparks…” He sidesteps and reaches out for me, grazing his fingertips up my arm.
I shiver involuntarily, jerking away. “Does this have something to do with what you think youlearnedabout me last night?” I ask in a desperate bid to change the subject.
“Yeah,” he answers, still stirring the eggs as he turns to look at me. “I figured out your secret.”
I roll my eyes, tossing my hair over a shoulder. “Dare I ask?”
His lips slowly spread into a grin. “You’ve got a praise kink.”
“What?” I choke, body going still.
“You like being told you’re a good girl,” he replies, voice teasing but also… weirdly gentle. “Like, a lot.”
My face flushes hot, which is pretty much a dead giveaway that he’s just hit the nail on the head. “That is so not true.”
Ares sets down the spatula, stepping in front of me and bracing his hands on the counter at either side of my hips, trapping me in. “No?” he asks, leaning in close and dropping his voice low. “So if I said you’re mygood girl, it wouldn’t do anything for you?”
“It wouldn’t,” I grit out, jaw set tight.
He leans in even closer, until I can smell the coffee on his breath and the masculine scent of his skin. “Good girl,” he growls in a whisper.
My stomach swoops and my entire body flushes– cheeks, neck, chest, freakingall of it. I swear I feel my pupils dilate, heart taking off at a gallop.
He smiles smugly, pushing off the counter and taking a step backwards. “Yeah, that’s what I thought.”
I reach for my coffee mug, trying to hide my mortification behind it as I bring it to my lips.
“It makes sense,” Ares muses, returning to the stove and giving the eggs a stir as if this is just casual small talk. “You’re always wound tight, always trying to remain in control. So, it stands to reason that you crave being able to let everything go and hand someone else the reins when it’s on your own terms.” He flicks a smoldering glance in my direction. “It’s sexy as hell, by the way. Ten out of ten.”
