Page 43 of Alpha Wolf's Nanny
“Goodnight, Felix,” she said, her throat dry.
He inclined his head and settled by the fire, tail flicking before curling around him.
She zipped the tent closed.
Chapter 14 - Felix
He had to hand it to her, Cassie was a very efficient camper. She had the tent rolled up and her pack balanced and ready to go in about ten minutes flat. Whenever he’d been camping with the guys, it was an absolute nightmare in the mornings. Nicolas was a beast, unable to function without caffeine. Rick had often reached his limit by dawn with the dirt and disorder and chaos. Dane always made grand announcements about his supposed manly camping skills, and then would spend half an hour utterly failing to pack the tent away correctly.
Cassie was an absolute master of the art.
Felix’s few offers to help her had earned him a stern glare, so he’d held up his hands and let her get on with it. When it came time to leave, however, he did insist on taking the pack from her, despite her protests.
“I’m probably 250 pounds. You’re, what, 125? This pack is at least thirty. Simple math says that I—”
“I don’t care about math, I’m perfectly capable of carrying a thirty-pound pack!”
“Okay, how about the fact that I’m a shifter and this literally weighs no more than a cushion to me?”
“...Fine.”
At least Nicolas had been kind enough to drop him off some clothes. He’d sniffed down the pile early that morning, left a respectful distance away from the camp. He didn’t particularly relish the idea of making the hike in the nude, and he doubted Cassie would be entirely comfortable with him shifting into a wolf to accompany her.
The thought made his stomach clench. For some reason, he couldn’t fully understand, he wanted her to be comfortable around him. Man or wolf.
Not that she seemed uncomfortable the night before. In hindsight, perhaps he had overstepped. Kissing her like that,touchingher…
He’d promised himself he’d keep it all professional. And he’d fundamentally broken that promise in the night.
Risking a glance over at Cassie, he was surprised to see a small smile tugging at the corner of her lips, a slight blush staining her cheeks. She seemed lost in her own little world. Was she thinking about last night? About what they did?
The memories flashed behind his eyelids, and he found himself growing slightly uncomfortable, his trousers tightening. With a shake of his head, he raked his hand through his hair, focusing on the trail ahead of them.
“About last night…” he started, his hands clenching slightly.
Her gaze whipped to him, her small, secret smile gone, a look of pure anxiety on her face. “I’m sorry, I know we agreed to be professional, I hope I didn’t—”
“Cassie,” he stopped her with a hand on her shoulder, “that’s not it. I mean…I’msorry. I was angry, my blood was up, and I would hate to think I took advantage of you in any way.”
“You were angry?” she asked, her eyebrows drawing together as she tugged her lower lip between her teeth.
“Not at you,” he reassured, “at Rick. At myself. At…at everything.”
She paused a while, looking down at her feet. “It must be a lot of responsibility. Being an alpha.”
“You have no idea,” he said, dropping his hand from her shoulder. He didn’t miss the brief look of disappointment that crossed over her face.
“You didn’t take advantage of me,” she said. “Truthfully, I wasn’t sure that you…wanted me like that.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” he said, his jaw dropping.
Her eyes narrowed. “What, you were the one who said you didn’t want to see me again after we…you know…”
“Cassie, that had absolutely nothing to do with—”
“It’s okay,” she interrupted, picking up her pace. “I get it, it’s fine.”
He didn’t believe her, but he also didn’t want to push the point. Especially when he didn’t really know what he wanted.
