Page 83 of Grin and Bear It

“Is it?” Lin sounded, looked poleaxed, taking Ellie’s other hand in his. “I don’t think I can even feel my face.”

He held her hand above her head, spinning her around between us to get the full effect of the dress.

“Told you the dress was the way to go,” Colleen told Ellie. “Wrap dresses are your friend.”

Is that what it was? All I knew was the folds of deep green fabric sparkled subtly when she moved, the dress looking like it did wrap across her stunning form, the two sides overlapping to cup each swollen breast, and then tie around her waist. It also meant that the full skirt that flared out over her hips had a front slit that cut diagonally across her body. It didn’t reveal anything, the other side of the wrap dress keeping her decent below the top layer, but I caught Lin’s eyes, my sleuthmate nodding slowly.

“We’ll take you… wherever you want, wearing a dress like that,” Lin breathed out, standing in front of our mate and staring down at her. “We did a renovation for that mob with the fancy place in the middle of the city.” He clicked his fingers, not able to remember their name.

“Gauche?” I supplied.

“Right. Apparently people wait for weeks to get a reservation there, but we can make some calls, right, Nash?”

“Right.” I turned Ellie towards me, taking her hands in mine and feeling that deep warmth in my gut, then a lightening in my heart each time I looked at her. “Whatever you want, Ellie.”

“Maybe no more surprise visits to the school?” she said with a slow smile. “The place runs on gossip and not just the teenage kind, but…” She squeezed my hand. “You had a reservation, somewhere you wanted to take me. Let's go there.”

“Right you are.” Lin held out an arm for her. “Say goodbye, Colleen.”

“Bye, Coll!” she called out, right as I moved in and took her hand.

I was trying to keep my cool, to be the suave and sophisticated gent my dads had told me I needed to be when they’d been schooling me and Adam about the niceties of courting your mate, but as Lin walked around to the driver’s seat, I didn’t open the back door for Ellie like a gentleman. The bear got his way as I pressed her against the car body.

“Sorry, but I’ve gotta…”

As I cupped her jaw with my hands, her eyes went wide and for a minute I thought I was scaring her. But my bear, he’d never fucking let me, not her, not my mate. Her scent came in thick and sweet in my nose and her lips parted, readying them for me. I kissed her because not doing so hurt more than almost anything that had gone before and I needed it, I needed her. But then her arms went around me and all was right in the world. Planets could collide and World War III could be declared, but nothing would stop this.

She was like the first lick of honey or that moment when I finally let go of skin and reached for my bear, the two of us going running off into the bush, away from all the human shit for a while.

“Bloody hell…” she hissed when I finally pulled away and I watched her blink rapidly before touching her lips.

“Did I hurt you? Ellie?” I peered at her closely but she just smiled. A slow, sexy thing that had me shifting closer.

And Lin too.

“You have to share that shit around,” he told her in a low rumble. “Can’t go playing favourites.”

I wanted to fucking kick him, putting pressure on our mate like that, but her smile just widened even as her eyes grew heavily lidded.

“So that’s how it's gonna work?” she asked. Did she hear her voice dropping down low into a sexy little husky tone? Fuck, we were never going to make it to dinner at this rate. “You guys all demanding your fair share?”

“Not demanding.” Lin sidled in, cradling her against his chest. “Just asking. I know why Nash lost all reason and had to kiss you, because I feel the same damn way. You look so fucking beautiful tonight.”

“Always,” I corrected. “You could’ve worn those cute little PJs—”

“Were they the ones with the unicorns on them?” Lin asked. “Because those were adorable.”

“You make me sound like a toy poodle,” Ellie huffed.

“Not a poodle. Maybe a toy?” Lin smirked. He was always the golden boy, able to talk the birds down from the trees and he was using his best customer whisperer voice right now. His hands sank into her hair and her neck bared slightly. “One we’d play with so very carefully, but…”

She hung on his words and so did I, even though what he said made me choke back a groan. That’s not what this night was supposed to be like. We were taking her out, wooing her. But Lin’s smile widened as she stared up at him, and he kept going.

“You gonna let me play with you?”

My dads always told me that the bonds between sleuthmates happened for a reason, and right now I could see it. Lin was saying everything I wanted to and it seemed to be hitting Ellie right where it needed to.

“Play?” She breathed that out and I sucked in a breath, waiting for her answer. “What makes you think I’ll be the toy and you’ll be the one playing?”

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