Chapter Twelve

“That was the hottest shower I’ve ever had in my life, and I still feel dirty after speaking with that female,” Wade grumbled, straightening his tie in the reflective surface in the elevator. The entire encounter with her had been excruciating. After finally finding their mate, his tiger had reacted poorly to flirting with another female—even if it was just pretend. Their animal natures truly didn’t understand the need to ever be duplicitous.

His mood was quickly improving as they made their way down the hall to Heidi and Julie’s room. Mason knocked, and when the door opened and Heidi’s smiling face came into view, all the unpleasantness of the afternoon faded away—and then he looked down … and every other thought in his head faded away as well.

She was a goddess standing there in a red dress, her long blonde hair curling around her shoulders in light waves. Her creamy skin was radiant against the silky deep-red material, and boy, was there a lot of skin. The dress had tiny halter straps going around her neck, the plunging neckline showing off her shoulders as well as the perfectly supple breasts that Wade knew fit his hands just right. The material gently hugged her tempting hips and then fell gracefully around her legs almost at knee length. He’d never seen a more beautiful woman in his life, and as soon as they claimed Heidi for their own, he was going to find out where she bought this dress and order one in every single color—because this one wasn’t going to last through the night.

“Hi,” she smiled almost shyly at them, her minimal makeup letting her natural beauty shine through. He loved the fine spattering of freckles over her nose, brought out by the afternoon’s sun.

“Dear Gods, Heidi, you look stunning.” Mason took her hand and kissed it, then turned her in a circle so they could see all of her.

Fuck. Wade nearly choked on his tongue when he saw that the back of the dress was simply those tiny strings holding it up at her neck, crisscrossing all the way down until it met in a bow at the top of her ass—now all he could think about was reaching out to untie that bow so that they could play with their present underneath.

“Do you like it?”

“Like it?” His eyebrows must have been hitting his hairline at this point. “Darling, I think we can safely say that neither one of us has seen anything in our lives that we liked more than this dress—except maybe what's under the dress.”

He winked at her, and the trill of laughter that bubbled up was magical, but the blush that rose to her cheeks charmed him even more. Their mate was so deliciously sweet, she had no idea how beautiful she was … how utterly hers they already were.

They made their way back down to the fine dining room, and Wade found himself hypnotized more than once by the sway of that red dress over her luscious backside. A few other males had given their delicious mate lingering glances, and he’d sent them warning looks as he’d placed his hand on her back, mirroring Mason’s on the other side.

The waiter seated them at a small secluded table, just as Mason had requested. In the glow of the candlelight, Heidi looked even more radiant.

“So, what do you think of the ship so far?” she asked, taking a sip of the wine Wade had chosen. He wondered if she realized that she made a small ‘mmm’ sound after every taste—it was utterly adorable.

“It has surpassed our expectations utterly.” Mason winked at her and raised his own glass, causing her to laugh once again.

“Where are the two of you from? You didn’t tell us this afternoon.”

“We live in Columbia most of the time, but we’ve got offices in San Francisco and New York as well,” Mason answered truthfully, though Wade knew he wouldn’t go into detail until later when they had some privacy.

“Wow, that sounds important.”

He could hear the surprise in her voice, along with a little hesitancy—which only made her more attractive in Wade's eyes. Over the years, they’d had so many women chase after them because of their wealth and status, it was refreshing to not see dollar signs light up in a companion's eyes when they realized that Mason came from money.

“Mason is rather important,” he winked at her. “I’m just his muscle.”

“And what lovely muscles they are.” She reached out and traced her finger along his tanned forearm, then she did something that completely took him by surprise—their sweet little lioness winked back at him.

“Why, darlin’, are you flirting with me?” He gave her a coy smile.

“If you’re too daft to recognize it, then she shouldn’t waste her flirting on you,” Mason gently took her hand and placed a lingering kiss on the back of it. “She can concentrate all of her flirting on me.”

“Oh, I think I might have just enough flirting for both of you.”

Her giggle after the words left her lips made Wade think that the alcohol was taking effect. “I think we’d better get some food into that delectable little body of yours, baby.” He flagged down the waiter and they placed their orders.

The rest of the meal went by in a blur of teasing touches and lingering smiles. He couldn’t have said exactly what they’d talked about, but the conversation seemed to flow so easily between the three of them, almost as if they’d known Heidi all their lives. Their mate was smart as a whip and clearly had a heart of gold, but she was also no pushover. She was a strong and competent female, and he had a feeling once they got her out of the small town of Blue Valley, she would blossom into a woman to be reckoned with—Goddess help them all once Mason’s mother took her under her wing and Wade just knew that Hannah Veris was going to love their little lioness.