~

 

“No, please. I love it when someone follows me around like a stray puppy,” Jules offered Daniel a scathing look back over her shoulder.

Since Mia had done her runaway act everybody’s mate was following them around for dear life.

“Well, I aim to please,” Daniel offered the witch a smug smile. He wasn’t taking any chances with his mate.

“Why do I get the feeling that I’m going to be disappointed?”

“Don’t lay your shortcomings on me,” he teased back. But when she offered him the kind of death glare that could drop a man in his tracks he reconsidered his answer. “I’m teasing.”

“I’m laughing on the inside.”

“Really?” He looked hopeful.

“No,” Jules shot back.

She might not be laughing on the inside, but that didn’t stop her from being amused with Daniel’s antics.

Right then, she had some thinking to do. A mate. That was a biggie in anyone’s book, but when that mate was a testosterone fuelled, sexy as hell, Wolf shifter — well that idea took a little more getting used to.

It wasn’t as if she wanted a vampire, or a bear shifter for a mate, she didn’t. It was more along the lines of trying to figure out if she wanted a mate at all.

The problem was — when your mate was a Wolf shifter you only really got one shot at it. If she walked away then the odds were not at all good in his favor that he wouldn’t go crazy Wolf, Rogue, lose his humanity, and have to be put down by his own pack.

When she looked at Daniel, she felt that connection between them.

Looks wise, she considered the man was out of her league. She’d always thought of herself as bookish, and there he was — all rippling muscles, good looks, and she hated to admit it — but a winning personality.

So why wasn’t she jumping for joy? That was what she needed to figure out.

“Too soon?” Daniel asked, and that question pinged around her mind.

Maybe that was it — maybe it was the suddenness with which she’d found herself a mate. A life mate. A — no turning back once you dip your toe in that pond — mate.

“By about five years,” she muttered absently.

She’d had a five-year plan, and she knew that life didn’t always see things in the same way, but she’d figured she had at least another five years before she had to consider the idea of settling down and having babies.

“Why do I get the feeling we’re not talking about the same thing?” Daniel asked.

“Did you ever wonder where you’d be in five years time?” She turned toward him with a thoughtful look on her face.

“I’ve never needed to. I’m pack. I’ll always be here,” Daniel gave a small shrug of his broad shoulders, and even that movement was enticing to her eyes to take a good, long, hard look at him.

It was no surprise to her that her body liked what she saw. But that didn’t mean that she was going to assume the position and give up to the mating pull without even considering a different life.

“Home, family, pack. That’s your world, but what about fun?” She wasn’t really asking him the question — she was asking it of herself.

Daniel took a slow step towards her, so as not to worry her, but even that slight movement caused her body to tense slightly. That didn’t stop him from taking a second step, and a third.

“I can promise you that there will be fun,” he said with a low rumble of a growl that sat in his chest.

“Maybe your idea of fun and my idea of fun are two different things,” she took a small step back, and the heel of a boot hit the skirting board as her shoulder blades found the wall.

Jules gave a small grunt of annoyance that she’d backed herself into a corner with nowhere else to go, and a big hunk of a man coming right at her. A lightning bolt of excitement shot through her body, as the butterflies danced inside of her stomach, and her womb roared to life.

Sex on a stick — and all mine.

So why the hell am I considering other options?

There’s something wrong with me?

Other women, my age would jump at the chance for even one night with a man that made their insides all mushy — all gooey — all hyper alert and doing the wild Samba.

It’s not like I’m a virgin — verging on the ridiculous!

Just one more step and I should slap him — splat him — zap him — stop that pigeon now! Only he’s not a cartoon character pigeon; he’s one hell of a sexy mate.

“Oh, I know what you’re thinking about,” Daniel growled.

He was toe to toe with her, and she couldn’t have flattened herself back against the wall anymore if she’d tried. Daniel thought that he might just have to peel her off.

“Oh, I don’t think you do,” she offered in a singsong voice.

Daniel lifted both arms and palmed his hands against the wall on either side of her body, leaning in slightly, keeping eye to eye contact, just like a hunter that had its prey right where he wanted it.

“You’re thinking about me naked,” Daniel teased.

“Actually, I was thinking about stop the pigeon.”

Jules watched as Daniel opened his mouth to speak. He considered her words, narrowing his eyes as he thought about it.

A small frown drew his eyebrows together over his nose, and even that movement sparked excitement within her.

“Just to clarify — the cartoon pigeon?” Daniel asked.

“One and the same.”

“Not me naked?” He was back to teasing again.

“Daniel, my whole world does not revolve around you.”

“Just to clarify — again — you see me, and you think of the cartoon pigeon?” Daniel had a small crooked smile upon his lips. That was certainly one that he hadn’t heard before.

“It just kind of popped in there,” she offered back with an innocent, mischievous, smug mixture of a look on her face. Her eyes were alive with amusement.

“Well, if I kiss you, do you think it will pop out again?” Daniel growled at the thought.

That question managed to slap her right between the eyes. The amusement was gone. The mischievous look had disappeared. And that smug smile had dropped right from her lips.

“You can’t just go around kissing people.”

“I know. But you’re not people,” he growled back.

“That’s a good point,” she said, and then nervously stumbled for something else to counter his argument with. She came up empty.

“I’ll take that as a yes.”

“There wasn’t a question!” She rushed out, but it was already too late, they made the connection. Daniel brought his lips down hers and silenced her racing thoughts, but not her racing heart.