Chapter Five
Sasha nearly dropped the spatula. She felt as though she were about to have a heart attack. Mate? She’d heard the term of course. Shifters mated for life. They were soul mates. Meant to be. One love forever and all that crap.
“That’s ridiculous,” she said as she tried to gain control of herself. “How could you possibly know that? You don’t know a damn thing about me.”
You can hear my thoughts.
She stared at his mouth. It hadn’t moved. “Ventriloquist,” she accused. “Just a simple party trick.”
“It’s not even all that common,” he continued, staring at her. “Every mate and the shifter share a special bond, but hearing someone’s thoughts is fairly special.”
She shivered. Those eyes were so damn intense.
Tell me what you want.
She swallowed hard. “I want you to leave,” she said. Her voice trembled, and she cursed herself for that.
Lies. Tell me what you want.
He closed in on her and the air thickened. This time, she didn’t stand her ground. She backed up until the table hit her butt, and she pressed into it. He stopped, just inches from her, and she couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t think. She could only feel.
Tell me what you want.
“My own bakery,” she whispered. “A house, a backyard, two dogs, and three kids. One of those SUV crossovers, but it needs to get good gas mileage. I want to take a cruise, and I really want my sister to quit setting me up on horrible dates,” she babbled.
A slow grin crossed his face.
Tell me what you want right now, he demanded.
“Kiss me,” she moaned.
He leaned down, and she reached up to grasp that beautiful head of curls. As his lips crushed hers, she could only whimper. It was intense, demanding, and it turned her system into overdrive. She could the hard rippling muscles of his arms as she tried to hold on. Her knees were already buckling, and she would have slid to the floor if it weren’t for his hands that came around to cup her ass and pull her towards him.
God, he was so hard. She moaned as she rubbed herself mindlessly against him.
One kiss. It had just taken one kiss for him to turn her into a goddamn mess.
“Sasha honey, how are those cupcakes coming?” The door banged open as Lydia came in, and while he broke the kiss, he kept his lips close to hers as he stroked her cheeks.
“Bakery is closed for tonight,” he announced.
“So I see,” she said with a smile. “Feel free to get to know each other elsewhere.”
It was like someone had dashed cold water on her. Sasha pushed him away. “Christ,” she muttered. “I don’t even know your fucking name.”
“Cole Grayson.” His hand came up to grab her hand. “I’m thirty-five years old. I’m a firefighter.”
It was all she could do not to moan. God. He was a firefighter? How was she not mounting him on the floor right then and there?
“Never been married. No kids. I’m the second in command of my pack, I love my mother, and I want to kill my siblings most of the time. I like cold beer, rare steaks, and bakers. God, I love bakers. Please, let’s go anywhere but here.”
Her mind was racing. God, she wanted him. But she didn’t take strangers home. But the more he touched her, the more her body was screaming to have him. Maybe if she had him just once, he could let go of all this mate stuff. She’d be satisfied. He’d be satisfied. And they’d go their separate ways.
“I live just around the corner,” she whispered hesitantly.
“Fan-fucking-tastic,” he growled as he leaned down to claim her lips again. She melted into him.
The door banged open again. “Out,” Lydia commanded. “Now!”
He grabbed her hand and dragged her out into the meeting room. She barely glanced around as they headed to the exit.
“We’ll take my car,” he grunted.
“Oh no,” she said. “We’ll take separate cars.” She wanted him to leave when it was all over with.
He stopped and stared at her. “This isn’t just a once night deal, Sasha.”
“How about a one night at a time deal,” she said swallowing hard.
He leaned over and traced her lips with his thumb. “You’re going to a hard nut to crack, aren’t you?”
“I’m not a shifter, Cole. In my world, we date for awhile before we settle on happily ever after.”
He nodded. “Okay. One night at a time. I’ll follow you.” He seemed to have a hard time letting go of her hand, but once he did, he was off like a shot to get to his car.
Her heart was in her throat as she unlocked her own door. What was she doing?