Page 28 of Hungry Like the Wolf

She looked at him warily, but she didn’t say no. He lowered his hands to the tops of her shoulders, feeling the muscular ridge of her trapezius under his palm, the bony line of her clavicle under his thumbs. He squeezed gently and felt her exhale against his throat. He squeezed again.

“I won’t hurt you, Nadja,” he said. “I promise.”

She nodded firmly and then met his eye again. “Let’s go to bed, then.”

They took turns in the bathroom. He told her to go first and was amused to find that she’d chosen the yellow toothbrush from the options left on the counter, both printed with different dentist office names and phone numbers, leaving him the green. The travel size toothpaste was cinnamon flavored, which he hated, but used anyway.

Before going to bed, he went to the cabin door and tested the handle, pulling on it to check the deadbolt. He checked the window locks and turned off the kitchen light. He was about to turn off the bathroom light when Nadja interrupted him.

“Can we leave it on? We can close the bedroom door so it doesn’t bother you, but I just—” She bit her lip. “I don’t like the dark.” He remembered when she’d said that her upbringing had been one of mostly benign neglect. Mostly. The same way he had glossed over every detail except divulging that his grandfather was a miserable tyrant?

But she was afraid of the dark and he hated being alone and he had a feeling they were both only mostly fine.

Robbie nodded, entering the bedroom and leaving the door half ajar. She stood next to the bed, fully clothed still in her wide jeans and sweater. Robbie reached behind his head and pulled his T-shirt off before reaching for the buckle of his belt.

“Do you sleep naked?” she blurted out before muttering unintelligibly under her breath.

Robbie couldn’t help but laugh.

“Nah. My mama always told this story of her first house catching on fire and rushing out of there with her cat and having to greet the fire department buck naked with nothing but a big orange tabby to cover herself.”

Nadja snorted, stifling a smile. Robbie grinned back at her.

“So I always sleep in my drawers because I’m shy.”

“You’re shy?” she asked, eyebrows high on her forehead.

He crossed his forefinger over his chest. “Yes, ma’am. I don’t want the fire department or, God forbid, EMS, looking at my bait and tackle.”

She smiled in earnest then, her teeth showing, and Robbie was enchanted.

“I don’t believe it.”

“Okay, so maybe I’m not shy. But I’ve never lived without a roommate or four, so I sleep in my boxers. Do you sleep naked?”

The smile fell. “No. I’ll sleep in this,” she said, gesturing to her outfit.

He nodded before crossing the room to get into the bed on the other side.

“Wait,” she said, and he paused from pushing his pants down to the floor. “The whole point of this is to smell like each other.”

“Right,” he said, finishing his task and stepping one foot out of the leg of his pants. But he paused with his other foot midair when she spoke next.

“But they won’t be able to smell me on you if I’m wearing all this.”

“I want you to be comfortable, Doc,” he said, using the nickname that had made her laugh earlier. “If they have any questions, they can come to me.”

He meant that sincerely. Smelling like her would make it easier to claim that they were mates but he didn’t want to do anything to make her feel unsafe. Hell, he’d sleep out on the porch before he’d let that happen.

“I’m not uncomfortable,” she said. “I’ve just… never done this.”

“I think it’s safe to say that fake mating is new territory for both of us,” he said, with a smile, shaking his pants out with a slap and draping them over the foot of the brass bed.

“No,” she said quietly, wringing her hands. “I’ve never slept with anyone.”

Oh. Oh.

Robbie had lots of thoughts on the construct of virginity, but regardless, he hadn’t been one by society’s definition in a very long time. It was easy to forget that not everyone had been as bored and curious as he had been coming up.