Page 66 of Stubborn as a Shadow

“What is the current bet?”

“Oh, um. I’m not sure.” Nelson collected the empty pots and carried them to the kitchen area.

My skin itched, so I knew he was lying, but I didn’t know why.

24

RUNNING AWAY

NELSON

There was no way I was going to tell him that he was at the heart of Willow Lake’s current pub bet. That’d just lead to more questions I didn’t want to answer. So I puttered around, taking my time to melt snow, clean up the pots and utensils we’d used, and tidy up the area. After the place was clean, I looked around for something more to do and ended up putting another large pot of snow on the fire.

“What’s that for?”

“I thought you might want to wash.” I spoke with as little inflection as I could manage, even though the idea of Morgan running a wet cloth over his skin was almost more than I could cope with.

If I had any hope of keeping things platonic between us, I’d have to take care of my rising… um,attraction… when I sequestered myself in the bathroom later under the guise of washing up. Because right now I was barely hanging on to my plan to keep some distance between us. Maybe if I jerked off now, I’d survive another night with him pressed against me.

It was a feeble plan, but it was all I had.

“Yeah, that’d probably be better than the snow bath I had last night.” He nodded.

Fuck. Just the word bath was enough to make me hard.

I cleared my throat and looked around the room for something else to talk about.

“What about your magic? What do you need to replenish it? Did the celery in your soup work?”

Morgan shook his head, making his curls bounce around his face. The warm fire highlighted the rainbow sheen of his hair. “I need sugar. Fruit works too.”

“Sugar.” I glanced at the counter. “We didn’t grab anything with sugar. Why didn’t you say anything when we were out? I’m sure I saw something in that last cabin…”

Without waiting for his reply, I slipped into my shadow form and flowed into the landscape. Was I running away? You bet I was. But we also needed to keep our magic topped up, just in case.

At least sugar was something I could find for him. Because I needed to dosomethingto take care of him, and feeding him wouldn’t form a mate bond.

The first cabin I checked had a tin of candy. But instead of grabbing it and heading back, I visited half a dozen other cabins and filled my hands with anything and everything sugary. I found lollipops, mints, maple syrup, a small jar with plain granulated sugar, a container of honey, and some hard red candies that looked like raspberries. I skipped the sour candies and the licorice. I just couldn’t see those being Morgan’s top choices. But if we were here longer than I expected, I could get them later.

When I slipped into the cabin, I went directly to the kitchenette. I changed into my human form and dumped mycollection on the counter. I was pretty pleased with what I’d found. Was this what kids felt like on Halloween?

I turned to look for Morgan, eager to see what he thought of my haul. He wasn’t at the fire where I’d left him.

There was only the one room, so it took only a second to confirm he wasn’t there. My heart thudded. Had someone come while I’d been away? How long had I been gone?

I spun toward a noise on the far side of the room.

The bathroom.

Fuck. I’d forgotten about that.

“Morgan?”

“Hmm?” He opened the door a fraction. The curve of one beautiful, bare shoulder was visible through the crack when he peered out.

I gulped.

“Are you okay?”