Page 54 of Choosing the Rejected Mate

Chapter Seven

Leftovers

Holly

I wake up with a man in my bed.Not just any man ...my mate.

Which sounds romantic if you’re the kind of person who uses words like destiny without gagging.I’m not that person.I’m the kind of person who wakes up, realizes Daniel Reed is warm and half-naked beside me, panics for exactly seven seconds, then remembers what his mouth did last night and decides panic can wait until after coffee.

You can call it growth or poor judgment, but it’s possibly both.

Daniel lies on his back, one arm tucked behind his head, the other wrapped loosely around my waist.Loose enough that I can move away.Tight enough that some sleeping part of him still wants to know I’m there.

The bond hums between us, warm and lazy, no longer screaming for attention like a toddler with a knife.It feels softer this morning.Settled in a way that terrifies me more than the wild hunger ever did.

Hunger I understand.This?This soft thing stretching between us while sunlight creeps through my curtains and Daniel’s breathing brushes against my hair?This is decidedly fucking dangerous.

I carefully lift his arm, and he tightens it immediately.

“Nice try,” he mutters, voice rough with sleep.

I freeze.“You’re awake?”

“Barely.”

“Then release me, blanket troll.”

His lips twitch without his eyes opening.“Blanket troll?”

“You heard me.”

“I was promoted from handyman?”

“Demoted.”

“That’s harsh.”

I poke his ribs.“I need to open the bakery.”

His eyes open then, amber and warm and far too focused for this early in the morning.“You need to sleep another hour.”

“I need to make dough.”

“I fixed the mixer.”

“The mixer is not going to make its own dough, Daniel.”

“Patricia might help.”

“Patricia is an oven.”

“She has range.”

I try not to smile and fail miserably.His gaze drops to my mouth, and the whole room changes, just like that.

One look, and my body remembers all of him.His hands on my thighs.His mouth between my legs.His voice telling me I’m perfect, beautiful, wanted.His body moving inside mine with so much restraint and need that I could not tell where one ended and the other began.

My cheeks heat, and Daniel notices, because of course he does.His hand slides slowly along my waist, stopping before it becomes more than a morning touch.