Page 70 of Mortis

A lazy smile spread across his face. “Just the two of us again, huh?”

I nodded, suddenly finding the floor fascinating. “Did you . . . enjoy that?”

Teddy giggled, then lightly bumped the back of my thigh with his foot.

“I think you already know I did,” he replied. “Although, maybe don’t actually tear my clothes off next time.”

My head snapped up. “Next time?”

He reached up and gently scratched beneath my chin. The sensation made my eyes flicker uncontrollably, and before I realised what I was doing, I leaned shamelessly into his touch. Wanting more. Always more. Whatever he was willing to give me.

And apparently, he was willing to give me a next time.

“Are you telling me you don’t want to do that again?” he asked, one eyebrow arched.

“No!” I blurted, then immediately shook my head. “I mean yes.” I frowned. “I mean . . .”

Teddy burst into laughter. His hand fell to his stomach before he grimaced at the sticky mess coating his skin. He wiped his palm on his rumpled jumper before looking back up at me with a crooked smile.

“Personally,” he said. “I think we should do that as much as possible.”

A low growl rolled through my chest before I could stop it, and I looked down in surprise.

“I’d say your devilish roommate agrees,” Teddy chuckled.

Without question, the Beast purred, and I firmly pushed Him back into the darkness before He could elaborate.

Teddy nudged me backwards and slid off the counter. He rested both hands against my chest, then rising onto his toes, he stole one last gentle kiss. It was soft and unhurried. Nothing like the desperate hunger that had come before. Yet somehow, I enjoyed it even more.

He smiled against my lips.

“Now then,” he said, reaching for his apron and placing it over his head. “Let’s finish this bloody pie.”

I watched him wander back towards the kitchen island, uncaring that his lower half was still completely bare. Casually preparing a meal, as though what we’d just shared hadn’t changed everything.

Perhaps to Teddy it hadn’t.

But as I followed him across the room, slipping into my human form with ease, my clothes back in place, I realised something inside me had changed forever since meeting him.

I no longer wanted to simply endure each passing day.

I wanted to look forward to tomorrow.

And somehow, Teddy had made me believe I could.

10

TEDDY

“That fucker’s back again.”

I glanced up from the computer, where I’d been placing an order for more embalming supplies, to look at Arlo. “Who?”

He was hunched over the front desk, his chin perched on his fists. His face was contorted into a frown as he stared through the front window.

“Him,” Arlo replied, nodding towards a man standing outside.

Well, he was more slouching than standing, leaning against the wall of the antiques shop across the road. If I had to guess, he was probably somewhere in his seventies, with a full head of grey hair and deep lines carved into his face that spoke of a life well lived. Other than the tailored suit that would be more at home in Canary Wharf than a tiny Oxfordshire town, he seemed harmless.