Page 74 of Shifted Desire
“Later.” I tug off the t-shirt that I hadn’t finished putting on, and her smile grows more confident as I approach her, but it vanishes when I hand it to her.
“Do you not like me like this?” The bite is sharp in her tone. Almost enough to disguise the vulnerability, but not quite.
“I fucking love you like this,” I reply instantly, hoping she doesn’t get caught up on the word “love”.
“Then why—”
“Dinner is here.”
She reaches out and runs her hands down my bare chest, nails scratching lightly as she reaches my stomach. “Dinner can wait.”
I step closer, pulling her against my chest to keep her from grabbing my dick. Her breath shudders as I bring my lips to her ear. “I brought you here for dinner, little devil. Have mercy on me and let me at least pretend to not be a lust-addled, perverted old man for a bit.”
“There’s no point in pretending. We both know what this is,” she murmurs, her tail wrapping around my calf.
She’s so damn stubborn, but two can play that game. I know how much she likes being told what to do, even if she protests it.
“Yes,” I rumble, sliding a hand up to stroke along the edges of her wing. “We do.”
I almost cave when she arches into me and lets out a breathy sound, but the distant look in her eyes keeps me in check. “This is us having dinner together.”
I step back, and she blinks at me in confusion. I wonder if anyone has said no to her before when she’s like this. I certainly feel crazy for doing it.
“Get dressed, and I’ll go set the table. Be ready with those questions about me you were so eager to have answered, because I expect to be thoroughly grilled by you by the time we get to dessert.”
“Nathan, you don’t have to—”
Something breaks in me at the frustrated, resigned tone of her voice, and the next thing I know, my lips are on hers, hungry and demanding.
She gasps, losing her balance, and I put an arm around her waist to steady her. When I pull back, we’re both panting, but there’s a question in her eyes that I have to answer before she shutters again.
“This isn’t a fucking obligation, Samantha. We’re having dinner together because I want to have dinner with you. I want to spend as much time with you as I can, and yeah, I want to fuck you if you’re in the mood later, but it’s not a transaction. I want to be around you, whether or not sex is involved. You’re smart and hilarious, is that really so hard to believe? Do I seem like a man who does anything I don’t want to?”
Her violet eyes grow wide, sparkling as she processes my adamance. After a long moment, where I try to catch my breath from my impassioned declaration, her lips curve into a teasing smile. “Well…you do everything your dad wants. That doesn’t exactly scream someone who doesn’t give a fuck about obligation…”
“Samantha.” Her name is a warning growl from my lips.
“Fine, fine, you don’t need to growl at me,” she says with a husky laugh, which she follows with a quick kiss and a pat on my cheek. “I get it. I’m amazing and you want to spend all your time with me because of my sparkling wit and charm.”
She says it with more than a hint of sarcasm, but I don’t laugh.
“Now you’re getting it.”
“What if I don’t want to spend all of my time with you?” She gives me a bratty little frown that I’m going to make her pay for later. If she wants me to.
There’s a flicker of worry that I’m reading too much into our dynamic and she’s trying to tell me she doesn’t want the same things I do. I push it aside and gamble on what my gut is telling me. “You do.”
Samantha rolls her eyes at me. “So cocky.”
“Tell me it’s not the truth.”
“It’s not. I hate spending time with your cranky wolf ass,” she says flippantly.
“Such a bad girl, lying to me,” I rumble, giving her ass a light smack that has her laughing harder.
“I don’t!”
I smack her ass again, and she squeals, pulling away out of reach and shoving the oversized shirt on over her head. It gets caught on her wings, and she curses, flipping me off when I laugh at her predicament. She mutters something under her breath and shifts back to her human form.
