open space, and the two of us met in front of it, wrapping our arms around each other. I breathed in the scent of musk and sweat that clung to him, closing my eyes and relaxing against his chest.
“So what do you think?”
“Hmm?”
“About this place? Like it?”
“Yes,” I said. “Very much.”
“Good.”
With that, he tilted my chin up and bent down to kiss me. I met his lips hungrily, tightening my grip around his waist.
It was perfectly romantic and, rather inevitably, the moment was lost as a series of jeering hoots and hollers came from outside the window.
“Score one for the pack leader!”
“Hey, hot stuff, save some for me!”
“Don’t stop on our account, chica! Let’s see it all!”
I flushed in embarrassment, Chaz pulling away angrily, whirling to face the window. There were four teenagers leering in at us, laughing and making rude, suggestive gestures. Chaz stalked over to the door, the kids rapidly backpedalling and rushing to get out of the way. I hurried over to the window and pulled the curtains down, though I held one aside long enough to watch them rush off into the dark.
“Seth, if I catch your skinny ass over here again, I am going to kick it right back to the city! You hear me?”
Nothing but taunting laughter came out of the trees to answer him.
Shaking his head, Chaz slammed and locked the door, running a hand over his face. He was reddening under his tan. “Shia, I’m sorry. Those little shits didn’t ruin everything, did they?”
I backed away from the window, frowning, but thoughtful. “No, I wouldn’t say that. They’re just being overly hormonal teenage boys. They remind me of my brothers at that age.”
He snorted laughter at that. “Damien, sure. But Mikey, the big-shot lawyer, acting like that? Sorry, I can’t picture it.”
I flashed a wry smile. “You’d be surprised. Come on, they’re just jerking your chain. Don’t get worked up over it. They’re probably just jealous.”
“Yeah, I suppose,” he said, moodily eyeing the door. “I guess we can head back up and grab some dinner or something.”
Arm in arm, we strolled back to the lodge, mindful of the muddy spots. There were still people hanging around in the front, but the dining hall was empty save for a couple of tired men at the bar drinking longnecks and watching the big screen. The blue-haired lady behind the counter—George’s mom, we presumed—clucked and fussed over how tired Chaz and I looked, taking pity and giving us to-go boxes for our food.
Once back at the cabin, we changed into comfy sweats and chowed down in front of the fire, talking about what we’d do while we were here. Chaz wanted to take me on a scenic hike up in the hills. I wanted to check out the garden I’d spied beside the lodge. We could even sneak away to a waterfall Dillon had told Chaz about and see about catching a few fish.
We didn’t talk about what would happen when Chaz had to leave me alone to go hunt with his pack after moonrise.
Before long, Chaz was speculatively eyeing the bed.
“Tired?”
“Yeah. Long drive,” he said, though the look in his eyes made it clear he would be very untired if I did anything to reciprocate his “come hither” look.
With no small measure of regret, I dismissed any thought of dropping the contract tucked away in my bag on him tonight. It was too early to talk about it. Still, I was tempted to pull off my clothes and drag him under the covers with me, contract or no. We’d broken those laws already, though it was before I’d known what he was. I wasn’t worried about any danger other than what might happen to him if someone reported him for failure to adhere to the laws governing intimate physical contact between humans and Others.
It was dangerous to have sex with Weres mostly because they could lose control over their shape-shifting in the throes of passion. As an alpha, Chaz had better control over his ability to shift than most, meaning the usual risks weren’t an issue. Sleeping with him might even make him more amenable to signing the papers.
On the other hand, he might look at it as some form of blackmail by forcing the issue on him later.
Instead of giving in to my urges, when we settled under the covers and his hand wandered to the hem of my shirt, I took hold of his wrist and pulled it to my stomach, twining