Lawful Mates - Liam Kingsley Page 0,7

first place?

I knew the answer to that one immediately, and drew two lines on the paper, making four squares. At the top, I wrote Fated Mate then wrote Pros on the left column and Cons on the right. Halfway down the page, I wrote Easton above the bottom two squares.

Then I grabbed a taco and sat back to think while I ate. Immediately, I thought of half a dozen things to put in the cons column.

As far as having a mate went, I just didn’t have time. I barely had time for anything other than work. That had never been a problem before, and I certainly didn’t want it to be then either. A mate would undoubtedly be clingy too. Nope. Definitely didn’t want that.

I wrote those down on the list. A mate would also require things of me that I just didn’t have it in me to give. Primarily romance, affection, and everything else that went hand-in-hand with a committed relationship.

I just didn’t do relationships. Never had. Never would. I didn’t want to think too much about the reasons why because that was just asking for a pity party, and I had too much work to do.

My cons list was looking pretty healthy, so I figured I’d better add something to the pros column. What were the benefits of having a mate?

It would settle my wolf, for sure. I wrote that down. Amazing sex? Yeah, that had to go on the list. I didn’t know firsthand, but everything I’d heard indicated that sex with your mate was off-the-charts mind-blowingly amazing.

What else? Nothing came to mind. I tapped my pen on the legal pad, trying desperately to think of something else since I had sex written down on the paper. But damn it, I couldn’t think of anything except that.

An image flashed in my mind, unbidden. Of Easton, his blue eyes bright and full of mischief, on his knees before me, his pink tongue darting out to caress my dick.

“Fuck,” I growled, throwing the pen down and standing up abruptly. My chair went flying across the room, but I didn’t care. I paced the length of the conference room, trying to think of something else—anything else.

But my dick was hard. I ground my teeth together and raked my hand through my hair. Bullshit. This was utter bullshit. I didn’t have time for it. I didn’t want a mate. And I certainly didn’t want Easton, despite what the throbbing ache in my pants indicated.

With a frustrated grunt, I grabbed the legal pad and ripped the whole thing right in two then tossed it in the trash. So much for clearing my mind by making a list.

It didn’t matter, though. It was evident the cons far outweighed the pros. Which meant I was right in my decision. There was no future between Easton Moore and me.

Irritated that I’d wasted so much time thinking about him, falling further and further behind on my cases, I vowed to put him out of my mind once and for all. I had a hectic few weeks ahead of me, which was all the better. Work would keep me so busy I wouldn’t have a minute to even think about Easton. And that would be the end of it.

That wasn’t the end of it. Two more weeks passed, and I still hadn’t been able to get Easton out of my mind. I was going crazy. That had to be it. My wolf was making me question myself and my resolve.

And it frustrated the fuck out of me.

Work was getting busier by the day, and my head was still jumbled with thoughts of Easton. Not to mention my dreams. At least when I was awake I could try to distract myself, busy myself with my ever-growing list of things to do. But when I was asleep… I didn’t know what the hell was going on.

My dreams seemed to get more and more vivid as the days wore on. More and more graphic. In fact, last night, I could have sworn my dream was real—Easton pinned beneath me, digging his fingers into my chest as I thrust my rock-hard cock inside his tight ass. I’d woken up sweaty and aching and needy, and I had only been able to go to sleep once I’d taken matters into my own hands.

I’d come hard to the images in my dream, and I didn’t know what the fuck to do, how to make it stop. I might not have been Easton’s biggest