“It’s all right, you know. It’s not your fault that you find me attractive.”
My jaw drops and all embarrassment leaves me. “How do you know I find you attractive?”
“So you do?”
“No. I didn’t say that. I…”
His eyes twinkle, and I mutter under my breath at his cockiness, but as hard as I’m trying to tell him that I don’t think he’s attractive in the slightest, I can’t get the lie out.
“Damned cocky male.” I harrumph and look away.
That just makes him laugh more.
Pushing up on my elbow, I arch an eyebrow at him. “I thought you said you used to be arrogant.”
He shrugs. “Old habits die hard.”
“So this is normal, huh? Having women check you out and fawn over you?”
“It may have happened once or twice.”
Even though I know he’s goading me, I can’t stop my swell of irritation. I recognized that he was good-looking from the first moment we met, when I thought he was a random hiker who was going to save me, so why wouldn’t every other straight female feel the same?
It’s a normal reaction. Hot guy. Look twice. But the thought of other women eyeing him or being with him…
I bite down on my lip. Hard.
Ouch.
But dammit. He’s right. I am attracted to him, but it’s even worse than that. I have this ridiculous notion that I like him now that Mr. Hyde is permanently gone, and the thought of another woman feeling the same about him…
I mutter another sound of disgust. Bri, what is wrong with you?
Whatever the case, jealousy is not something I’m used to feeling.
I take a deep breath and look him square in the eye. “You probably have women throwing themselves at you all of the time.” I manage to say it matter-of-factly, and some of my embarrassment eases since I don’t sound like a jealous hussy.
But my nonchalant statement brings a frown to his face. “I don’t care about other women. There’s only one that interests me.”
He says the last bit so seriously that my heart picks up that staccato beat again. A faint glow lights the rims of his irises. He doesn’t break eye contact, which only makes my heart flutter faster. Jealousy still rides me hard, and I’m not sure I want to know which woman has caught his eye, but I can’t help my question. “And this woman you’re referring to is where?”
“She’s lying right beside me.”
“Oh.” My lips part, and I drop back to the ground. My head is cushioned by the sand, but it still thumps. “You have a funny way of showing interest in a woman, if you insist on kidnapping her first.”
“I didn’t know how else to get her.”
Heat flares in my core, and I do everything in my power to tamp it down. Crazy. This is so crazy, and even though I was determined to stop thinking about how none of this makes sense, at this moment, I can’t because everything about him, us, the past few days…
None of it makes any sense.
He doesn’t say anything as I lie there, struggling to find reason in something that’s unreasonable.
After a minute, he says, “It’s normal, you know, what you’re feeling right now, even if you don’t think it is.”
I whip my head toward him. He’s turned on his side so he’s looking down at me. And even though twelve inches still separates us, it feels as if he’s almost on top of me. My attention dips to his hard biceps, strong chest, and flat abs. The man is dripping with sex appeal.
“Nothing about this is normal.” I look back up and see the first star appear through the darkening sky.
“It might not be to you, but it is to me.”
He says it so seriously that I whip my head toward him again. “So you do this a lot, is that it? Abduct women, pretend to be a psycho, and then turn all sweet and caring just to get in her pants? That’s so fucked-up.”
“No, that’s not what I meant.” He scoots closer and brushes a stray strand of hair from my eyes. “I mean that what I’m feeling for you is normal, because it’s normal to werewolves.”
“Huh?”
“Don’t tell me you don’t sense it? This need to be with each other? To be close? To touch?” His hand strays from my face to trace a feathery path down my arm.
My breath stops. A trail of goose bumps and a shiver