It was awkward for about four steps, then he made an adjustment to his gait, and suddenly the rhythm of our bodies synced.
I closed my eyes, trusting my balance and Adam to keep me headed in the right direction.
If I cried, he'd ask me why, and you can't lie to a werewolf.
I needed to distract him.
"You're wearing a new cologne," I told him, and my voice was husky.
"I like it." He laughed, a warm rumbly sound that settled in my stomach like a warm piece of apple pie.
"Shampoo most likely--" Then he laughed again and tugged me off balance until I bumped against him.
He let go of my hand and took a light grip on my far shoulder, his arm warm across my back.
"No.
You're right, I'd forgotten.
Jesse sprayed something at me as I left the house tonight." "Jesse has excellent taste," I told him.
"You smell good enough to eat." The arm across my shoulders stiffened.
I thought back over what I'd said and felt my cheeks warm right up.
Part of it was embarrassment ...
but part of it wasn't.
But it hadn't been the Freudian slip that had caught his attention.
Adam stopped.
Since he was holding me, I stopped, too.
I looked at him, then followed his gaze to my shop.
Whoops.
Oh well, I'd been looking for a way to distract him so he wouldn't wonder why I was upset.
This wasn't the ideal way to do it.
"I guess Zee didn't tell you?" "Who did it?" There was a growl in his voice.
"The vampires?" How to answer that without telling a lie, which he would smell, or starting a war? If I had known that Marsilia knew I'd killed Andre, I never would have told Adam I was willing to be his mate.
Another wolf might understand that a war with the vampires wasn't going to save me, just get more people killed.
A war with the vampires here in the Tri-Cities might spread like the plague throughout all the Marrok's dominion.
But Adam wouldn't let it go.
And Samuel would be at his side.
I would never be the great love of Samuel's life, nor he of mine.
But that didn't mean he didn't love me, just as I loved him.