good color on you, Coop. And we're going to that room now, where I plan to do things to Teach you can only dream about in your cold, lonely bed."
Cooper saw Emma slap at Shamus's chest for that shameless boast as the two of them disappeared out the door.
Grinning, he met the laughing gazes of the two senior soldiers who'd come in with Emma. "What did you think?" Margot was the one who answered, blue eyes dancing. "About Shamus's plans, or the novices?"
Vitoria blew a wild curl out of her eyes, her hair an explosion of bronze and black with the odd thread of unexpected red-blonde. "Scuttlebutt is that Emma was missing at lunch today and so was Shamus."
"I can do you one better." Margot paused for dramatic effect, the sun-golden skin of her face marked by a faint greenish bruise caused by a rogue baseball. "Apparently when Shamus stripped off to shift a couple of hours ago, it was pointed out that he might possibly have carpet burns on his butt." Cooper's wolf huffed with laughter as both women cracked up, but damn it, h e was jealous. He wanted to sneak a certain deliciously sexy engineer away for a lunchtime snack of his own, carpet burns optional. "Leaving aside Shamus's sex life," he said when the laughter subsided, "what about the novices?"
"I like how they listen but still ask questions," Margot said. "Shows they're thinking for themselves without getting cocky."
Vitoria nodded. "We were saying we could take the next class - we've taught that one before."
"Great." It'd give him more time to court Grace. "I'll let Shamus know." When the women continued to look at him, he put down the water bottle he'd drained and raised an eyebrow.
Margot's responding smile was playful. "Aw, come on, Coop. You know."
"I know you two are best friends," he murmured, "but if you're offering what I think you're offering, I didn't know you were that close."
Vitoria snorted. "We're not. We just figured we'd play fair and give each other the same shot. So?" A warm invitation in eyes of jade green brilliant against skin the color of pure, unadulterated coffee. "We've noticed you've been abstaining."
Damn pack. Nosy as hell. "It's by choice," he said bluntly, knowing the women wouldn't take it as an insult, as he hadn't their affectionate offer to assuage his increasing touch hunger - a hunger focused on one woman and one woman only. He wanted Grace's hands on his body or no one's. "I'm taken." Two pairs of eyes lit up in unholy delight.
"Do tell." Margot sidled closer.
"We'll keep it a secret."
He was the one who snorted this time. "Wolves gossip like old women." It was the flip side to their incredible loyalty - everyone wanted to poke his or her nose into everyone else's business.
"I'll tell when I'm ready to tell." Not that it wouldn't become obvious soon enough. He didn't plan to pursue Grace in secret; he wasn't the subtle type.
Though since he was meant to be on his best behavior, he'd try to give her a fraction more breathing room to get accustomed to the idea of him.
"This should be fun." Vitoria actually rubbed her hands. "Who would dare give Coop the runaround?"
"None of your business." It was a growl.
Rising on her toes, Vitoria kissed him on the cheek, bracing her hand on his shoulder. "You know we only care because we love you."
Another kiss on his opposite cheek, this one from Margot, the soldier tall enough that she didn't have to reach like Vitoria. "Soooooo...her name starts with...?"
Laughing at their playful teasing, he snapped his teeth. "Out. I have things to do." A certain submissive wolf to catch.
Vitoria and Margot made faces at him but obeyed the order. It left him alone in the training arena. The first thing he did was walk to the service door and pull it open. The luscious scent of ripe peaches warmed against a certain woman's creamy skin whispered into his lungs, strong enough that he knew she'd been here not long ago.
His lips curved.
His mood more cheerful than it had been for six long months, he shut the door and headed to his quarters to shower. Pulling on a pair of black cargo pants and an olive green T-shirt afterward, he ran a hand over his chin, felt the stubble, and decided to shave.
That done, he slapped on some aftershave, figured it was the best he'd ever look. Pretty he wasn't.
What if Grace liked pretty?
Biting back a