Total pages in book: 65
Estimated words: 61602 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 308(@200wpm)___ 246(@250wpm)___ 205(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 61602 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 308(@200wpm)___ 246(@250wpm)___ 205(@300wpm)
I ran my dirty hand over my face. “Fuck,” I breathed. “There is no right angle.”
“You’ll think of something,” Nash said although he didn’t sound that confident. He was probably thrilled he wasn’t the one losing his shit since he didn’t have any good advice. We’d been best friends since pretty much birth, and he hadn’t even held back when poking into my shit. Still, neither of us knew jack about dealing with human females. I’d never felt so out of my element in my life, and that wasn’t saying anything about how my wolf was pissed at me standing up here fixing a chimney instead of getting our girl.
I shot Nash a pained look. “I sure as fuck hope so. She’s stubborn.” I shook my head. I fucking loved that about her until this morning, that she was as wild and untamed as her hair. But it was when I was ready to give her a pleasurable wake up that I learned she was gonna dig her heels in against me. Against being my mate.
She said I didn’t love her. Then what was it called when a guy was losing his shit because of a woman? At the idea of her being out of my sight? Where I couldn’t touch her or breathe her in? Why did my wolf want to snap at me for the first time ever?
I sighed again. I’d figure it out. I had to. In the meantime, I just had to get my wolf’s insanely jealous and possessive streak to calm the fuck down.
13
NATALIE
I spent the day scrubbing the hard water stains off the tile in the master bathroom. Literally all day.
I may have thrown myself more obsessively into the job than usual in order to not think about Rand. About the night we’d shared. God, I was sore from the way he hadn’t held back. I’d actually begged him to do so, and now I felt it, as if my body was reminding me what I was missing.
My heart still sped up every time I remembered what he’d said.
You belong to me, Natalie Sheffield.
He really believed that.
God, part of me wanted to believe it too. Wouldn’t life have been easy if we were both shifters, and we both just “knew” the other was the one? If love didn’t matter because our inner wolves were smarter than we were?
But we weren’t. I wasn’t a shifter. I had no idea if Rand was the one. Sure, I was attracted to him. Not just because he was too handsome for his own good but because he was… nice. Bossy. Protective. Definitely over the top, but I was drawn to that. I was sure all the women in Cooper Valley felt the same way. But lust wasn’t love.
Lust had gotten me into his bed the night before. Made my pussy sore. Made my nipples ache for his mouth again. My nipples did not decide whether I wanted forever with someone.
I’d seen my parents’ shitty relationship. How they were assholes to each other. How they’d been the perfect example of what not to do. But what was the right thing? How was I supposed to feel? How would I ever know what love was if the closest example of a marriage was the worst?
How would I ever know that Rand was with me because of the guy or the inner wolf?
Sure, love at first sight would be amazing, but I wasn’t Cinderella, even though I was scrubbing my bathroom. I hadn’t believed in fairytales in a long, long time. I’d certainly stopped before I’d ever come here and seen a man turn into a wolf.
When I finally had the tub and tile gleaming, I stripped out of my clothes and showered, closing my eyes and trying to shove the thought of my possessive wolf suitor out of my mind. Or the tingles from my body. “Shit,” I breathed, turning the faucet off and sliding back the plastic curtain.
Nothing was going to make me forget about Rand. Just being clean made me think about him. If he sniffed me now, would he pick up the smell of my soap? Of the shampoo? Would he know I was still aroused? God.
Stop thinking about Rand!
Today, it was impossible. Especially when I heard a truck pull up out front. I dashed to the window and peeked out. Rand.
His truck engine cut off, and he stepped out.
Eek! I quickly toweled off. “Just a minute!” I called when he knocked loudly. I hadn’t locked the front door, but I hadn’t left it wide open either.
“Natalie?”
Crap, he was coming in! And I was naked. This was not how I meant for our next meeting to go. How was I going to keep from fooling around with him again if I didn’t have the barrier of clothes as protection?