Control (7 page)

“Through there,” he said breathlessly as he pointed to an arched opening at the end of his living room, close to the tall rock fireplace.

I walked over a colorful braided rug, past a large velvet-covered tufted ottoman, stuffed leather armchairs draped with soft woven blankets, and a burgundy-striped sofa overflowing with pillows in different patterns. As I moved through Vy’s home, I noticed the knickknacks stashed all around—bowls, candles, mismatched lamps in varying heights and sizes. The space was lived in, layered over time with homey touches and found items.

Something deep inside me, the part that wanted roots instead of wings, woke up and took notice. But I knew the dangers that path held for my kind, which was why I never let those types of wants occupy my mind. I saw no point in longing for what I couldn’t have. Better to find happiness in the life I could lead.

“Here?” I asked, even though the arched opening at the end of the room was the only way out of the open space. I hoped speaking would distract me from thinking about how good the rocks I’d collected over the years would look on Vy’s mantle.

“Uh-huh.” He sniffed my neck. “You don’t have to carry me, you know. I’m a good walker.”

Despite that protest, he rolled into me, held on tight, and nuzzled my throat.

“I like holding you.”

The archway led to a room that I guessed had been added on. Unlike the main part of the house, which had plaster walls and eight-foot ceilings, this area was all wood planks, with tall vaulted ceilings. The floor was made of bricks and covered in red and brown rugs. One whole wall was windows, with a cushioned seat running the length of them. Another wall housed a brick fireplace flanked by shelves overflowing with books. A king-size bed was pressed against the third wall, and the pile of blankets and pillows on it made me want to climb underneath and hibernate.

Forcing myself to tear my gaze away from the soft-looking spot, I focused on the opening in the fourth wall. “That’s the bathroom?”

“It’s not much,” Vy whispered, sounding tired.

“If it’s anything like the rest of your home, I’m sure it’s really special.”

I stepped through the doorway into another room made out of exposed wood. An old dresser painted in black-and-white diamonds housed the sink. An oiled bronze showerhead protruded from the wall over a large claw-foot tub, which was wedged into the corner and half hidden by a black-and-white-striped curtain. Fluffy towels were stacked on a ladder-back chair in the corner, and another cozy rug covered the brick floor.

“Your house is amazing,” I said on a sigh. “I’ve never been in a place like this.” Vy’s home was brimming with warmth, which was fascinating because of how much it contrasted with the icy persona I’d seen him work hard at displaying. When he didn’t respond, I glanced down and saw that his cheeks were rosy. “Did you do this yourself?”

“I’m in construction. It’s no big deal.” He shrugged. “I know it’s not modern like those houses with walk-in closets and granite countertops and stainless steel everywhere, but nobody comes here except me, so….”

It wasn’t just construction; it was personality. This was his space, the place he went at the end of the day to get away, and he’d made it comfortable and peaceful. My stomach ached with the need to have such a retreat.

“It’s perfect.” I squatted down and lowered his legs to the ground. “Wait here. I’ll fill the tub.”

Once again, he didn’t argue and instead blinked up at me, his face a study in confusion and desire. It was an interesting combination of conflicting emotions, much like the man himself. I brushed his hair off his forehead, gazed into his eyes as I hunched down for a soft kiss, and then stepped over to the tub.

While I got the temperature right and fiddled with the drain-stopper, I considered what I could do. Already, I was well past my normal “have fun, move on” modus operandi, but the thing about it was, I wasn’t anywhere near ready to move on. Being with Vy had been kind of a roller coaster of emotions and events, but the little bird fascinated me. He was so full of life and energy, and he had this prickly outside seemingly aimed at keeping everyone on guard. But when I looked at his house, when I held him in my arms, I could tell that underneath the thorns hid a sensitive, sensual man. I wanted to be the person he trusted with that side of himself.

After taking a few calming breaths, I turned around and walked back to Vy. He was leaning against the sink, his eyes half-closed, shirt unbuttoned, and jeans unzipped. Even in the dim light of the bathroom, his skin glowed and his hair shone. He was truly beautiful.

“Let’s get you into the warm water,” I said as I approached him. “Soaking those muscles will help.”

He didn’t argue, just let me undress him and lead him into the tub.

“Are you coming in?” he asked once he was settled in the water, his words slow and thick.

He was gloriously naked and stretched out in warm, silky water. I wanted to come into the tub and in him.

“No.” I shook my head, forcing myself to remember that he needed healing, not sex. “I’m going to go poke around your kitchen and make you something to eat.” I paused, considering whether it was rude to invade someone’s space that way, especially a space as personal as Vy’s. “Is that okay?”

“’Course. Help yourself to whatever you want.” He tipped his head back against the wall and closed his eyes. “My house is your house.”

It took me a while to move after that comment.

Vy

I
RUBBED
the bridge of my nose in an effort not to combust. “Let me see if I understand.”

“No no no,” Lou interrupted me. “I want to hear about how you didn’t get laid last night.”

“The ket is more important,” I told her.

“No,” she insisted. “You were in the bathtub—Are you screwing with me?”

I threw up my hands. “They came to you this morning but didn’t have the balls to come to me?”

“Why do you sound so disgusted?” she asked me as she turned the corner at the end of my street. She had picked me up because my truck wouldn’t start… again. I needed a new battery, but I kept forgetting. “Of course they’re going to come to me. I’m the second. It’s my job. They bring concerns to me; I talk to you.”

I shook my head.

“Yes, Vy. That’s the deal. That’s how it is. That’s how it’s always been.”

“Why couldn’t they address any concerns to me at our monthly union?”

“Because this won’t wait. Some of these people think their children are in danger, and they think you lost control of your bear.”

“My bear?” I snapped at her. “They’re calling Robert my bear?”

“Well, he is, isn’t he?”

“Did you tell people he was my mate?”

“No. I didn’t tell anyone—”

The radio crackled, and then Zach was on the other end yelling her name.

“Isn’t he supposed to say ‘Roger’ or ‘Over’ or something like that?”

“Vy, this town is this big,” she reminded me, holding her thumb and finger a few inches apart. “Why would we do that?”

“Well, answer him, for crissakes.”

She picked up the radio and told Zach to stop hyperventilating and tell her what the problem was.

“Ed Sheridan is over at Reno’s again, and I guess he’s really drunk this time. Darcy says he’s got a gun, and Reno’s pissed.”

Her sigh was long and loud. “I’m detoxing him myself this time, Zach. Tell the sheriff because I’m done with this crap.”

“Yeah, okay. I’ll tell him. Do you want me to come help you?”

“No. Vy’s in the car with me; he’ll go.”

“Oh good, okay,” he said and was gone.

I did a slow pan to her.

“What?”

“Oh good, Vy can go with you? He’s a deputy. What the hell?”

“Don’t think about it too long; it’ll make you nuts.”

“Fine, whatever,” I groused. “Back to the ket—who exactly said what?”

“Okay,” she began, waving to some people as she passed. “Some people think Robert was the one who caused the crash.”

“Are they high?”

“Come on, Vy,” she groaned. “Are you gonna interrupt me every, like, three seconds?”

I huffed out a breath and shut up.

“I guess there were some kids watching from the other side of the road, between the trees, and they saw Robert touching the car before it went over.”

“That’s because he was the one holding it up!” I was incredulous, and there was no doubt. It was clear in my tone.

“And I know that because you told me, but—”

“The kids saw it too—Brady, Jodie, and definitely Chris.”

“Well, Chris’s parents love Robert; they’re ready to move him in.”

“The only place my mate would move in would be with me,” I warned her.

“Oh yes, mighty kuar,” she placated me. “I know. Your mate belongs only to you.”

“That’s the tone you’re using?”

“I’m just responding to the one you took with me,” she volleyed back. “Why on earth would you have to make that clear to me? I know he’s your mate.”

I groaned loudly.

The whole thing was a mess. Poor Robert. He had done a good thing, a wonderful thing, and this was what my damn ket thought of him? I’d been livid since Lou had first broached the subject with me when we were leaving my driveway.

“I know you don’t want to share him. I know you want to drug him and chain him up in your basement right next to your furnace and your washer and dryer.”

“Oh, that doesn’t make me sound like a psychopath at all,” I said dryly.

“Which brings me back to you in the tub, and he made what?”

“Grilled cheese and tomato soup.”

“That’s adorable,” she said, nodding. “So walk me through it?”

“How is this your business?”

“Spill. Now,” she ordered.

I would not divulge any more of my evening. The only reason she knew about the bath was because I hadn’t remembered to drain the water until this morning, and when she used my bathroom, it was still full.

She had been all over me. “You hate baths. You say dirt goes in the water, and then it gets all over you again, and so what’s the point of even washing?”

I did have some odd opinions on things.

“I got hurt a little bit last night, and so Robert thought—”

“Robert?”

He was all she really wanted to talk about. How long had he stayed? Did he get in the tub with me? Was I naked? Was he? Did I get laid?

It would sound ridiculous, so I abbreviated the evening in the telling. I told her that after the bath, Robert cooked for me, and then he had to go. But that wasn’t the whole truth. The real story was how I had dried off, appeared in sleep shorts and an old T-shirt, and how the man had basically pounced on me. He could do it whenever he wanted as far as I was concerned….

A
S
I
rounded the corner, Robert turned and saw me. He immediately moved the skillet off the burner and darted over to me. Stopping just inches away, I saw how warm his eyes were and how happy he looked.

“What?”

“Your house is small and cozy.”

“Yeah?”

He nodded. “I opened the windows, and I can smell the wildflowers and hear the crickets.”

From how soft his voice was, I figured this was a good thing.

“And when I went outside on the porch—all I could see was stars.”

I watched the muscles in his jaw clench with emotion. He was really struck by everything he was telling me. “So it seems like the fact that you can go outside and be part of nature but still be safe and warm inside… that appeals to you.”

He wasn’t ready to speak. I watched him working to hold himself together. My mate was a man whose control was absolute, but maybe being around me was loosening it up just a little.

“You were so great tonight,” I said, changing the subject to give him time to calm down. “Is it okay if I hug you?”

He bent and grabbed me, nuzzling his face in my hair, inhaling deeply. I was held tight but not bruising, and his sigh was very sweet.

Here was a weakness—the man liked to cuddle. And so instead of doing what I’d planned and seducing him, I went about exploiting what I knew.

“Whatever you made smells great.”

He was off me, bustling around my kitchen, telling me to sit down while he filled two bowls and stacked a thick earthenware plate full of perfectly grilled cheese sandwiches. They were golden brown.

“You could have put ham in the sandwiches if you wanted.”

He grimaced. “I’m a vegetarian.”

“You are not,” I said, chuckling.

“I am. I even eat bee-free honey.”

“You’re screwing with me.”

His grin made his eyes glint. “No.”

“Huh. Okay, then. Does that mean when I eat a cheeseburger you’re gonna hurl?”

“No,” he assured me, leaning across the table to brush my hair out of my eyes. “I promise. I’m sorry I didn’t add any ham to yours, though.”

“No, it’s perfect, I was just thinking of you. I promise to try and not make any more assumptions where you’re concerned.”

He seemed pleased. We ate and talked about the night, and I was surprised he didn’t ask about any of the things that had my brain working: the kids, the pack of werewolves, and whatever they had been up to. I had to find out, but everything, all of it, paled in comparison to watching my mate enjoy his food, seeing his shining eyes, and listening to the deep rich baritone of his voice.