Total pages in book: 22
Estimated words: 20474 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 102(@200wpm)___ 82(@250wpm)___ 68(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 20474 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 102(@200wpm)___ 82(@250wpm)___ 68(@300wpm)
Moving close, I climbed onto his lap and brushed a kiss against his lips. “Because you take such good care of me.”
“Not sure what I did to earn your appreciation, but whatever it was, you make it damn easy, baby.”
“So sweet,” I whispered.
His palms dipped under the waist of my pants to grip my butt and squeeze. “You know what happens when you use that word.”
He’d gotten in the habit of devouring my pussy—which he said helped him stay sweet since I tasted better than honey—every time I called him that. Which was often…and not just because I enjoyed the orgasms he gave me with his mouth. He just always seemed to know the perfect thing to say and do to make me happy. “You’ll have to hold that thought since I need to get to the restaurant.”
“Not I…we,” he corrected, gently swatting my butt before lifting me off his lap.
We’d gone round and round today about this after he learned that Bexley and Hendrix, another unmated male chef that Peppa had hired a few months ago, were going to be in the kitchen during my shift. “Are you sure you want to come to work with me tonight? Eight hours is a long time. I don’t want you to get bored.”
He raked me up and down with his heated gaze. “I could happily stare at you for eight hours straight without getting bored.”
“But I’m not sure I could get through it without making a mistake with one of my knives.”
Our bond had strengthened to the point where I could feel the weight of his stare even when I had no idea he was behind me, but it had done nothing to lessen the chemistry between us. If anything, it had only heightened my need for my sexy mate.
Crossing his arms over his broad chest, he asked, “What does Cason do when he goes into the restaurant with Peppa?”
“I’m not sure.” I shrugged. “He mostly hangs out in her office, but he’s not there as often as he used to be since Cyrus is quite the handful now.”
“Do you think she’d let me use her computer?”
“I can’t see why she’d have a problem with that, why?”
He beamed a smug grin at me as he got to his feet. “I’ll take a page from Cason’s book and hang out in the office while you’re busy. It will give me the chance to pay some bills for the pack, check on our investments, and balance the accounts.”
I was surprised when he’d told me that he didn’t have a job but managed the Wilderness Pack’s finances. With his big muscles and rough edges, Rome didn’t seem like the office type, but he’d explained that his wolf found more satisfaction in investing than chopping wood or fixing cars. He enjoyed the rush of victory when he beat the market. And for a small group of guys who lived simply in the wilderness, they had plenty of investments for him to manage.
“Then I guess we have a plan.”
Rome didn’t hide how happy he was with my agreement, giving me a quick kiss before we headed downstairs to walk hand-in-hand along the sidewalk. Several of my neighbors called out greetings as we made our way to the restaurant. When Rome followed me through the back door and Bexley spotted him, the polar bear shifter I called friend shook his head and glanced over his shoulder at Larken. “You owe me five bucks.”
“Darn it,” she huffed, pulling a folded bill out of one of her pockets to toss it at him. “I thought for sure he wouldn’t be as bad as Cason.”
Rome wasn’t bothered by their teasing. He was more worried about making sure that Bexley and Hendrix knew that I belonged to him before leaving me with them...even though he was only going to be one room away with an open door between us.
After giving me a long, deep kiss and stroking his thumb over my mating mark, he glared at both of them as he strode toward the office. Once he was out of our line of vision, Larken turned to me and fanned herself. “Dang, girl. That was hot.”
“You have no idea.”
“Which is a shame since I really wish that I did,” she muttered before focusing on the dessert she was preparing.
It was easy for me to sympathize with my friend since I’d been in her shoes only one week ago. I could only hope that she was one of the lucky humans who wound up being mated to a shifter like me. I patted her on the back as I made my way over to my station and got to work on trimming the bison that had been delivered while I was out.
There was lots of work to be done, and my shift flew by faster than I had expected. Rome stayed busy in the office, but he came out to check on me several times throughout the evening. I didn’t miss how he found excuses to rub against me each time to leave his scent behind. It was a good thing everyone I worked with knew about shifters. If we’d been in any other professional kitchen, I would have been reprimanded the first time he sauntered in as though he owned the place and fired an hour later when he did it again.