Bryan has taken it upon himself to educate me in all things shifter and supernatural. I try to be a good student, but most days I’m too distracted by fantasies of what I would do with his giant... books. It’s a little hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that an entire section of society has been hidden from humans for so long. There are so many things I wonder if he would teach me, and each moment I spend with him, just the two of us, it takes more self-control to not act on my fantasies. I want to taste him, but I resist. Barely.
Darren is the hardest for me to resist. My Silver Kit. My original rescuer. Unlike the others, he doesn’t try to downplay the chemistry we have. He owns it. Whenever he walks into a room, his gaze finds me and my entire freaking body reacts, and he just gives me that tantalizing grin that says he knows exactly what’s happening. When he’s not driving me crazy with desire, he’s also teaching me about the bikes. Every afternoon, he takes me out to the garage to walk me through the basics of motorcycle maintenance. I have never, in my life, wanted to know how to maintain a vehicle of any kind, but I can’t resist spending time with him. He’s like a magnet and we are getting closer and closer to crashing into each other.
If it were just the three of them, I might be fine. Sexually frustrated beyond all belief? Yes. Hell, I might even stay. But it’s not.
There’s also Earl.
Big, broody, grumpy, asshole Earl.
I wish I could hate him. That would be so much easier. But I can’t. I’m drawn to him too. His broody, moody intensity borders on rude most of the time, and I can’t figure out if he is trying to drive me away by being an insufferable asshole or if he’s hiding something. He rarely talks to me, but when he does, I get a weird desire to bite him again.
This is the weirdest vacation I’ve ever taken.
“I’M NOT YOUR SOULMATE just because I happen to like salmon, you weirdo!” I giggle as Bryan chases me into the house; his strong, tanned arms catch me and whirl me around into a hug. All of the men, but Bryan especially, are very hands-on. I don’t hate it.
“Do you care at all about what we shared with you? How serious this is for all of us? Or is this just a game to you?” Earl’s deep voice makes me jump and I look over to where he sits in the shadows; glowering at us.
“Excuse the hell out of me, Sir Grumpy Pants. I don’t remember asking your opinion on literally anything,” I shoot back and glare at him for ruining the fun flirty moment I was having with Bryan.
“Answer me this, Ronnie. Did you have any reaction to us? A physical reaction when we first met? When we first touched?”
I think about it. Honestly, the last few days have been a blur. The only thing that comes to mind is the shocking part. “You mean the static electricity you guys seem to have an abundance of? No. Try again, my dude. A shocky handshake is not enough to convince me that Fate broke my van and dropped me in your lap so I can be your... Pod Princess or whatever it is you think I am.”
I can feel a headache starting behind my eye. I wonder if I should tell Earl that he makes my eye twitch just as often as he makes my pussy throb.
Bryan looks flabbergasted at the term ‘Pod Princess’ so I stick my tongue out at him. Real mature, Ronnie. A+ in the adult behavior column.
But Earl isn’t done. He stalks over to where we’re standing and covers my hand with his enormous one and I raise an eyebrow. His hand is rough and scarred. They are the hands of a working man. Against my better judgement, I enjoy the way they feel on my skin. I feel warmth flowing through me. A sense of peace and contentment. It’s both encouraging and irritating as all hell.
“Do you feel at ease when you’re around us, Ronnie? When we touch you?” Earl asks, a strange smile on his face. Cocky asshole.
“Nope.” I lie, and force my face into a neutral expression.
He looks at me suspiciously and I know that he knows I’m lying through my teeth. Bryan looks very hesitant, but he makes no move to intervene. It’s not that I hate them. I actually don’t hate them at all. If I have to be temporarily stranded at a weird bachelor pad, this one is pretty top notch. My fellow roommates are stupidly attractive and I would be a dirty rotten liar if I didn’t admit that I’ve had more than a few fantasies about most of them. Except Chuck. No dice, porpoise-boy.
Shrugging his massive shoulders, Earl pulls his hand back from mine and crosses his arms over his chest.
“Well, there’s only one other tell-tale sign that this is meant to be but...I don’t think you can handle it.” He looks at me so dubiously that I seriously consider kicking him in the shins.
“Try me, asshole. My poor, pitiful human brain wants to know.”
Bryan looks like he really wants to say something but Earl shoots him a look and he drops his head into his hands with a groan. That can’t mean anything good. I feel nervous but Earl just looks smug, as though I’ve played right into his hand.
In the blink of an eye, Earl yanks me away from Bryan and pulls me up against him. The static electricity that shocked me last time is
