Total pages in book: 126
Estimated words: 120031 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 600(@200wpm)___ 480(@250wpm)___ 400(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 120031 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 600(@200wpm)___ 480(@250wpm)___ 400(@300wpm)
And when she clipped him with an uppercut that came close to dazing him, he knew his mate would clean his clock if she ever hit him full-force. Why that made him smile, he couldn’t say.
“Careful, Grandpa. You’re slow.”
He rubbed at his throbbing jaw. “Everyone’s slow compared to you. How the fuck do you move that fast? Seriously?” He dodged her fist, angled his hips, and clipped her side with a light kick. “It’s good that you don’t drive. I have a feeling you’d be a nightmare on the road.”
“It’s true that I have no patience for traffic.” Punch. “Or other drivers.” Kick. “Or traffic lights.”
Eli slammed up his arm to block her next punch and pressed a kiss to her temple before darting out of range. “Looking at you all flushed and sweaty makes me want to pin you to the ground and have my way with you.”
She smiled. “Aw, you think you could pin me to the ground? Well, ain’t you cute.”
They went at it again, exchanging blow after blow, until their breaths became labored and their pace began to slow.
Pulling a fancy move on her that she hadn’t expected, he managed to get his arms tight around her body, her back to his chest, her arms pinned to her sides. “Got you,” he said into her ear.
She pulled a fancy move of her own, and he suddenly found himself flat on his back with her straddling him. “Got you.”
Humming, Eli smoothed his hands up her thighs. “Now I like this position. Yeah, I like it a lot. Come here. I want that mouth.” She leaned over and gave it to him. He groaned as her taste sank into him. It was as addictive and potent as her scent, and it soothed and aroused both him and his wolf.
Breaking the kiss with a nip to her lip, he said, “Tell me a secret.”
She slanted her head. “A secret?”
“Yeah. I’m not talking deep, dark secrets. I just want you to share a little something with me. Something you haven’t told anyone else. Something that only you and I will then know.”
Eyes drifting to the side, she pursed her lips. “When I was a kid, I put a crushed beetle into my father’s stew.”
Eli lifted his brows, mouth curling. “Did he realize it?”
“Nope. I remember him pausing mid-chew and making this weird face, and then he just kept on chewing. Now you go.”
Gently drawing little patterns on her thighs, Eli said, “I think I was about seven when it happened. My mom was railing Nick because I’d opened a boardgame and found torn out pages of a women’s catalogue stuffed in there—pictures from the lingerie section. Nick kept saying he didn’t put them there; that Roni must have done it to get him in trouble.” Eli lifted his head and whispered, “I did it.”
Casey’s mouth quirked. “You went to your mother and acted like you’d ‘found’ those catalogue pages in the box, knowing she’d blame Nick?”
“Yep,” he said, smiling.
“Why?”
“He broke my computer console, and I didn’t feel he’d apologized well enough. He still thinks it was Roni who put the pages in the box.”
Casey shook her head in mock reprimand. “You’re mean.”
“So are you.” Eli let his gaze slowly drift over her face, hot and possessive. It amazed him that anything could be this integral to him; that just the mere sight of her could bring him pure joy.
Every layer fascinated him—the single-minded athlete, the brutal fighter, the dedicated enforcer, the fiercely loyal sister, and the soft underbelly she’d only given him peeks of. There was a distinct softness about his mate that she allowed few people to see.
“You’re staring.”
“Can’t help it. Sometimes, I look at you and can’t quite believe you’re mine. But you are,” he rumbled, smug and proud in equal measures. He tilted his head. “Who do you get your eyes from?”
“My maternal grandmother. I look more like her than I do either of my parents.”
“What were your grandparents like?”
“I’ve never met two more mismatched people in all my life. She was all quirky and fun whereas he was uber serious and full of bluster. But they adored each other, and they were absolutely solid. I mean, nothing could have shaken their relationship. I wanted that kind of connection for myself, so I suppose it’s not surprising that I was able to pick up the frequency of our mating bond so fast, but it did take me by surprise. I didn’t realize I was that open to mating.”
His brows dipped. “Why not?”
“Well, knowing there’s someone out there who was born just for you is a special thing, but it’s also pressure. Maybe it’s just me but … I don’t know, I guess I worried that I wouldn’t live up to whatever expectations my true mate had of me.”