I turned in his arms and kissed him softly. “Thanks for the offer, but I better get to The Immortal Cupcake. It needs a lot of work before I can reopen.”
Brody’s hands travelled up my spine beneath my t-shirt and he deepened the kiss, his tongue tracing the sharp points of my teeth until the kiss was flavored by his blood. I moaned and curved into him. He gripped my ass and pulled me tight against his thigh, and I couldn't help but grind. He dragged his mouth away, grinning. “You don’t have to close yourself off, Red. Give them the opportunity to make up their own minds. They know now, and by shutting them out, you run the risk of taking their choice away for real this time.” He squeezed my ass cheeks and stepped away. “Okay, I’ll make you coffee. You go do whatever it is women do in the mornings.”
I scowled at him. “I really hate it when you do that wise old wolf thing.”
He grinned over his shoulder as he headed to the kitchen. “No you don’t.”
After a deliciously long shower, I was dressed and ready to face another day. What I didn’t expect was all three of them standing by the door, my two shifters and my crazy Enforcer. “Umm, did I miss something?”
“Well, I was going to walk you to work, and debauch you somewhere on the way, but apparently Snakelet and your Alpha want to come as well. I’m still okay with that though; public orgies are my second favorite type of orgy.”
I didn’t dare ask him what his first favorite orgy was. Tex blushed, probably remembering the last time we played with the sexy Brit vampire, but Brody just raised an eyebrow. “I’m game. No crossing sausage though.”
I threw my hands in the air, but the smile on my face was wide. “No public orgies. I’m a respectable business owner now.”
X sighed dramatically, but he left the house first, his eyes taking in the area surrounding us. He might be the town doctor now, but he was an Enforcer first and foremost. A mercenary. A soldier.
He held out his arm, ever the dapper gentleman. I scoffed internally. Gentleman, my ass. He was more likely to fuck me against a door than open it for me. I can’t say I minded though.
We hadn’t made it to that stage yet. X was a voyeur, and sometimes he’d watch and give an entertaining running commentary, but he was yet to make a move. It was probably a good thing; I hadn’t been able to ensnare him with my demon vagina.
Tex came up and wrapped an arm around my waist, uncaring that he brushed against X’s abs. “Don’t be sad.” He nuzzled against my cheek as he walked along beside us. I could feel the weight of Brody’s eyes on my ass, and I gave it a wiggle. I was rewarded with the quickening of his pulse and a low chuckle.
It seemed so damn obvious now. My little sexual revolution. All the hot guys suddenly panting after me when I’d struggled to have more than a one-weekend-stand in college. I’d put it down to my new sexy vampire confidence, but I was obviously an idiot.
We walked through town, and I smiled and waved at people like I wasn’t completely heartbroken. We got to the Doctor’s office first, and X leaned over to kiss my cheek. “I will see you in a few hours.” He leaned closer so his lips were inches from my ear. “I will talk to Judge. It’ll be fine, Little One.”
I didn’t even try and give him a fake smile. “Thank you, but don’t pressure him. I don’t… ” I sucked in a deep breath. “I don’t know if I can live with myself knowing that I’d basically forced him to love me.”
X rolled his eyes. Then he captured my lips with his, startling the shit out of me. His tongue slid past my teeth, stroking my tongue lasciviously. Then he pulled away. “Don’t let it go to your head, Love. You aren’t that irresistible.” His grin was wide and teasing. Then he disappeared into the Doctor's office. I didn’t know what he did in there all day, because he had no patients, but he dutifully went in every day and didn’t leave until the town closed down for the morning.
I began walking across the town square towards a bakery that didn’t have a baker. I’d google foolproof cupcakes and work up from that. I mean, even if my cakes sucked, people would still come in for the books, right? I could get better at cake making. I needed something if I was going to live here forever.
And if Walker, or Judge, or Nico didn’t want anything to do with me now they knew it was my blood they loved, and not me, well then I needed to stay busy. Me and YouTube were about to become best friends.
Today I would dust everything down and wash it, get the month of disuse cleared up. Then I’d go through Angeline’s paperwork and hopefully find her suppliers. I’d have to work out how I could go into town and pick up the stuff I’d need without Walker. Maybe Brody would do it for me. I looked over at my Alpha. He was watching me with those dark eyes, his sharp cheekbones looking almost razor-like in the low evening light.
Was it fair to depend on him so much when he had his own pack to run? He’d already had a near mutiny because he’d been here, panting after me, when he should have been caring for his people. Maybe it would be better to cut them all free. If you loved something, let it go? Isn’t that the saying?
Brody leaned toward me and licked my cheek in one long lap.
“Brody! What the hell?”
He rubbed his stubbly cheek against mine, smearing the shapeshifter slobber. Gross. “I could see you overthinking shit. Snap out of it.”
“Fuck off, I’m allowed to have my feelings.”
Tex may have muttered something like, “Ohhh you done fucked up now,” under his breath, and I was once again disappointed that he couldn’t see me glare.
Brody stopped and tugged me into his arms. “Of course you are, Red. You are allowed to have all the feelings. But what you aren’t allowed to do is decide for them what their feelings are. They love you, Raine. That has nothing to do with what flows through your veins and everything to do with what is up here.” He tapped my forehead. “And what's in here.” He tapped my chest and then grabbed my boob. “But boobies certainly help.”
I slapped his hand away, but I rested my head against his chest. “I’m scared. I was happy.”
He nodded. “I know, baby girl. And you will be again.” He lifted me into his arms and I wrapped my arms around his neck and my legs around his waist. “Now I’m going to carry you like this the rest of the way, and we’ll see if we can shock the shit out of Lorraine at the dry cleaners. Or I can turn into an elephant and we can have a science experiment to see if an elephant cock is bigger than Pup over there.”
Tex gave Brody the finger and I couldn’t hold back the laughter in my chest. God, I loved them. I pressed my face into his neck and breathed deeply. “I love you so damn much. Thank you.”
He squeezed my ass and kissed my ear awkwardly. “Anytime, babe. I love you too. I want you to be the happiest mate in history, and if I have to kick each of their undead asses to help you achieve it, I’ll do it with a smile.”
I let Brody carry me all the way to The Immortal Cupcake, just because it soothed me. I loved having my mates close, the closer the better. But when he plopped me down at the front door, it was already open and the lights were on inside.
Brody sniffed the air, frowning. He walked in before me, and Tex came up close behind me, his body all but wrapped around mine. He held my hip and his eyes did that thing where they slitted like a snake. He was getting so damn good at that.