Chapter Ten
Brach
I wasn’t sure what had come over me. I went from planning out a nice meal and wanting to see someone I now considered a friend, to throwing myself at him and then spending all night long in his arms.
That had never been me before. I was always someone who took a while to warm up to the intimate parts of a relationship. More than once, I got rejected when the person I was dating assumed I wasn’t interested because I was so slow in that department.
Not last night.
I was sticking my tongue down Ronny’s throat and grinding against him before the poor guy had unpacked his suitcase. Not that he seemed to mind. If anything, he was as into it as I was.
Hottest. Sex. Ever.
But it was more than that. Nothing about our naked time together felt like a one-night stand. There was a sweet tenderness to it, despite the way we were desperate for each other’s touch. And when he knotted me? Gods, I’d never felt more complete in my entire life.
When I woke up, I felt safe and snug, held by Ronny. And at no point did I feel any regret or embarrassment over what had happened. It had all been so right. Like we were meant to be. Or maybe I was still high on my orgasms.
Bosco had been sleeping in my room since I moved in, so it didn’t surprise me when, as I tried to inch out from under Ronny’s arms to sneak to the restroom, that loud purring filled my ear. Sneaking was no longer an option.
“Ronny, I’m going to the bathroom. I’ll be right back.”
He held me tighter and mumbled how he’d get breakfast for the cat soon, and to let him sleep longer.
“Sleep, but I need to pee.”
“Stay longer?”
“I can’t, but I can rush right back.” It was the best I could offer.
“Make the cat wait to eat. Don’t make me wait. Okay?” He was so needy when he was sleepy. I didn’t mind. If anything, it gave me assurance that he hadn’t regretted a single thing we did last night.
“I promise.”
I raced to the bathroom, and, when I came back out, Bosco was in my spot.
“You’re going to have to move, buddy.”
The cat looked up at me and glared with a look that said, “I dare you to move me.”
I could easily pick him up. He wasn’t a claws-first kind of feline. But he would keep pestering us until he ate, so it would be delaying the inevitable.
“Change of plans. I’m feeding the cat,” I grumbled and climbed out of bed. “Karma was right. Bosco is my boss.”
“Karma told me the same. For the record, she’s always right.”
I believed that.
Bosco followed me out, and I got his breakfast ready. The second I set it down, I raced back to bed and climbed into Ronny’s waiting embrace before the little stinker could steal my spot again.
“Ronny?”
“Mm?”
“No regrets?” I asked.
“Not a single one.” He kissed my forehead. “I will regret not going back to sleep, though.”
“Same.”
We curled into each other’s arms. I didn’t know which one of us fell asleep first, but the next thing I knew, it was nearly lunchtime.
“Hungry?” I asked.
“Let’s shower first, and then we can figure out food.”
“Together?”
He rubbed his cheek against mine. “I like the sound of that.”
As fabulous as the apartment setup was, the shower was not ideal for two people doing anything other than standing still and not moving. But we managed to get cleaned off, and I put on my imaginary list for my future Realtor of things I wanted in a home, decent-sized shower.
There were things to make eggs and toast, but instead, we had leftover baked spaghetti, which surprisingly tasted even better than it had when we first ate it during our midnight snack/dinner. Certain things had priorities when he came home, and eating hadn’t been one of them.
There were questions I needed to ask, and all of them felt like pushing too much too soon. But despite that, they couldn’t wait.
“So you’re back now. Like for good? You’re not leaving again?”
“For good? Don’t know. Depends on if I get another job.” He scooped up another serving of spaghetti.
“Does that mean now that my job’s done, that I need to—”
He shook his head vehemently. “No. Don’t move out.”
Jones had already told me he had an open-door policy if I ever needed to come back, and I knew that one of the residents here had just found their true love and was moving soon.
It wasn’t that I’d be homeless. Still, I didn’t want to leave.
This was home, despite the circumstances.
It was difficult to figure out why I felt that was true to my core, but I did.
“What if I get a gig next week and you already have an apartment? Who would be able to watch Bosco?”
My heart sank. We hadn’t promised each other forever, or even tomorrow, but I’d convinced myself he felt the connection as deeply as I did.
“So it’s about the cat?” I mumbled, more to myself than him. It wasn’t fair. He didn’t owe me anything. Technically, he was one of my bosses.
He grabbed my hand. “It’s not like that, Brach. Look at me.”
I did.
“There’s some things you probably need to know about me.”
“Is it that you’re like the other people who work here?” That had the conversation making more sense. Did he think turning into an animal was a game changer?
Or once again, I was making excuses for an alpha because I liked him.
“You mean good-looking and talented?” He winked.
“I meant, sometimes a little furry.” I didn’t want to come out and fully say I thought he was a shifter.
I assumed he knew about them, but that was all it was—an assumption.
This way, I could brush it off, pretending I thought he was into a specific kink if he was clueless about them.
It felt like it wasn’t my personal information to give.
“Oh, you’re asking if I’m a shifter?”
Phew. No awkward kink conversation needed. I nodded.
“I am.”
“What kind? Like a lion, tiger, a dragon?” Now, that he’d said it openly, I had a million and five questions.
“I’m guessing you said lion or tiger because I have a pet cat?”
“Yeah. Pretty much. My first thought was you being a wolf, given your eyes, but I didn’t think a wolf would have one.” Cats and dogs and all that.
“We’ll get back to that. But first, tell me, why did you think I might be a dragon?”
“I didn’t. Not really. It’s just that I only found out dragons were real recently, so they tend to stick in my head.” I still hadn’t met one and half feared that when I did, I was going to cower in fear or worse, piss myself.
“Now what did you mean by, ‘We’ll get back to that’? Do you mean you’re a wolf? Like, for real?”
“Like, for real.”
Ronny was a wolf. With that came a whole lot more questions about what he looked like and how big he was etc., but first I needed to know about the whole cat and dog thing. Not that I’d call my roomie a dog.
“And Bosco doesn’t care.” Obviously.
“Nah. Bosco picked me. That’s how it works. Cat distribution center and all that. He picked you too, you know.”
“Hardly. I just showed up at his place and gave him food.” Although, it wasn’t food first, cuddles second, come to think of it. The silly cat liked me before one can was opened.
“Last night, he was sleeping around your head, not mine. He picked you. And probably because instead of moving him to get your spot back, you caved to his demands. I’d have made him wait.”
I doubted that. “Are you telling me you wouldn’t have?”
“No. I absolutely would.”
Nailed it.
“So this wolf thing, do you think maybe you could, I don’t know, show me?”
“I’d love to.”