7. The Best Men Buy Books
CHAPTER SEVEN
THE BEST MEN BUY BOOKS
DEKE
T hat was close.
Too damn close.
When Aurora had touched my face, the frayed thread of control I clung to nearly snapped. Not for the first time that morning—hell, that minute—I’d wanted to kiss her. And I almost had. I’d been seconds from yanking her close. Tasting those pretty swollen lips. Forcing her to tell me what’d made her flush so prettily when we first sat. Demanding she touch me more.
Touch me always.
Touch me everywhere .
It was a miracle I’d been able to get across the room without her seeing the very visible evidence of what she did to me.
Locking myself in the bathroom, I started the shower despite the fact I’d just taken one the night before. I hurriedly undressed and climbed into the water before taking my hard dick in my hand.
I’d done that the night before, too.
As the hot water had beat down on my sore, tense muscles, I’d stroked myself. Aurora’s image in my head had been so clear, it was like she was in front of me. Under me. It’d been so real, I could almost feel her. Taste her sweetness. Feel her rapid heartbeat pounding within my own chest. Touch the warmth of her skin as she grew wetter for me.
I’d been on the edge of exploding when realization set in and guilt followed. She was real. Not the faceless, generic woman I used to see when I’d imagine my mate. She was an actual person who was likely confused and terrified.
And I was a sick bastard.
Because that sobering thought hadn’t done a damn thing to lessen my need for her, I’d had to crank the shower all the way to cold. Even then, it’d taken too long for my dick to go down.
That was why I’d opted for a shower rather than just leaving. I knew the demanding hard-on would last and my control wouldn’t.
With icy water blasting down on me again, I forced myself to release my hold when all I wanted was to bury it inside my mate. I stayed under the water until my control returned before getting out to dry off and redress.
I returned to the kitchen to grab my keys and found Aurora with her face practically against the window as she stared out into the garden. Victoria was perched in her lap, enjoying the attention.
Still jealous of Demon Dog.
At my approach, Aurora turned to me and smiled.
And my cock instantly hardened again.
Will it always be this way?
Christ, I hope so.
Thankfully, it was positioned to stretch uncomfortably across my pelvis where it was hidden behind my flannel, though I moved carefully as I grabbed my cell from the counter.
“I’m taking the passcode off,” I told her as I touched the screen. “And starting a draft email that’ll go to me at Black Horse. Use it. Need anything before I go?”
Her lips parted, and for a moment, I thought she’d speak. Hoped like fuck she would. But she pressed them back together and shook her head.
“Help yourself to anything while I’m gone, okay? Anything at all. Want you to make yourself at home.”
Make this your home.
I didn’t want to leave. If it was anything but Black Horse, it would’ve taken literal black horses to drag me away from her.
But with Aurora showing up out of nowhere, I couldn’t shake the feeling that shit was about to get turned upside down. Too many people relied on me, and I didn’t want to leave them hanging. But if it was between them and Aurora, she’d win every time.
Easily.
The best thing I could do was get the wheels in motion before she learned the truth so I could focus on her.
And whatever was headed our way.
“Be back as soon as I can,” I said as I walked out the door, each trudging step like moving through drying concrete.
Getting into my truck, I headed down the driveway and out to the road, my thoughts on everything I needed to do in a short time.
I’ll see what’s up with the order and then start the conversation with Kevin. Unless the building goes up in flames, I’ll be out in an hour.
Less than that if it does since there’s no reason to stick around in the ash.
I made it a few streets away before making a sudden U-turn that almost took out a fence. Gunning it, I returned home and barely stopped long enough to throw it in park before taking the steps up my porch two at a time.
When I threw open the door, Aurora startled from her position standing in the entryway.
My urgency to return to her… She was trying to leave.
Leave me.
Not gonna fucking happen.
The panic that tightened my muscles until they squeezed my bones didn’t lessen even though she still stood in front of me. Even though I caught her in time. When I scanned her, she didn’t seem guilty or angry about her thwarted escape attempt.
She was happy.
Happy to see me.
“You’re coming with me,” I stated, not bothering to make it a request since it wasn’t one.
Her small smile grew, and Jesus, I couldn’t get over how damn beautiful she was.
The powers-that-be were pricks about a lot of shit. Most shit.
But they hadn’t fucked me over when they created my mate.
Only in every other way.
Her smile faltered, and she gestured to my oversized clothes she wore, her socked feet, and where her shoes sat caked with mud in the plastic tray next to my equally dirty work boots.
“I’ll run to the store and be back.” That time when I left, I didn’t even make it off the porch before opening the door to say, “We’ll stop on the way.”
That got her smile back. It erupted into a surprised laugh when I lifted her to carry her to the truck.
Everything was better—was right —when I began to drive again with Aurora next to me. Once we reached town, I pulled into the lot of a big superstore. “Anything specific you want?”
She pulled the neckline of the hoodie she wore up and then pointed at her throat.
I want to taste that skin and feel her pulse pound under my tongue.
I ignored my thoughts and focused when she repeated the gesture before pointing at the V-neck of my shirt and shaking her head. “No V-neck, just high ones?”
She nodded.
Better for my sanity.
“What size shoe are you?”
She held up six fingers.
“Got it. Be back.”
I hated shopping for anything unrelated to food—and even that was more tolerated as a necessary evil. If I found clothing I liked, I bought it in multiple colors and called it a day.
The women’s department might as well have been a labyrinth of alien objects. I had no damn clue what I was doing, so I just grabbed a variety of whatever was soft and warm, hoping at least some of it was wearable.
I was headed for the registers when I passed a book display on an endcap.
These. Get these.
I didn’t bother to check the descriptions before adding one of each to the cart.
Carrying the load back to the truck, I opened the passenger door and set a shoebox on Aurora’s lap.
Her wide eyes moved from the bags to me without looking at the box.
“Check if they fit,” I prodded.
She pulled the boots out and slid her foot in one.
“Not too tight or loose?” When she shook her head, I replaced the box with a few of the bags. Her lap was too small for all of it. “Any of this work?”
Sifting through the clothes quickly, she turned even wider eyes my way. She grabbed my phone and typed in the notes app.
This is too much.
“If you don’t like it, I’ll run back in and try again. Or you can come with since you’ve got boots now.”
I like it, but it’s just too much. I don’t need all this for one day.
“It’s more than one day.” I wanted to say more but left it at that as I stepped back. “Too many people here to change in the car.” I ignored the jealousy that made me want to stab their eyes out at the thought of them seeing her. “You can wait till we get to Black Horse or run in here.”
Here.
She put the other boot on and transferred stuff into one bag that she carried inside while I put the rest in the back seat of the truck’s cab.
When she came out a few minutes later, she’d changed into the black leggings, a fitted gray tee, and a black and blue flannel. The neckline might’ve covered everything, but the fit of the top showed her body that she’d hidden under her flowy dress and then my clothes.
I wasn’t sure which I liked better… The tightness of the clothes or the fact she’d grabbed a flannel that matched the one I wore.
The closer she got, the more I was certain it was both.
Her steps were bouncy, and she grinned at me as she neared. When I opened the door for her, she handed me the bag that held my clothes and climbed in, giving me a quick glimpse of her ass.
Definitely both.