Chapter 14
I pacedthe kitchen for twenty minutes before I finally forced myself to admit that I was entirely clueless about what to do.
Then, I called my brother.
He was probably sick of giving me advice, but what other option was there?
August answered on the second ring. “The bond is sealed?”
“Yeah.” I closed my eyes.
My throat bobbed.
I could still taste Miranda on my tongue. Feel her wrapped around my cock. Smell her pleasure on the?—
“Congrats, then.” August’s voice was neutral. He was probably wondering why I’d called instead of just texted.
“Did Elodie like flying right away?” I asked, unable to keep up the pretenses any longer. Not that I’d been keeping them up for long. Or very well.
There was a beat of silence.
I heard Elodie’s muffled voice on his end of the call before he replied.
“The first few minutes were rough, but she warmed up to it by the time we started gliding. She loves it as much as I do now. Why?”
I didn’t answer right away.
Couldn’t get the damn words out.
My jaw was clenched, my body tight and wound-up.
I needed release—but not the sexual kind.
The kind only flying could give.
“Does Randa not like flying?” Elodie asked a moment later. They must’ve put me on speaker.
“No,” I gritted out.
There wasn’t much about me she did like, though.
Which was a real fucking shitshow, considering we were going to be sharing the rest of our lives.
“She’ll come around,” Elodie said. She sounded much more confident about that than I felt. “Randa is… well, cautious. Vi never lets her drive anywhere, because she goes so damn slow. She doesn’t ever really hurry. We joke that if you give Randa a task, she’ll find the least-effective way to do it, then get distracted halfway through. That sounds mean, but she makes those jokes with us. It’s just the way she is, and she’s accepted it. She likes to take her time, to follow her inspiration, to ease into things. Nothing about heat is easing. She hasn’t turned her phone back on from what I can tell, so she’s probably avoiding facing reality. I’m sure she’s scared out of her mind.”
My chest tightened with Elodie’s words.
My female didn’t seem scared.
Overwhelmed, maybe?
Sure.
I would’ve gone with furious, after our conversation when she was in the shower, but overwhelmed did seem to fit better.
“I need to fly before I lose my fucking mind,” I gritted out.
“What’s she doing now?”
“I don’t know. She disappeared into her office.”
“Drawing, then. She does that when she needs a distraction sometimes.” Elodie paused for a moment. “Randa grew up with Vi bossing her around and taking charge when things got difficult or tense. She’s used to people who rip the Band-Aid off, so to speak. If I were you, I’d give her twenty minutes to hide away, then bring her a snack and tell her straight-up what you need. Don’t beat around the bush. When she feels strongly about something, she’ll stand up to you. She’s used to that too.”
I had already told her I needed to fly, but I supposed I could add an “in the very near future” to that.
And feeding her more would settle me slightly.
“Alright. Thanks.”
“Of course. Try to get her on the phone afterward, if you can. Vi’s been freaking out since the radio silence began.”
Shit.
I’d noticed missed messages and calls from her on my phone, too. She was going to be pissed at me, and Miranda wanted me on her family’s good side.
I raked a hand through my hair, agreed to do so, and hung up.
Despite my tension, which I couldn’t fix, I’d been given problems to deal with. And problems, I could handle.
I texted Viola back.
Me
Heat just ended. Randa is drawing to decompress right now, but I’ll get her on the phone with you when I can. Might be a few hours.
She answered immediately.
Vi
I NEED PROOF OF LIFE
NOW
I let out a long breath and looked down the hallway, at the door my mate had disappeared into. She’d closed it loudly behind her.
She wanted space.
But I did have to give her sister proof of life. That much was reasonable.
So I trudged down the hallway and quietly eased the door open. I expected Miranda to throw something at me, or yell, but she didn’t do either of those things.
She didn’t even glance up from the tablet she was curled up with. Her hand dragged a digital pencil over the screen with smooth expertise that could only be learned over time. Her damp hair was tucked behind her back, as if she’d just wanted it out of the way.
She was beautiful.
I took a three second video, and sent it to Vi before I stepped back out of the room and silently closed the door again.
Vi
That’ll do for now
But if I don’t hear from her in a few hours, I’m going to break down Eli’s door and send him after you
Me
I’d expect nothing less
What’s her favorite snack?
Dots appeared on the screen.
A moment later, a recipe came through for something called Muddy Buddies. My forehead creased at the name, and I scanned the instructions. They were fairly simple, and I was pretty sure the ingredients on the list were among the assload of groceries Brynn had delivered along with the furniture two weeks earlier. It looked like more of a treat than a snack, but maybe my female had a sweet tooth.
So, I got to work.
It was easier than expected, and after I let the treat cool in the freezer for a few minutes, I dumped it in a bowl and carried it to her library.
She didn’t look up when I opened the door again, so I rapped my fist against it.
Her head jerked toward me, though her gaze was preoccupied.
“I brought you a snack.” I lifted the bowl.
Her forehead creased. “That doesn’t look like pancakes.”
“I tried something new.”
After a moment of hesitation, she nodded.
I stepped inside, crossing the room and taking a seat in one of the chairs beside hers. There was too much space between us, but I didn’t say that. Not when she’d put that space there on purpose.
Her lips curved upward when I gave her the bowl. “Muddy Buddies? You talked to Vi?”
I nodded.
She popped one in her mouth, and her eyes lit up. “They don’t even taste like pancakes.”
I chuckled, and she smiled.
“Thanks, Jas.”
The way she said my name eased my tension a little.
I didn’t want to watch her smile disappear when I brought up flying, so I nodded toward her tablet. “What are you drawing?”
A flush broke out on her face. It was so damn adorable. “Nothing.”
“Your cheeks wouldn’t be that pink if it was nothing, Sweetheart.”
The color intensified. “You never call me that.”
My forehead creased. “Sure I do.”
“Only when we’re in bed together.”
“We’ve been in bed together for two weeks.”
“Yeah, but when we’re making pancakes or showering, it’s always Miranda. Even my mother doesn’t call me that. It’s so… stiff.” She ate more of her snack, pointedly looking away from me, attempting to change the subject. “How’s Vi?”
“She’s fine. I didn’t realize it bothered you so much when I used your full name. I felt like Miranda fit you better.”
“You can call me whatever you want, okay?”
I leaned forward, resting my elbows on my thighs. “I don’t have any experience with relationships either. You were talking about that earlier—that you don’t know what to do. Neither do I. I live in a mountain without any women around. Most of my time with Brynn was nights and mornings, because I was the one who kept shit running here while August and Eli raised her. I flew back and forth between Scale Ridge and the mountain again and again, because there was no alternative.”
I dragged a hand through my hair. “This place would’ve imploded two decades ago if not for me. I manage the guys, I communicate with the politicians, and I’m here when someone needs me—but I’m shit with relationships. I need you to tell me bluntly what you want, when you want it, because I’m fucking clueless here.”
She bit her lip. “You talk with your hands when you get passionate. It’s kind of sexy.”
A gruff laugh escaped me. “Is it?”
“Way too sexy, actually.” She let out a long breath, then finally handed me her tablet. I accepted it, and looked down at the screen.
We were both silent for a long moment as I studied the image.
It was me.
Sleeping, and naked, with a blanket thrown over my junk. My thighs and chest were on display, and my hair was messy, but my expression was calmer than I’d ever seen it.
I finally looked up, meeting her eyes again. Her face was flushed once more, and I fucking loved it. “Damn. You’re good.”
“Thanks.”
I handed the device back, and she set it down on the coffee table beside her chair. “So you don’t want me to call you Miranda.”
She gave me a small shake of her head. “Randa is better. Or Sweetheart. Or Baby. I like both of those.”
“Alright, now we’re getting somewhere. Do you hate pancakes yet?”
She smiled. “No, actually. I’m tired of them, but I do still like them. I think I’ll always associate them with really good sex after the last two weeks, so they’ll probably stay a favorite.”
“Really good? I think we did better than that.”
Her face flushed so bright, it turned red. “Fine, I associate them with mind-blowing sex.”
“World-rocking sex, maybe?” I drawled.
“Life-altering, really.” A strand of hair slipped over her shoulder, and she tucked it behind her ear again. “I’m not very good with change,” she admitted. “I like to take things slowly. I moved to college with one suitcase, because I wasn’t going to bring the last three until I knew for sure that I wanted to stay. Vi hid them under her stuff in the back, which I learned after we got there. If I meet a guy, I don’t usually answer his texts for at least three or four days. I don’t want to make him think I’m interested in commitment, because I’m not.”
“Yet here we are, bonded for life,” I said.
She nodded. “It’s… a lot. Everything is changing. I shouldn’t have gotten frustrated with you earlier, and I’m sorry. I’m just struggling, I guess. Doing things slowly gives me time to wrap my mind around them, but there’s no time with this. We’re here, and we’re mated, so there’s no going back. And for some reason, I find myself upset that you don’t really want a mate bond, even though I didn’t really want one in the first place. I’ve just read so many books and articles online that made it sound so romantic, and?—”
I set my hand on her knee, and she cut herself off. “This is new for both of us,” I said. “But we’re in it together, and we’ll figure it out.”
Emotion welled in her eyes.
Followed by tears.
Panic started to blossom in my chest, but before it solidified, she left her chair and threw her arms around me, sitting down on my lap. Mine wrapped around her too, slowly, pulling her closer.
“Thank you,” she whispered into my ear.
Goosebumps broke out on my skin as her lips brushed my throat. We’d spent weeks in bed together, but somehow, her hug felt just as intimate as sex. Maybe even more.
“I don’t want to figure out problems when they arise,” she added softly. “I want us to figure everything out now, before I lose my mind.”
“We can do that.”
She tightened her arms around me. “I don’t like flying.”
“I know you don’t. I flew too fast on our way here, and I’m sorry for that. I wasn’t in my right mind. It won’t be like that next time.”
“I thought I was going to die,” she said against my neck.
A quiet chuckle escaped me. “Our lives are tied together, Sweetheart. Letting you die would effectively end me, and I have no desire to leave this world.”
Miranda sighed. “That’s actually a valid point.”
“Give me a chance to prove that flying can be fun. If I can’t convince you, we’ll only do it when we need to get somewhere.”
It’d kill me a little, but I’d figure it out if I had to.
First, I’d do my damndest to prove to my female that she could enjoy it.
“Alright, fine. How about tonight?”
“How about now?”
She sighed. “Okay. After I finish my snack.”
My lips curved upward.
I was figuring her out.