11. Milo
Milo
Rowan was amazing. He was so good at making food, and he knew so much about it. I didn’t have to know other humans to know that he had to be the best at it. I was so lucky to have someone like him as my soon-to-be mate.
He’d told me earlier at the store that he wasn’t my mate, but I was wearing him down, I could tell.
It was only a matter of time before he gave up on his futile resistance and realized we were perfect for each other. He was great at making food, and I was great at eating it. Perfect. Match.
After lunch, he let me have more “cookies” and “snacks” too. And whenever he tried to take them off me, I could just pout my lips and flutter my eyelashes, and he’d give in and let me have some more. It was awesome.
Then I needed some seal time, and Rowan built the fire up again so I could have a lovely nap in my nest, all toasty and warm.
When I woke up, he was sitting on the big soft chair behind me, something in his hands.
“What’s that?” I projected my voice at him, testing to see if he could hear me in this form.
He wasn’t a selkie, but maybe if my goddess wanted him to be my mate, she’d also let him hear me.
He didn’t react, and I only felt slightly disappointed by that.
I peeled off my coat. “What’s that?” I asked again.
His eyes flickered to me. “It’s a book.”
“What’s a book?”
“A story.”
He was holding a story in his hands? Humans really were amazing.
“Can I see?” I asked, and he handed me the book.
I opened it, but it didn’t make any sense to me. There were just weird patterns inside.
“Selkies don’t read, huh? I guess that makes sense.”
I handed it back to him. “Will you tell it to me?”
He huffed. “You want me to read the book to you?”
I nodded quickly.
He hesitated. “I don’t really have a good reading voice.”
“Please?” I pouted, and he sighed again before nodding.
The story was about a chaotic witch and a more serious but equally lovely alpha werewolf.
I’d asked Rowan what those were, and he explained to me they weren’t real, just a myth, but he’d also thought selkies were a myth before meeting me, so I liked to believe they were real too.
The people in the story reminded me of us, so when it became obvious to me that they were going to be mates, I loved it even more.
I frowned as he closed the book before the story was over.
“Why did you stop?” I asked.
The very edge of Rowan’s lips curved up in a faint smile. “Because I have to make us dinner now.”
As if he’d been speaking directly to my stomach, it grumbled. Even though I’d eaten more food these last two days than I normally would have in like ten back home, I’d still never get enough of human food. Especially when Rowan made it.
Being his mate probably meant I was going to get a lot thicker, but I quickly decided that was an acceptable outcome.
“Can I help?”
He pondered that for a moment before firmly nodding once.
I stood, planning to rush ahead of him into the kitchen, only for my foot to get tangled in one of my blankets, and my heart skipped as my body toppled.
A strong arm shot out in front of me as Rowan caught me before I could fall. His hand was so large and warm, my pulse kicked up for a whole new reason. Sparks seemed to echo over my whole body when he touched me.
Then it was gone, and a very pink Rowan set me to my feet before briskly walking away. He had to have felt it too.
If just having his hand on my chest for so brief a moment made me feel so warm, I wondered what it would feel like to have him touch other parts of me.
It was a thought that distracted me a little as Rowan tried to show me how to cut the vegetables into nice, neat little pieces. When he demonstrated, I was fixated on the way his veins and tendons moved in his strong hands.
Then the food was in the pan over the fire, and there wasn’t much to do but wait for it. It already smelled amazing, but nothing could ever smell as amazing as Rowan.
I couldn’t help but shuffle closer to him, and when he didn’t move away, I moved closer again.
“What are you doing?” he asked as I squished myself between him and the cooking food.
“Sniffing you,” I answered honestly, going up on my toes so I could smell his neck, where his scent was the strongest.
“Why?” He still wasn’t moving away.
“Because I like the way you smell.”
His inhale was a little shaky as I pressed my nose to the soft skin beneath the hair on his neck.
When he still didn’t move, I couldn’t stop myself from pushing a little further. My lips parted, ghosting over his warmth before my tongue darted out to taste his slightly salty skin.
“Christ,” Rowan panted before clearing his throat and taking a big step backward. “You can’t be doing that.”
“Why?”
“Because. To humans, it’s not something you just casually do to someone. It has… implications.”
“Like wanting to mate?” I asked with a smirk.
His cheeks darkened. “Yes. Like that.”
I chuckled. “That’s why I did it. Selkies don’t go around licking each other for no reason either, Rowan.”
He groaned. “This isn’t… I’m not…” He trailed off.
I took a step closer to him, and he took another one back. I followed, until his body bumped the table behind him and he couldn’t withdraw any further.
“Mate with me,” I said.
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re… and I’m… and we’re… different.”
I stepped even closer, my body pressing against his as my eyes roamed his lovely face, his full lips, then up to his ocean-colored eyes. His pupils were blown, revealing his desire despite his words.
“Are we?” I spoke low, my gaze flicking between his eyes and lips again. “I’m a willing, wanting adult. So are you. Aren’t you? How are we so different?”
I watched the lump in this throat move as he struggled to swallow. “H-how would it even work?”
I thought about what I’d seen of his body in the shower. Humans were different, but it didn’t seem drastically so. I already had a pretty good idea of what we could try. “I’m sure we could figure that out.”
His mouth opened as though to speak, but no words came out. That was fine. He didn’t need to speak.
My hands ran up the soft woven fabric of his clothing, over his chest until they found skin as I wrapped them behind his neck. His body was leaning back, angled away from me, but I could see the want in his eyes as I gently but incessantly tugged him closer.
“Milo,” he whisper-groaned.
“Rowan,” I whispered back. “Do humans kiss?”
He nodded. Good. Though if they didn’t, I’d have been happy to teach him.
My intentions were clear as I pulled him down further, planning to steal his lips. Rowan’s head turned to the side at the very last second, and my kiss landed on his cheek instead.
I frowned at him. “Why won’t you kiss me?”
Rowan’s hands traveled slowly up my arms. Then he was pulling them off him. “This isn’t a good idea.”
No, that’s because it was an excellent idea. Why was he still holding back? Did it bother him that much that I wasn’t human? There wasn’t much I could do about that.
I stepped back with the burn of rejection aching in my chest. Rowan wouldn’t even look at me anymore. He just stepped to the side and walked back over to where the food was cooking.