She was considering moving into one of the guest rooms, but she suspected that if she increased the distance between them it would only make her wolf worse. Her wolf was restless and miserable enough after going a week with only minimum contact with her mate. What Taryn was thankful for was that she and her wolf were in perfect accord on one thing – there would be no begging her mate for more no matter how bad things were.
Taryn consoled herself with the reminder that this would all be over in just over ten weeks and then, with any luck, she might be able to switch to the pack her uncle belonged to. She had been delighted when she discovered that her uncle’s pack was signed up to the USA Pack Webs. She had sent him a nice friendly message, asking how he was doing and stuff – of course not mentioning that she and Trey weren’t true mates. Only when Darryl’s challenge was over would she let the information loose. Her hope was that she might first be able to sort an alliance between Trey and her uncle’s Alpha. Not only would this benefit Trey, but it might increase her chances of the Alpha agreeing to let her join his pack at a later date.
Taryn was snapped out of her thoughts as Caleb abruptly dropped her hand and his gaze was drawn to something over her shoulder. She turned to see Trey strolling toward her looking as sexy and intimidating as always. Time for Scene Two: Looking Lovey-Dovey. She hadn’t expected that it would be so hard emotionally to fake intimacy with a person, but it felt so weird and uncomfortable because it wasn’t real. On the plus side, some physical contact with him would calm her wolf a little.
Trey grabbed the chair beside Taryn, turned it to face her and then sat before lifting her from her own seat and placing her on his lap, straddling him. He couldn’t help marvelling over how well she fit there and at the same time being annoyed about it. His cock wasn’t annoyed, it was quickly rising to attention – especially as she was wearing those ‘bend me over and fuck me now’ knee boots. “Hey.” After skimming his nose along the crook of her neck to again take her scent deep into him, he gave her a lingering kiss. He’d missed her taste. “How’s my girl doing?”
“Fine.” She almost purred as he ran his hands up and down her back. Her wolf was lazing, content, within her. It didn’t matter to her wolf that the entire thing was an act. All that mattered was that she was having physical contact with her mate.
Unable to resist, Trey licked over his mark and smiled as she quivered. “I know you wanted some time with your friends, but I don’t like it when you’re out of my sight for too long.” It was a pain in the ass that that was the truth. Although he spent little time with her, he would still seek her out several times a day – usually every few hours – just to check on her.
“That’s okay, I missed you.” She brushed her lips against his and then gestured to her edgy looking friends. “And Shaya and Caleb don’t mind.”
He gave them a simple nod of acknowledgement which they returned with shaky smiles. His attention quickly returned to Taryn as he drank in the sight of her in a way that he usually only did when no one was watching.
“Have you noticed my surveillance team?”
Trey smiled. “I noticed. I approve.”
“I’ll bet you do,” she grumbled.
He shrugged unrepentantly as he spoke against those luscious lips. “I like knowing you’re safe.”
“And yet you haven’t thrown out your inherently evil grandmother.”
Chuckling, he shaped her waist with his hands. “I know she’s being a little difficult right now, but she’s one of those people who grow on you.”
“No, she’s one of those people who are like Slinkies.”
“Slinkies?”
“Yeah. Basically useless, but they make you smile when you push them down the stairs.”
He laughed before nibbling and sucking on her earlobe. “She’ll come round.”
A shiver wracked Taryn’s body as he grazed his teeth over his mark. “Trey, you can’t do that in public. It has an embarrassing effect.” His totally wicked laugh made her nervous. Of course the bastard nipped at her mark. Deciding some retaliation wouldn’t be such a bad thing, she very slightly grinded against his very hard cock – he might not particularly desire her, but his body would still react to his mate’s scent. He groaned against her neck.
Trey knew he could leave now. They had done enough touchy-feely stuff and she probably still had things to talk about with her friends. In fact, he should leave – her friends were anxious and uncomfortable when he was around as though they expected him to lunge at them or something. But he couldn’t bring himself to break the contact with Taryn. Instead, he lazed back into his seat and pulled her forward so that she was draped across his chest. “Don’t mind me, you carry on talking. I won’t even be listening, I’m too distracted by your scent.” Another truth.
As he looked over her shoulder he saw that Tao was looking at them with envy in his expression, envy that he wasn’t bothering to conceal. Holding Tao’s gaze, Trey knotted a hand in Taryn’s hair – a gesture of possessiveness, a reminder that she was his. Tao lowered his eyes and continuing staring at his book. Did he know it was upside down?
“How’s my dad?” Taryn asked Shaya, groaning as Trey began gently massaging her back.
“Feel good, baby?” he asked. She nodded against his chest.
“Alternating from being angry with you to wondering if just maybe this mating could be more beneficial than the one with Roscoe would have been,” Shaya replied to Taryn’s question, her expression studious as she observed Taryn and Trey together.
“Thought as much,” grumbled Taryn before then groaning again. “Trey, your hands are magical.”
“You already knew that.” He groaned again as her body shook against his chest as she laughed, sending all kinds of interesting vibrations through him and his very hard cock. He combed his fingers through her hair. “I love the way it has all those different shades of blonde in it and even a little bit of red.” Another truth.
“It annoys me. It can’t seem to decide what color it wants to be.”
“It has me curious.”