I peeled off my gloves and tossed them on the table. “Since when do you care about energy conservation? You keep the electricity running at our old house year-round, when we hardly ever go there.”
I knew what Austin was scheming, and maybe that’s why I was a little mad at him. It hadn’t escaped my attention that he’d been turning the heat low so I’d cuddle with him more. Not that I minded, but this heat cycle added a whole new element of danger, and he’d known all along. Until the Council gave us permission to leave, we were confined in a cabin with no doors separating the rooms. Austin had plenty of willpower to keep his distance, but I sure as hell didn’t. Eventually I was going to start having fantasies about doing naughty things with him on the hood of his truck, in the blistering cold, with the motor running.
The next thing I knew, he circled in front of me and grabbed my ass, pulling me close. “Why don’t you go upstairs and try on those new panties?”
“Very funny.”
I drew in his musky scent when he leaned down to kiss me softly on the lips.
“I’m serious,” he said, his voice rough, sexy.
“We can’t. You know what could happen.”
“Yeah, I do.”
I jerked my head back. “What are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about making babies with my woman, that’s what I’m talking about.”
My cheeks flushed, and damn my traitorous body for becoming aroused at hearing those words. “You’re not thinking straight because of all the sex pheromones in the air.”
He tipped his head to the side, encasing me in his strong arms. “On the contrary, Ladybug, I’m thinking more clearly now than I have in a long time. There’s a reason we’re here. You already went into heat this year, so having a second spell at this exact time, in this place where we’re alone—it’s a sign.”
“Yeah, and the sign says Do Not Enter, so maybe you should heed the warning.”
My heart galloped in my chest like a team of wild stallions when I saw the power of his spirit wolf flickering in his eyes.
“I’m serious, Lexi. I’m willing to take the risk if you are.”
An unexpected wave of joy filled me with hope. “Your judgment is clouded. Think about what you’re saying.”
“Been thinking about it all year.” A close-lipped smile touched his face. “Are we going to fight about making babies?”
“I could lose it,” I said with a flare of disappointment.
He let go with one hand and tilted my chin up. “And you could also keep it, but we’ll never know unless we give him a chance to show us how strong he is.”
“He?”
His thumb brushed across my cheek. “Or she. I’m all in if you are.”
“Now?”
His lips grazed my mouth. “If not now, when?”
My trepidation crumbled away, and I kissed him hard.
Screw it.
“Now,” I whispered.
Austin pulled me against him, and my body hummed with desire. He lifted me off the ground, and I wrapped my legs around his waist while he strode toward the ladder. The kisses never stopped, and each time my fingernails scraped at the back of his neck, he would temporarily break the kiss and groan.
I immediately regretted having chosen to wear the green turtleneck sweater, especially when he tried to kiss my neck and got caught up in the fabric.
Austin set me down, his lips swollen with my kiss. “I think you have a few clothes to change into.”
“Clothes? Usually this works better without them,” I suggested, sliding my fingers behind the waistband of his jeans.
He hissed, slamming his hand against one of the beams, gripping it tight. “I want to see you in those sexy panties,” he growled.
I bit my lip. Austin and I rarely made love in the afternoon. It was too awkward in a house full of Shifters to just excuse ourselves and go upstairs. Yet a little afternoon delight felt naughty, and another wave of tingles rippled through my body when his heavy-lidded gaze stripped me naked.
I whimpered and yanked him toward me.
Austin resisted, his erection throbbing against his jeans. “Get moving, Ladybug. I’ll grab a few bottles of water,” he said, his voice warm and inviting.
“What for?”
“Because you’re gonna be real thirsty by the time I get finished with you, and I won’t be stopping for a water run.”
I scrambled up that ladder like a six-year-old running toward an ice cream truck.
The loft upstairs was quaint, with a bed low to the floor just ahead of the ladder, a nightstand on the right with a lamp, and a short dresser on the left against the opposite wall. The ceiling didn’t run straight across but slanted down to the right, giving the room a cozy atmosphere.
“Sexy panties, here I come,” I sang quietly, stripping out of my clothes and tossing them on the pile of laundry.
Vacations were wonderful because we didn’t have to be tidy if we didn’t want to. In a house full of ten or twenty, one dirty cup quickly multiplied into fifty.