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When Minnie still looked unsure, I quickly added, “Really, Minnie, I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about me. We’ve hung out the last several days in a row anyway.
“I can’t expect to get you all to myself every single night.”
“I promise I wouldn’t be blowing you off unless it was something important,” she explained.
“Why don’t you go to the hot tub and put on one of the new swimsuits I got you? I could even let you borrow my copy of Twilight if you wanted!
“Then you could really get into character for when you decide to try to seduce your mate. Channel your inner Bella Swan.”
I laughed. That wasn’t actually a terrible idea. The hot tub part, that is. Although, I suppose reading Twilight wasn’t a terrible idea either.
“You’re way too obsessed with Twilight. You know that, right?”
Minnie scoffed. “There’s no such thing as being too obsessed with Twilight. I mean, have you ~read~ the books? They’re pure gold.”
I couldn’t even try to hide my amusement. “The last book came out nearly fifteen years ago. Shouldn’t you have found something else to read by now?”
She shrugged nonchalantly. “Art like that simply doesn’t age.”
BELLE
“What the fuck are you wearing?”
I jumped at the sound of his voice, whirling around to meet the eyes of my mate, who was sitting on the couch in our room. I hadn’t even heard him come in and was surprised he was here.
He was never back this early. I had assumed I would be spending another night by myself.
I had just exited our closet after changing into one of the bikinis Minnie had gotten me. I planned on going to the hot tub for a while. I was incredibly tense.
All I wanted to do was lie back and relax in some nearly-too-hot water for the next several hours until all my limbs felt like noodles.
I even had a copy of Twilight— Minnie had insisted I borrow it after finding out I had never read it before—and was more than ready to lose myself in a story about werewolves and vampires that wasn’t my own.
And most importantly, I needed a distraction. One that kept me from obsessing over the man sitting in front of me.
“Oh, hi,” I replied. I hated how hot and fidgety I became around him. Instant relief filled me just from being in his presence.
I even found myself taking steps toward him without realizing what I was doing. “I didn’t know you were here.”
He stood, approaching me slowly.
He looked good today. Who was I kidding? He looked good every day. He was wearing dark pants and a simple shirt, his muscles rippling with each of his movements.
“Answer my question, mate.”
I looked down at my simple black bikini. It was a triangle top and the most basic pair of bottoms I had ever seen. There was absolutely nothing special about it.
But the way Grayson was looking at me—licking his lips while his eyes raked up and down my body slowly—had me thinking otherwise.
I swallowed. “A swimsuit?”
Once he was in front of me, he reached a hand up and played with the string of my top, right above my breast, rolling it between his fingers. His other hand settled on my bare waist.
“Why?” he demanded in a dark, sultry tone that had my nipples hardening into diamonds. His eyes fell down to my breasts, darkening when he saw them through the thin layer of my top.
His hand gripped my waist harder. His jaw tightened. And the sexual tension in the room shot up.
Huh, maybe Minnie was onto something with the whole lingerie thing.
“I was going to go read in the hot tub for a while,” I explained quietly.
His eyes snapped up to mine, narrowing. “Wearing this?”
The way he said it had me feeling defensive and a tiny bit insecure.
“Yes, wearing this,” I responded with my arms crossed over my chest. “It is a swimsuit, after all. Or would you rather I go in my birthday suit? I bet all of your pack members would love seeing that.”
Oops. Wrong thing to say.
Grayson growled, grabbing my waist in both hands and slamming my body to his. I gasped.
“Absolutely not. You’re not going anywhere dressed like this.” He grabbed my hand and started to tug me toward the closet.
“It isn’t like anybody is going to see me!” I argued, trying to tug my hand out of his iron grip. “There’s never anybody using the hot tub. Plus, I was going to cover up with a towel until I got in the water.”
“No,” Grayson grunted. “Were you even planning on having Liam go with you, or were you just going to go out by yourself, wearing basically nothing?”
I continued to tug at his grip on me. I knew there was no point since he was a million times stronger than me, but I was not going to let him throw me around without at least trying to fight back.
“Liam is busy tonight. Besides, would you really want Liam to see me in a bikini?
Oh, maybe he could join in. Oh yeah, that would be really fun.
“Liam and I barely clothed, sitting in the hot, steamy water. I bet we would feel real close after that.”
And, once again, Belle, that was the wrong thing to say.
Grayson growled so loudly the walls shook, and objects fell from surfaces, crashing to the floor. I winced. My ears rang when he was done.
He grabbed my chin in his huge hand and brought my face close to his so we were only inches apart. “Go. Change. ”
His voice was so rigid and unrelenting that I worried about what would happen if I didn’t do as he said. He was mad. Really mad. And I knew better than to challenge him when he was like this.
With pressure building behind my eyes from the tears I was holding back, I turned on my heel and walked to the closet, feeling like a dog with my tail between my legs.
I stopped in the doorway, looking around at all of our clothes. What did I do now?
Did I get dressed in the same jeans and sweater I had on before?
I had absolutely nowhere to go, and I knew Grayson wouldn’t be here for long. He was probably only stopping by to check on me like he always did before heading back to work.
So did that mean I should just give up on having a non-pathetic night? Put on my pajamas and crawl into bed just to think about how much I missed Grayson until I fell into a fitful night of sleep?
It was the same thing I had done for the past several nights. I would fall asleep and immediately start dreaming about Grayson, his touch, his voice, and his smile.
I would toss and turn, so desperate to be near him that it was all I could think about.
I would only receive relief when he finally came home and crawled into bed with me, wrapping me in his arms. I wasn’t sure if I could handle another night of that without going mad.
Making up my mind, I huffed, grabbed a towel from one of the shelves, and turned back around, intent on walking right past Grayson and out the door.
He couldn’t just intimidate me into doing what he wanted. I was my own person, goddammit.
“What are you doing?” he demanded when I walked past him. His voice took on a warning tone laced with his deep growls.
“Going to the hot tub,” I replied. I was proud of how stable and confident I sounded even though everything in me was demanding I submit to my mate.
Stupid, stupid nature trying to make me bend to the will of the dominant male. My instincts were screaming at me to go back to him and tilt my head to the side in a submissive gesture that told him I’d relented.
Yeah, not this time, buddy! Grayson could just go fuck himself and his masochistic ideals.
Another deafening growl came from his chest, and the next thing I knew, I was thrown over his shoulder and marched back over to the closet.
“No!” I shouted, kicking him and pounding my fists against his back. “I’m not going to spend another night sitting in this room, waiting for you to come back like some little housewife!
“Put me down! Put me down right now! You’re such a fucking asshole and—and—”
A ball formed in my throat that kept me from screaming any more profanities at him. Shit, was I about to cry?
Grayson’s determined stride came to a sudden halt. His body stiffened, and I could feel his worry as he lifted me off his shoulder with tender hands and gently placed me on my feet in front of him.
I took several steps back, needing distance from him.
I didn’t miss the way he started to purr for me, trying to keep it quiet because he knew I hated it when he didn’t let me feel my emotions and instead drowned them out with those mind-numbing vibrations.
I covered my face with my hands. I couldn’t look at him. I didn’t want to look at him.
“Belle…,” Grayson said. His tone was much gentler than before, and that fact alone was enough to make me want to sob.
Somehow I kept my cool, though, determined to take deep breaths until the wave of emotions passed.
He stepped forward and grabbed both my wrists, rubbing the skin with his thumbs in soothing circles, trying to encourage me to reveal my face. I shook my head, brushing his touch off of me.
“Belle, talk to me,” he coaxed. “Tell me what’s wrong.”
I let out a shaky breath. I couldn’t speak yet.
“Come on, sweet girl. I need to know what’s going on so I can fix it.”
I finally dropped my hands. A few tears had escaped my eyes, but I had somehow managed to keep the dam intact for at least a little while longer.
I didn’t look up at him as I spoke. “I know you said that this week would be busy and I wouldn’t get to see much of you but…but, um…” I hesitated, chest tight. “I think I’m just starting to feel a little claustrophobic.”
That was a mild way of putting it. I felt like a locked-up addict going through withdrawal.
Grayson cupped my cheek, wiping away a runaway tear with his thumb.
“Claustrophobic? What do you mean, baby?”
I sucked in a shaky breath. “I mean…All I do when I’m here alone at night is sit and…and think about you.”
I gestured around me. “And everything smells like you, and I’m surrounded by all of your stuff and…” I shrugged, feeling utterly pathetic. A hiccup left my throat. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”
Big arms wrapped around me, pulling me to his vibrating chest. “Shh, baby. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. Don’t cry. Please don’t cry.”
I accepted his embrace with enthusiasm, giving in to him and crying silently against his chest for several long minutes.
He held me through it all and purred loudly enough that I could feel the sound travel all the way down to my toes. Everything felt like jelly when I finally pulled away.
It was crazy how much better I felt after being in his arms for only a few minutes.
He was so effortlessly able to calm me down.