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Chapter 12

Ruby woke to find the bed next to her warm but empty and the smell of bacon wafting up the stairs. She stretched and glanced out the window. Dark clouds still filled the sky. The storm hadn’t broken and the humidity hung heavy in the air. There were no giant wolves in the yard so she could only assume it was Rafe cooking breakfast. Lena would have burned the house down by now.

Ruby considered changing out of her pajamas before joining Rafe in the kitchen, but he’d already seen her butterfly-covered sleep shorts and the oversized David Bowie T-shirt she wore to bed every night. So why bother? Also she was starving and breakfast smelled amazing. Besides, fake boyfriends/bizarre temporary roommates saw you in your PJs, right?

Tugging the T-shirt back up on her shoulder, Ruby wandered downstairs to eat. She found Rafe wearing her Wolf Man circa 1941 apron and scrambling eggs in her kitchen. He froze when she walked in like he could sense her without looking.

He cleared his throat. “Morning,” he rumbled, not turning away from the stove.

“Uh, morning.” Ruby sidled into the kitchen and grabbed her favorite mug from the cabinet and poured herself some coffee. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d woken up to fresh coffee someone else had made. Probably never. Every other day this week, she’d managed to beat Rafe to the kitchen, but today she’d slept in.

Rafe continued pushing eggs around the pan and flipping sizzling bacon, so Ruby prepared her coffee and sat at the table. She folded her hands. And then unfolded them. Her T-shirt slid down her shoulder again and she yanked it back up. Maybe she should have at least put on a bra. God, she was practically naked. Somehow this never seemed like a big deal when Rafe was a wolf, but now faced with a very human Rafe in her kitchen, Ruby was suddenly aware of every inch of exposed skin. On both of them.

She untied her hair and let it fall down her back, but was immediately too hot and twisted it back up. She tapped her fingers on the table, sipped her coffee, stared out the window. What the hell was one supposed to do while someone else made them breakfast?

Even during her last few years living with her aunt, Ruby was the one who made breakfast. Well, who made all the meals, if she was being honest. Aunt Millie was so old at that point and she’d taken such good care of them when they needed her most, Ruby really hadn’t minded taking care of her for a while.

Needless to say, she had no idea how to handle the current situation. So she continued to fidget and sneak peeks at Rafe while he cooked. He had his hair tied back today in a knot at the base of his skull, revealing the strong lines of his face. He was freshly shaven this morning and wearing nothing but the apron and a worn pair of jeans. He moved fluidly around the kitchen, scooping eggs onto plates, buttering toast and plucking bacon from the grease. It was like he’d always been here. Ruby blinked and shifted in her seat suddenly uncomfortable with just how comfortable she was around this man. Again she was shocked by how quickly it had happened. How seamlessly he had fit into her life.

Rafe grabbed a plate in each hand and set one down in front of Ruby and then slid into the chair across from her.

“Thanks for breakfast. You really didn’t have to.”

Rafe shrugged. “If we really were sleeping together, I would have.”

Ruby inhaled too quickly—the image of Rafe braced over her in bed tearing through her mind—and sucked a perfectly cooked piece of egg into the back of her throat. “Ack!” She coughed and sputtered. Rafe jumped up from his seat, rattling coffee mugs and patted her, hard, on the back.

Ruby waved him frantically away, his firm touch only adding to the panicked flutter of her heart and the very inconvenient constricting of her airway. Rafe backed away but continued to stare at her with a furrowed brow until she finally stopped coughing.

“I’m fine. I’m fine,” she said between gasps. “Really. I just swallowed weird.”

Never taking his eyes off her, like she could suddenly die at any moment, Rafe lowered himself back into his seat.

“You sure you’re okay?”

She smiled reassuringly and scooped more eggs into her mouth. Damn, they were so fluffy. “Yep, totally fine.”

He quirked an eyebrow.

“Really. Fine.”

He nodded and tore into a piece of bacon, followed by a huge forkful of eggs, and a bite of toast that obliterated nearly half the slice. His Adam’s apple bobbed as he took a gulp of coffee. Ruby traced the column of his neck with her eyes down the V of the shirt he’d put on to eat, to the dark shadow of hair beneath it. Her fingers curled around the edge of her chair at the memory of her fingers in his fur.

Rafe cleared his throat and Ruby tore her gaze up to find him smirking, his silver eyes flashing stormy in the morning light. Heat crept up Ruby’s neck. Busted.

“No one ever makes me breakfast,” she said, tugging her shirt up on her shoulder again.

“I know.”

“How could you possibly know that?” she asked, a small shiver of fear running up her spine. Had he been watching her at home too?

He shrugged and leaned back in his chair, his breakfast long gone already. “Well, I assumed.”

Ruby stared at him until he finally went on.

“You take care of everyone. That’s clear right away.” He held her stare. “It’s time someone took care of you.”

* * *

Ruby’s eyes widened. Why did he say that out loud? Why did he imply he should be the one to take care of her? God, he really was an idiot.

He stood too quickly, rattling the plates again. He grabbed his empty dishes and walked them to the sink, leaving Ruby staring after him in confusion. He needed to get to the bottom of whatever the hell was going on with this other wolf and fast. And then he needed to get far away from Ruby.

“I’m going to see my brother today.” It had only been a vague plan but it came out of his mouth like an edict.

“Your brother?” She’d followed him into the kitchen and now stood leaning against the counter, cradling her coffee. Hot pink letters said, Fuck off, I’m reading on the side. He bit down on a smile.

“Yeah, maybe he’ll have some insight into what’s going on.” Rafe actually had very little hope that his younger brother, Theo, knew anything, but he had to get out of here and he had to do something that at least felt remotely helpful. He had gotten way too damn comfortable here over the past week. It was time to snap out of this false sense of domestic bliss. He wasn’t built for this shit.

“You can’t leave the house while I’m gone. I’ll be back before your shift.” He peered at her out of the corner of his eye. He was still facing the sink, his hands braced on either side of it, like this piece of plumbing could save him from all the things he wanted to do right now.

Ruby’s shirt had slipped down her arm again, revealing the pale curve of her shoulder, the soft line of her neck, her clavicle bone just beneath her delicate skin. He’d been avoiding looking at her breasts all morning and it had taken a nearly Herculean effort. He let his gaze slip lower now, over the outline of her tits beneath the soft shirt. Lower still her thick thighs made those tiny shorts look even tinier. Goddamn it. He ground his teeth so hard his jaw ached. This was why he slept in wolf form.

He pushed away from the sink, practically launching himself back into the center of the kitchen. “I’ll leave soon and be back before sundown.”

Ruby plunked her coffee mug down on the counter and turned to face him, her hands on her lusciously wide hips. Fuck him. Maybe he should just shift and run like hell out of here. She’d never catch him.

“Nope. No way.” She stepped closer. “You promised me you’d be honest with me.”

“Nothing I’ve said this morning has been a lie.”

Another step closer. The smell of cinnamon and coffee clung to his nostrils. “Maybe you haven’t lied, but you haven’t told me anything. And now you’re just going to run off on your little mission and leave me here wondering what the hell is going on? Nope. Not happening.”

A low warning growl tumbled from his lips but Ruby didn’t back up. In fact, she stepped closer.

“Fine,” he ground out. “What do you want to know?”

Ruby grinned. “First of all, who is this brother of yours?” She held up one finger in front of him and it took all his remaining strength not to suck it into his mouth and run his teeth along her sensitive skin.

“His name is Theo. He’s my younger brother.”

Ruby raised an eyebrow, waiting for more. Rafe had nothing else he needed to say. Theo was his younger brother. He’d seen him only sporadically in the last five years, much like his older brother and everyone else he’d grown up with. Theo was a spoiled fuckboy who spent his days screwing women he barely knew and shirking all responsibilities. Rafe was the one who made that life possible for Theo all those years ago, and it pissed him off that he chose to waste his second chance at life. But none of that seemed relevant right now.

“And is he still with your pack?” Ruby asked, trying to draw out more information. He’d been stingy with it, with stories about himself, while Ruby had opened up to him a little more every day. He already knew it was a privilege she afforded to very few people. But he couldn’t reciprocate.

Rafe ran a hand down his face, pressing down all memories of his damn pack and both his damn brothers. He never should have mentioned it. He should have just said he was going to look for clues or something.

“No, he isn’t. He left when I did. But he may have heard from our other brother.”

“There’s three of you?”

Rafe nodded. There were three of them and that had always been the problem. “Our older brother, Knox, is the current Alpha of our pack. It’s possible Theo has heard from him.” He could go straight to Knox for information, but he doubted his older brother would even bother to meet with him.

“And you’ll talk to him for me?”

Rafe blinked. “Of course. Why wouldn’t I?”

Ruby’s lips tipped into a small smile. “Well, you clearly don’t want to. You’re obviously estranged from this family of yours and you’re still willing to go talk to him for me.”

Ruby stepped forward again until there was nothing more than a sliver of cinnamon-scented air between them. Rafe stepped back, colliding with the wall behind him.

“Stop looking at me like that, Ruby,” he growled.

“Like what?”

“Like I’m the hero here.”

Her smile grew.

Rafe shook his head, his hair rasping against the wall behind him. Ruby took the last step and laid her hands on his chest, right over his racing heart. He had to go. Now.

“Then what are you, Rafe?” Her breath skated over the skin of his neck. Her face was tipped up to look at him and her lips were right there, so fucking close. He could have her if he wanted her. She was making that abundantly clear. And goddamn, he had never wanted anyone more, not since Scarlet. Not since the last time he’d made this same mistake.

He grabbed her by the arms and held her back. Her eyes filled with hurt.

“I’m the monster.”

* * *

Rafe’s fingers dug into the flesh of her upper arms as he held her away from his body. His words, I’m the monster, hung in the air between them. Ruby watched the rapid rise and fall of his chest. His hair had come loose, shadowing his face again, but not before Ruby saw the desperate desire in his eyes, the same desire that was tearing through her body, but he was fighting it. Fighting it so hard his hands trembled against her skin.

“Monsters don’t cook breakfast,” she said.

“Ruby, don’t.” He shook his head.

“Monsters don’t watch old movies with you in the middle of the night.” She wriggled out his grasp.

“Ruby.” Her name was a growled warning but she didn’t listen.

“Monsters don’t carry your purse.” She pushed the hair from his face and tucked it behind his ear. The muscle in his jaw ticked. She leaned in, rising on her toes just enough to brush her lips against his. She felt the rumble in his chest as it vibrated through her, but his hands remained at his sides, his huge body rigid against her kitchen wall.

“Rafe,” she whispered against his mouth. “Kiss me.” She pressed her body against the full length of his and his restraint broke.

He grabbed her ass with both hands and lifted her, his lips crashing against hers. His kiss was hungry and wild, like he hadn’t done it in a long time but like he’d really fucking missed it. She slid her hands through his hair and he groaned, breaking the kiss only to scatter more kisses along her cheekbones, his lips feather-light. God, she loved that about him, this gentleness sprinkled in with his roughness. He claimed her lips again, his tongue sweeping in and tangling with hers.

Ruby was suddenly very aware of the thinness of her shirt, the rub of it against her breasts as she squirmed against Rafe’s chest. She tugged his hair again just to hear another low growl, to feel it vibrate between her legs.

Rafe shifted and turned them so Ruby was the one pinned against the wall, so he could take a hand off her ass and skate it up her useless shirt, so she could feel his calloused fingertips against her stomach, tickling the dip in her waist, running across the underside of her breast. Rafe’s breath caught, a soft stutter against her throat.

“Shit, Ruby. You’re so fucking soft.” He nuzzled against her neck, kissing and sucking, his fingers still toying with her, his thick erection pressed into her middle.

God, she wanted him. She had never wanted like this, like she was on fire. She squirmed between him and the wall, shamelessly pressing herself into him, needing to get closer…

“Uh … good morning?” Lena’s voice broke through Ruby’s fog of lust. Rafe dropped her so fast she nearly landed on her ass.

“Shit,” he muttered, backing away from her and running a hand through his hair.

“Morning,” Ruby squeaked, attempting to smooth down her shirt and act like this was all perfectly normal. She cleared her throat. “Rafe made breakfast.”

“Did he? How nice.” Lena’s gaze flicked between the two of them, a smile dancing on her lips. “What a productive morning you two are having. Thanks, Rafe.”

Rafe wouldn’t meet her eye and instead seemed to be finding the old linoleum floor to be infinitely interesting. He muttered some unintelligible response and moved toward the door.

“I need to go.”

“Don’t rush out on my account,” Lena chirped, filling her plate at the stove. “But you might want to move your after-breakfast activities to Ruby’s room.”

With Lena’s back to them Rafe finally looked up. His pupils were still blown wide, the black swallowing up the silver, and his lips were swollen from kissing her. He took a quick step toward her.

“Stay inside. I’ll be back soon.” The words were a rushed growl against her cheek followed by a rough push of his lips against hers and then he was out the back door and gone.

Lena carried her plate to the table with a smirk on her face. “Did he just run out of here barefoot?” There was laughter in her voice and color in her cheeks and it was enough to distract Ruby from whatever the hell had just happened between her and her wolf-man. Lena looked healthy again this morning.

“He … uh … I think he left them out back on the deck.”

Lena nodded, chewing thoughtfully. “He’s an odd one, Ruby-red, but I like him.”

Ruby noticed she had a hand on her chest over her rapidly beating heart. She glanced out the back window and could have sworn she saw a flash of gray fur tearing through the trees.

“Yeah, I like him too.”

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