Chapter 23

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

I washed my hands quickly and exited the bathroom. Stopping to look at our table, I saw Jenny was still talking to Gavrill and he was still sitting next to her. I wondered if he was even listening. Kleio had found her way back to Jack, and they sat as close as they could, whispering and cuddling each other. None other than the broody male I was trying to avoid occupied my seat. His dark, shaggy hair and broad shoulders gave him away. He was in a navy-blue T-shirt that heightened the color of the tattoos on his arms.

As if he sensed me, Everett turned around and slowly gazed up my body. He smiled at me as if he was being friendly. I knew it was nothing but a trick. Everett had left me against a tree in the woods today with nothing but excuses. I wasn’t about to overlook his actions. I lost my focus when I saw brown round glasses on his face. They made him look even sexier, in an intellectual type of way. Of course he would do that.

I took a deep breath to center myself before I walked over to the table. He patted the seat next to him, and finding the bar had suddenly filled up in the ten minutes I’d been in the bathroom, I had no choice but to sit at the table.

“Nice specs.” If I broke the ice and started the conversation, maybe I could take the reins and gain some control.

“They help me see clearly,” he said.

“I should’ve guessed you had vision problems. Your lack of insight and all,” I said.

Everett chuckled to himself and ran his hand over his scruffy beard. “When have I been lacking in insight, Elise?”

“Well, these”—I put my finger on the rims of his glasses—“must not work very well. I’ve been in front of you many times, and you still can’t see what I want.”

I looked away quickly after I spoke. Where was this banter coming from? I was falling into his trap again. Everett did something to me that made me lose all common sense around him.

He grabbed my fingers from the rim of his glasses and dragged them under his nose, inhaling deeply. I gasped, holding my breath at the sudden interruption of our conversation.

“What did you do, Lyka?” Everett kept my fingers to his nose and continued smelling deeply. The short hairs on his upper lip prickled my fingers.

“What are you talking about?” My fingers probably smelled like whiskey sour and the soap I had washed my hands with a couple of minutes ago in the bathroom.

“Did you pleasure yourself after our run in the woods?” His voice was low and husky. The black pupils surrounded by gold swirls dilated as he waited for an answer.

I tried to pull my hand back, but he kept smelling my fingers. He was enjoying himself. How could he know what I’d done? I had showered and washed my hands multiple times before he just picked them up and smelled them.

I panicked, trying to come up with an appropriate answer. “I washed my hands.” My voice was squeaky and timid, no louder than a whisper.

“Lyka, you forget how good you smell to me,” he said. “ That smell won’t leave your skin for days. I bet every wolf in here can smell what you did earlier.”

My face flamed as I looked around the room.

“Are you that desperate for release that you had to use your hand?”

I looked back at Everett, shocked that he was asking me that. My eyes met his, and a wave of confidence came over me. I refused to take his teasing anymore. “Every time I’m with you, you touch me and kiss me and make me want more,” I said. “Of course I’m desperate. You haven’t helped me finish anything you’ve started.”

Everett growled at my response. It was obviously not what he’d been expecting. We had caught the attention of our table, and Kleio smiled as big as the Cheshire Cat, pleased with what was happening between Everett and me. Jenny looked confused, and her mouth dropped open as Everett lifted me off the chair, cradling me with one of his arms under my shoulders and the other under my knees.

“I can fix that.” His voice was confident and steady.

My legs squeezed together, trying to hold in the pressure that was building between them. He nodded at Gavrill and Jack before he stalked out of the bar with me in his arms.

I looked behind his shoulders. The shifters acted as if this was normal behavior. The only one just as shocked as me was Jenny. She stared at us with wide eyes and a gaping open mouth.