Page 75 of Black Moon

“I’ll think about it. I’m...open to the idea. If you’re sufficiently convincing.”

Linden smiled. I couldn’t see it, but I felt the shape of it against my mouth. “I can work with that.”

39

Linden

As much as I wanted to beconvincingright then and there on the sidewalk, the best way to take care of Colt was to get him inside, and given how much cider he’d had, to bed.

Even if he’d given me permission to ravish him before he’d gotten tipsy, it would be pretty awful for my alpha ego if he fell asleep while we were having sex, and he seemed to be getting on to that stage of the alcohol.

Making out on the sidewalk was nice, though.

Well, until Claudia and Birch drove by, and an equally tipsy Claudia leaned out her window and called, “Get a room!”

Colt burst into a fit of giggles against my chest, grabbing my vest in both hands and burying his face in the soft merino wool.

“Come on,” I said, wrapping an arm around him and leading him toward the house. “If Queen Claudia commands it, we’d better go find a room.”

“She’s gonna be a pretty great second,” he answered, leaning into me, but letting himself be led. “She’ll tear apart anyone who tries to mess with you. Like a chihuahua, or a—a very small Rottweiler.”

I choked down the laugh at that, and he didn’t seem to notice it. “I was thinking maybe like a goat.”

“Yeah she’s the goat,” he agreed.

I was pretty sure I’d missed something in that exchange, but it didn’t matter too much.

He leaned on me all the way to my bedroom, barely took the time to toe off his shoes, drop his jeans on the floor, and toss his T-shirt somewhere behind himself—at me, really, not that I thought it intentional—before falling into bed.

A moment later, he was crawling under my blanket in his boxers, and by the time I’d picked up the trail of clothes he left, and followed suit peeling mine off and putting them away, he was snoring softly, the blanket pulled up to his forehead.

Was it weird and pitiful that I thought it was cute?

Only time would tell. For the moment, when I lay down next to him, he snuggled right into me, and it felt like everything was right with the world.

Colt was still snoring when I woke in the morning, so I slid out of bed, slow and quiet, making sure not to wake him. Then I tossed on a T-shirt and headed to the bathroom to brush my teeth.

I must not have been quiet enough, because a moment later, Colt slipped into the room, grabbing his own toothbrush and following suit. He didn’t seem hung over at all. Neither did he seem put off by my seriousness in asking him to stay the night before.

No, his eyes were full of mischief. He slid closer and closer to me as we brushed our teeth, until he was practically leaning his head on my shoulder.

And then he was leaning his head on my shoulder, staring at me as he brushed.

I finished, rinsed my mouth, and watched as he did the same. As he was finishing up, I decided there was no time like the present to figure out what he was thinking. “Should I ask what’s got that wicked smile in your eyes?”

He didn’t answer. Well, not in words.

Instead, he turned and attacked. My mouth, that is, with his own. He shoved me up against the bathroom wall, pushing his lips hard against mine in a fresh, minty lock, his tongue pushing past my lips to plunder my mouth.

That was about the best way to wake up I’d ever experienced, so I grabbed his ass and pulled him in close.

The look he gave me when we broke apart was odd, almost like he expected me to tell him he was doing something wrong. Maybe he’d been with an alpha who was opposed to making out in the bathroom. Well that was easy enough to clear up.

I turned us so it was his back against the wall instead of mine, sliding my fingers under the hem of his boxers and pushing them down. “Shower?” I asked, as conversationally as possible when I was trying not to pant.

His wicked little grin filled my whole field of vision, and I didn’t want to look away. “Sounds like a fun way to wake up.”

I leaned over and turned the water on, letting it warm up a little before we had to climb into the stall. I used the time to drop my own underwear on the floor, and make sure his were all the way off.

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