Page 12 of Captive Mate
“We’re getting to know each other,” I said coyly, wriggling my hips suggestively. “Matthew’s a lot of fun once he loosens up a little.”
Matthew’s fists clenched so hard I thought his knuckles might pop right out of his skin. “We have to stay close or I go crazy,” he said through gritted teeth. “Touching. And don’t get me started on how you and Ian ought to be keeping the eavesdroppers out of range while I’m compromised.”
Nate’s cheeks flushed, and I bit back a smile. Score one for Matthew.
And since when was I on Matthew’s side? Well, I’d be on anyone’s side if the other side had Nate on it, to be fair.
“Ian has a lot on his plate,” Nate said defensively. “Because he’s trying to be the pack leader and the second at the same time.”
“Can you put the tray on my desk?” Changing the subject. Probably smart, given that there wasn’t really a good reply to that. Definitely score one for Nate, damn him. “And then clear out the audience. Please,” he added grudgingly, as one of Nate’s eyebrows rose.
“Yeah, all right,” Nate sighed, and crossed the room to put the tray down on a messy desk set against the wall next to one of the windows. He stayed as far as possible from me, going in a semicircle rather than directly. He turned and looked at Matthew, a wistful expression on his face that I wanted to slap right off. How dare he look at Matthew like that, all affectionate and fucking stupid? “I promise we’re working on it,” he said, and left without waiting for an answer.
The door clicked shut behind him and the lock turned.
Chapter 5
You Don’t Know Me at All
My nose twitched, picking up the smell of ham, and Nate fled my mind. Ham. Actual meat. I rolled away from Matthew, nothing in my head but the need to go and eat everything in sight, and I yelped as a muscular arm wrapped around my middle and yanked me back onto the bed.
“Touching, remember?” Matthew said gruffly, his voice coming from way too close to my ear. He pressed up behind me, his chest against my back, a wall of heat and strength.
“I can get the tray,” I gasped. “I’ll bring it back. Just let me at the sandwiches before I eatyou.”
He laughed, and I felt it more than heard it. “I wouldn’t say no. I’d rather do it the other way around, though.”
Oh, and that — that put images in my head. Lots of them. Vivid ones, starting with Matthew pinning my hips and sucking my cock down his throat, and rapidly moving on to me on my hands and knees with my ass in the air, and Matthew busy with his lips and tongue between my cheeks.
“Sandwiches,” I said as firmly as I could, shaking my head to try to get the picture of Matthew eating me out togo away. “One second.”
After a beat, Matthew released me, and I scrambled off the bed.
It took a little maneuvering to get settled on the bed again with me, Matthew, and the tray, but finally I was able to dig in. I didn’t care about the way his side was pressed against mine, or the fact that our hands kept brushing when we reached for the food.
And even though I was normally incredibly fastidious, I didn’t even care about the crumbs going everywhere on my shirt and the bed, or the gulping noises I was making as I stuffed sandwich after sandwich in my mouth. Every bite was paradise. I guzzled two bottles of water and ate until every scrap was gone.
I flopped back against the pillows, breathing like I’d run a marathon. My shoulder bumped into Matthew’s; I realized he’d stopped a while ago, and was already reclining next to me.
I turned my head. He was staring at me, with something between bemusement and — something else I couldn’t read. It was intense, whatever it was, and I was caught, unable to look away.
“Feeling better?”
“Did you not believe I was hungry or something? I was on bread and water in the basement.”
Matthew shrugged, a hard move to pull off while lounging on a bed, but somehow he made it look good. “Not believing you is a good default position.” Before I could muster a reply to that, he added, “But now that we’ve dealt with your immediate needs, you have some questions to answer. Starting with where Hawthorne was for the last two years, how he ended up with the Kimballs, and howyouended up with the Kimballs. And who you really are.”
I blinked at him. “‘Starting with’? That’s a long list.” I licked my lips absently, and Matthew’s eyes flicked down to my mouth. His pupils expanded and his breathing sped up a little. “I’m not answering those,” I said quickly.
Fuck. Damned if I did and damned if I didn’t, because the last thing I wanted was him getting all bitey again — except that was tied for last with how little I wanted to answer any one of his questions.
“Yeah, you are,” he said grimly, looking at my eyes again, at least. “You realize you’re never getting free until you do, right? The Kimballs are still a threat. Hawthorne’s dead, but who knows what he was up to while he was off the grid. He could still be a threat from beyond the grave — for the second fucking time. And until I have some reason to thinkyou’renot a threat, you’re staying neutralized. I of all people know what you can do.”
My heart pounded away and my fists clenched. “Then you’ll be under my spell forever,” I snarled. “Because I can’t remove it with these fucking things on my wrists.”
Matthew shook his head and laughed a little. It didn’t reach his eyes, which were as dark and cold as the depths of the sea. “You won’t remove it anyway, right? Not when you’re convinced you’re a dead man as soon as you do. Ian told me about your little heart-to-heart.”
A few hours before, he would’ve been a hundred percent right. Nearly ending up knotted, bitten, and permanently mated had changed my perspective a bit.
