Page 119 of His White Moonlight
He placed his hand on the surface, shutting it and using his body to cage me in, facing the door.
“I can hear the way your pulse races when you touch me.I can smell your confusion and panic.Help me understand why.”
“As soon as I figure it out, I’ll let you know,” I said.
His exhale teased the back of my neck.
“Are we going to go for a run, or would you like to spend the rest of the day asking yourself ‘What went wrong?’while holding an ice pack on your big boy parts?”
His chuckle sent a shiver down my spine.
“I think you need a run.”He had me out of the way and the door open a second later.“After you.”
I munched on my apple as I did my warm-up walk down the driveway.
“Do you mind if we run in the community today?”Bennett asked.“I need to fix some mailboxes.”
I couldn’t stop my grin and nodded, loving Grandma even more just then because Bennett was having to do clean-up for her.
Despite having to stop frequently to right Grandma’s wrongs, Bennett didn’t slow me down.Occasionally, I would run ahead, but never out of sight.It was enjoyable…until I spotted Storm running toward us in her shorts and sports bra.
“This is a new twist on a pack run, but I’ll take it,” she said, turning so she ran alongside Bennett.
“Are you here to trip Wrenly again?”Bennett asked.The low rumble that accompanied those words would have been funny before, but it wasn’t now that I knew why he was defending me.
“I told you, I thought she saw me and would dodge.Like your brothers have never tried tripping each other.”
She wasn’t wrong.I’d watched them mess around with each other like that on countless occasions.
“Wrenly isn’t my brothers.She’s human and doesn’t dodge like us.You know that.”
“Which is why I’m here.”She looked at me around Bennett.“I’m sorry I tripped you, Wrenly.I promise not to do it again.Maybe we could go running together sometime?”
“That’s about as tempting as waiting in line at the ‘We Care, We Share’ needle recycling center.”
Bennett tripped.Storm stopped to comfort him.I kept running.
They both caught up to me again while Storm was still making little soothing sounds as if Bennett’s stumble had somehow hurt him—it hadn’t.
“What kind of school did you go to?”she asked, scowling at me.
“A shitty one.”
“Obviously.Your attitude is worse than when you left.”
I stopped running.Bennett did the same.
“I’m heading back.There are still three more mailboxes down this way that need fixing.”
“They can wait.”He looked at Storm.“You should go home.”
Instead of getting rid of them, they both followed me, and I had to listen to her attempts to reel Bennett into a date.
“What are your plans for the rest of the day?”Storm asked.“Maybe I could come over.”
“I’m busy.”
“What about next weekend?I heard you’re representing the Wulf family at the annual charity auction.I could be your date.”
