Page 106 of His White Moonlight
He tilted his head as he studied me.
“Chocolate chip pancakes?”he asked.
“Are Mom and Dad here?”
“No.Grandma told them you needed some time to yourself.”
“Is Grandma still here?”
“No, but she said you can call her and she’ll be a menace with you whenever you need.”
My nose started to tingle, and I nodded to hide how much her understanding meant to me.
“Pancakes are fine,” I said after a moment.
“If you’re not hungry for pancakes, I can make something else.”
He sounded…off.
I really looked at Bennett, noting the darker circles under his eyes, the way his hands were tucked into the pockets of his pants, the stubble coating his jaw.
An odd calm settled over me the longer I looked at him.I stepped around the bed.Without moving, he watched me slowly close the distance between us.When I stood in front of him, his mask slipped back into place as I met his gaze.
He was hiding.From me.Why?
I looked down at his hands.He’d fisted them in his pockets.
“Show me your hands,” I said.
He hesitated a second then held them out, palms up.They trembled.
I met his gaze again.“Today’s a bad day.”It was both a statement and a question.
After a moment, he said, “Yes, today’s a bad day.”
There were so many things I wanted to say.That holding me at night wasn’t going to help because I was never going to accept him.That the sooner he let go, the better off he’d be.But I’d lived with shifters long enough to understand they didn’t give up when they thought they’d found a potential mate.They aggressively, obsessively pursued their mate until they said yes to them or someone else.
If I wanted to leave, either Bennett or I needed to hook up with someone else.Since I didn’t want to end up with some guy I barely knew, that meant getting Bennett to focus on a different potential mate.
“Let’s grab something on the way into the office,” I said.
Surprise flickered in his gaze.“We don’t have to go in today.”
“I want to.”
He tucked his hands back into his pockets.
“Is there any chance you’ll talk to me about what happened?That’s the second time you?—”
“No.”
I turned away from him, and his arms wrapped around me from behind.I froze, heart hammering and panic surging through me.
“This isn’t normal, Wrenly.Someone touching you like this shouldn’t make you panic this badly.”
“Let go now, or I’ll hurt myself again,” I said hoarsely.
He spun me around to face him, his hands anchoring my shoulders.
