Page 19 of Fetch Me A Mate
"I'm not going anywhere dangerous." She reached the top of the ladder, extending one mug toward him. "Besides, I've got healthy insurance policies. Worker's comp and everything."
The corner of his mouth twitched before he could stop it. Almost a smile, which was more reaction than he'd intended to give.
"Coffee's coffee," he said, accepting the mug. "Thanks."
Diana settled herself carefully on the ladder's top step, her feet braced on the rungs. "How's it looking up here?"
"Better than expected. Most of the damage is cosmetic." Rowan sipped the coffee, strong and black the way he liked it. "Should be watertight by noon."
"Good. Gerald Finch is coming back next week to check progress. I'd rather not have him find any leaks to complain about."
Rowan's jaw tightened at the mention of the Council aide. "Finch is looking for reasons to cause trouble."
"I got that impression." Diana wrapped her hands around her mug, using it to warm her fingers. "When Kieran and Freya stopped by yesterday, they gave me a crash course in shifter culture."
Rowan's hammer paused mid-swing. "What kind of crash course?"
"Pack dynamics. Territory issues. The importance of not getting between mates." She glanced at him sideways. "They mentioned you had history with a pack outside town."
"They mention anything else?"
"Just that people are wondering if you'll stick around this time."
The honesty in her voice caught him off guard. Most people danced around the subject of his past, either too polite ortoo afraid to ask direct questions. Diana just laid it out there, matter-of-fact and unashamed of her curiosity.
"And what do you think?" he asked.
"I think you're here now, doing good work. That's all I can judge by."
Simple. Practical. It shouldn't have hit him as hard as it did.
Rowan returned his attention to the shingles, driving nails with more force than necessary. "Kieran say anything else?"
"That you're different with me. Less guarded."
His hammer slipped, nearly catching his thumb. "He's got an active imagination."
"Does he?"
Instead of answering, Rowan chose to focus on the rhythm of his work, trying to ignore the way she was looking at him.
A gust of wind caught the loose shingle he'd been about to replace, sending it sliding toward the edge of the roof. Diana reached to grab it without thinking, leaning too far out over the ladder.
Rowan moved before conscious thought kicked in. He dropped his hammer and caught her around the waist, pulling her against him as the shingle tumbled past them to shatter on the porch below.
"Careful," he said, his voice rougher than intended.
Diana's hands had come up to brace against his chest, her coffee mug forgotten somewhere in the scramble. They were pressed together now, her soft curves fitting against the hard lines of his body like they'd been made for each other.
The air changed around them. Hotter. Hungrier. Dangerous,
Rowan could smell her shampoo, something floral that made his wolf whine with want. Could feel the rapid beat of her pulse where his thumb pressed against her wrist. Could see the way her pupils dilated as she looked up at him, lips parted in surprise.
His wolf surged, a possessive, primal roar in the back of his mind.Mine. Safe.
He held her for a second too long, his grip hardening as he fought the instinct to pull her closer, to bury his face in her hair and claim what the animal inside him already knew belonged to him.
"I told you it wasn't safe," he said, voice a low rasp he barely recognized.
