Page 61 of The Alien Reindeer's Bounty
“How did I never notice you were from another planet when you talk like that?” Odessa said.
“Stunned by my staggering good looks, I’d wager.” He grinned, the tips of his fangs showing, and yes, her heart fluttered. He was too damn sexy, like way out of her league. “Oh, violet. What were you thinking just then?”
“Oh my gosh, none of your business.” She fell back and tossed a pillow over her face to cover her blush. “You’re not allowed to read my thoughts.”
Mads remained silent for a moment. “I can’t actually read your mind,” he said at length. “I can see the fluctuations in your mood. The mate bond allows me to detect more nuance now, so I know that violet means you’re aroused, but I can’t actually know your thoughts.”
“Whatever. Just don’t be all ‘ooh, I know you’re horny,’ because it’s too much. Too much, Mads.”
“Don’t hide.” He removed the pillow.
“No! Give that back.”
He planted a hand on either side of her and leaned down. Her hips rose of their own accord, wanting his weight and his heat. “A bit green now but still violet.”
“That’s not funny.” She would never have a private thought again.
Not that she ever had them to begin with.
Oh. Oh no.
“You could see my, whatsit, my aura, this whole time?” she asked.
“Odessa, I swore I wouldn’t keep secrets from you, but I feel the answer will make you uneasy.”
Cheese and crackers.When they were teens, he knew about her crush. He literally saw it. All the desperate longing, fantasizing, the quick glances away, the willingness to do anything just to be with him—
“I think it’s best if we just abandon this topic before I die of embarrassment,” she said.
He rolled to the side, then pulled her to him. “Your colors have always been the most vivid.”
“I can’t even imagine what puberty looks like,” she said. So many mood swings and hormones.
But that could be useful from a parenting perspective. She’d know when Ruby fibbed. Well, Mads could tell when she was being deceitful and he’d tell her. Teamwork.
She huffed with amusement at her mercenary attitude. She had little doubt where Ruby got that aspect of her personality.
“Murky,” he said.
“Sounds about right.”
“When we first met, I had never seen an aura so bright or so golden. I told my father that you were going to be my mate.”
“You were ten,” she said.
“I knew.”
“Shenanigans. No one knows who they want to marry when they’re a kid. When I was ten, I was pretty positive I was going to marry Batman.” She had a serious crush on the animated cartoon Batman. Well, the voice. That deep voice still had the power to make her feel fluttery.
“I’m experiencing jealousy about your regard for the Batman,” he said.
“I prefer my men three dimensional.” To illustrate her point, her hand appreciated all the contours of his abdomen. A thought tickled the back of her mind. “Let’s not tell Ruby about the whole alien thing.”
“Secrets are not healthy,” he said, voice lowered.
“Yeah, yeah. I’m a hypocrite, all right? But she’s seven. If she goes around saying her mom’s new boyfriend can shift into a reindeer, everyone will say, ‘Oh, what an imagination you have.’” Odessa pitched her voice higher as she said the last line. “But I know my goblin and she gets really upset if she thinks you don’t believe her. When she insists you really can shift, she goes from being a precocious kid with an active imagination to the kid who can’t tell the difference between reality and fantasy. So, can we wait until she’s a bit older?”
“It will be a hard secret to keep.”
