Page 33 of Ice Wolf
Just before I took off running, I envisioned Lily’s face.
“Okay, Lily flower. What do you want me to do again?”
Even behind her dark shades, I sensed her fury. It had a distinctive scent like lust or fear. She was energized by her annoyance of me. That alone was enough to make my day.
She’d grilled me for almost an hour on my clothing selection, highlighting pictures she’d found from years before. At least I’d gotten a good laugh when I’d asked her if she wanted to go over my underwear choices and she’d sputtered with words backpedaling so fast I was shocked her head hadn’t spun.
She was even more beautiful when she blushed.
And I planned on doing that to her as often as humanly possible.
Ha.
Human.
“Do you see that track right there? The one with lines and numbers?”
“Uh-huh. I just forgot what I’m supposed to do.” Teasing her was also a blast.
“Just run. Like you normally would. Go for a jog. I’ll time you.”
I had to laugh. What in God’s name did she actually think she was going to accomplish? In her hand was an old-fashioned stopwatch. Why not just use her iPhone that was attached to her hip? She also had a clipboard and pen, ready to write down my numbers. Maybe this could be a little fun.
“Okie-dokie. I think I can do that.”
“Okay. Get on the mark,” she instructed.
I did as I was told.
For now.
“And… Go.”
I took off jogging, although fourth graders could outrun me, as slow as I was going on purpose. She allowed me to do a full lap and when I stopped, I wiped my brow with the back of my arm for dramatic purposes.
“Whew. That was tough,” I told her.
“Very funny. At this rate we’ll be here all day until you get it right. I guess you’ll have to tell your coach why you missed practice.”
Sighing, I squinted at the sun and pulled the sunglasses hanging around my neck to my face. “Okay. I’ll do it again.” The few things that I found most difficult to control all involved exertion.When I slipped into a zone, it took every ounce of training not to fall prey to my wolf strengths. That included running. That’s why if I had any desire to take a jog, I did so at the compound. Even that was rare. It always ended up in shifting and if I’d been wearing jogging clothes, they were ripped to shreds.
The scent was even stronger today, which meant I would find it even more difficult to control my instinctive needs. By the way she was staring at me, I could tell I wasn’t going to get by with faking it but so much. But I had to try, or this gig would be over before I knew it.
Lily held up the stopwatch, cocking that pretty little head of hers. “Ready?”
“Sure thing.”
“Go.”
I took off running, trying to hump out a pace that would seem typical for a star athlete. For reasons I’d blame on her, I found it next to impossible. But I tried. I was halfway around the track when suddenly, she was right there beside me.
Casually looking over, I grinned and kept up with her pace.
“This is running?” she asked. “My grandmother could run faster than you.”
“What about you?”
Her grumble was sweet music. There was something so sexy about a woman calling me an egotistical maniac. I took that as a compliment.
