Page 76 of Feral

“Fraser, you don’t have to keep asking that. You have my permission to touch me.”

He didn’t say anything and I was worried I’d been harsh with him. I was going to ask and stopped as we turned a corner and found ourselves on the outskirts of a quaint village. Stone and brick buildings were nestled on either side of us, people walking around with bags or toting children in carriers or strollers. Several of the buildings were taverns, of course. But there were also shops with clothing, food and the single most charming bookstore I’d ever seen.

He pulled into a parking spot and before I could even reach for the door, Fraser pulled me half into his lap. People were walking around, a few of them glanced our way but I didn’t care. All I could see was Fraser and the way he was devouring me with his eyes. His whisper was rough as he clutched my hip with his hand.

“Sometimes I just can’t keep my hands off ya and it frightens me.”

“Why?”

“Because the more I touch ya, the more I…”

My mouth went dry imagining what the end of that sentence might be. In that moment, all of the good sense I should’ve had disappeared and I decided to do either a very daring thing or a very stupid thing.

I pressed my lips to his.

Even knowing that this wasn’t the real Fraser, that his glamour kept me from truly feeling him, my body melted against his. He opened his mouth to me and I brushed my tongue against his. His groan sent shivers down my spine. It was the sound of a hungry animal, and I wanted him to feast on me.

Fraser’s long fingers threaded through my hair, tugging it out of the ponytail and he angled my head to take the kiss deeper. I wasn’t aware of the little mewling sounds I was making until he broke the kiss and gently moved me off his lap.

“I’m sorry lass, I shouldn’t have started that,” he said, his eyes glowing yellow.

“I believe I started that, actually.”

He stared ahead, hands tensing on the steering wheel.

“It’s not that I don’t want to.”

“Then what is it?”

“It’s not right,” he growled. “This isn’t real, it’s a lie so ya can find what’s hurtin’ my clan, nothin’ more. And I won’t use it as an excuse to take advantage of ya.”

“Even if I say it’s what I want?”

He closed his eyes and took some breaths. His one-word answer was a dagger to my chest.

“Yes.”

I took in a sharp breath and tried to steady myself. We had said at the beginning that these feelings were just the result of the bite, it changed things physically for us. It had been what we’d agreed upon. Yet instead of remembering that, I had let myself think that Fraser might actually want me for me, not for the bite.

I let my libido run away with itself. Isn’t that embarrassing?

“I’m sorry,” I said, shoving down the way my voice wanted to crack. “I thought…I’m sorry.”

“No, don’t apologize,” Fraser said, “this is more difficult than I thought it would be and I…Daphne, I’m the one who’s sorry. You are beautiful and intelligent and ya deserve better than this.”

My hand cut through the air to stop him. I couldn’t bear to hear him say anything else that reminded me of all the times someone had dumped me, but tried to do it nicely.

“Stop Fraser, please.”

We both let out a long sigh and if lunch had been awkward this was ten times so. I had to think of a way to bring us back to some kind of normal. But the only way I saw was to meet this head on, to not pretend it hadn’t happened.

“This was just physiological,” I said, echoing what we’d both agreed on yesterday. “And okay, it’s harder than we thought, but we’re both adults, and I hope we’ve started to become friends?”

His gaze slid to mine, a confusing soup of emotions swirling in those dark depths. I refused to figure them out, however. I needed my logic, my brain right now, not my heart.

“Aye, we have,” his voice was rough.

“Alright then, this was a slip up. We’ve talked about it, and now we’ll go shopping like friends.”

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