Page 13 of Kiss My Sass

Shelves were immaculately kept, row after row of parts new and refurbished, some still inboxes. They had powerful looking tools, dozens of them, each cleaned and put in its place. That was how everything was inside there. Everything was either new or clean, kept with the utmost care, and returned to its proper place. Everything but Nica.

Always the odd duck.

She bit her lip, waiting for him to acknowledge her. Finally, he turned to face her, and Nica damn near swallowed her tongue. She normally had to bend her neck back just to look at him, but not this time. She was about eye level with him almost kneeling on the floor.

Even that didn’t stop her from feeling so small compared to him. Thor was crouched down, working on his enormous Harley. Nica had asked Cole about the makes and models one evening when she’d been hanging the wash on the outside line.

Before the Alpha fem had given birth to her triplets, she’d been obsessed with the scent of laundry freshly washed and hung outside to dry. Since Nica didn’t mind the work, she’d kept it up for the weeks she’d stayed there.

Happy to help.

“What is it?” Thor clipped.

His deep, gravelly voice cut through her reverie and Nica startled, clutching her throat and he stood up swiftly, running a hand over his shaved head and cursing to himself.

“Fuckin hell,” he muttered.

“You shouldn’t cuss.”

“I shouldn’t cuss?” he asked, head canted to the side.

“Yeah, you shouldn’t cuss.”

“Is that why you came in here? To tell me not to cuss?” he asked, eyes wide with incredulity.

“What? No! Um, w-what did they say to you?” Nica asked, averting her gaze.

Staring into Thor’s impossibly dark eyes was almost too much for Nica to bear. The tight black t-shirt he wore did nothing to hide the rippling muscles corded around his chest, arms, back, and abs. Same thing went for the well-worn denim clinging to his rugby player thighs.

He was a powerhouse of a man. The few times she’d seen him without a shirt had left her tongue-tied and aching in a way she hadn’t felt since those days when she’d thought Jack Branwen was the sweetest thing in the world. Actually, that was not true.

This feeling eclipsed her first tastes of carnal hunger. But Nica knew better than to let it show. There was no way on earth a man like Thor Ulger would want anything to do with her. And that was what she’d been telling herself every day for the last three weeks.

Hide your feelings. Keep your heart safe.

“What did they say? They who?”

“Them, the, uh, the Crows,” she murmured, hating even saying that out loud.

“You mean your mate,” he growled the word and raw fury flashed in his black eyes.

Nica shook her head. Thor looked furious. His expression was thunderous as he slowly turned towards her. The muscles on his chest and abs flexed as he tried to control his breathing, but they were mesmerizing. Instead of being afraid as she should have been, Nica felt bold and curious, warm all over.

“You’ve got that wrong,” she explained, and started towards him. “Jack’s not my mate.”

“You called him mate.”

“When? Anyway, no, I mean, he was supposed to be, but h-he lied,” she blurted, trying to catch up.

Thor went still, lifting a hand to halt her advance, and Nica fumbled. What the heck was she doing? Why was she so intent on getting closer to a man who could not stand her? Her Raven cawed, and she shook her head, trying to clear some of the fog.

“You said your mate hurt you. The day you fell,” he grumbled.

“I did? Well, I mean, we were supposed to be mated, but he already had two mates when he brought me to the trailer park, and, um, I j-just couldn’t,” Nica replied, racking her brain for more of an explanation.

Thinking was hard with Thor staring daggers at her. Hell, the man must truly hate her to look like that, and the thought made her sad. He seemed to wait for more from her, but the truth was, she simply wasn’t used to talking about herself. And after a couple of years of living as an outcast in the Pine Murder, she was unaccustomed to talking period.

“I’m going to need you to explain what you mean by that, Nica. Start from the beginning.”

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