Shifter Fever Complete Series (Books 1-5) Page 54

  “See?” Kain continued. “That right there? That was creepy. You’re being creepy.”

  “I’m not being creepy.”

  “If you say so. Honestly, I’m not even sure why we’re here. If you really just have to give her space for a while then why are you torturing yourself watching other dudes look down her shirt?”

  “Who looked down her shirt?” Griff leaned forward, craning around and glaring at all the clientele at once.

  Kain just laughed into his own drink. “Seriously, you’re torturing yourself. Just go hole up somewhere for a few weeks and then if you still love her at the end, come tell her. Simple as that.”

  “IF I still love her? Jesus.” Griff pinched the bridge of his nose. “Kain, do me a favor and picture yourself in my position. You haven’t seen Valentina in a decade. She won’t let you touch her, doesn’t believe you love her, and now she’s working at the fucking Eagle slinging drinks to pervs who are adding her to their spank banks as we speak. And then tell me if you could go ‘hole up for a few weeks’.”

  Kain’s eyebrows flung up his forehead. He’d known Griff for a long time at this point. Probably knew him as well as anyone did, except for Ruby. And he’d never heard him make a speech like that before. Never even heard him talk that much at one time before. Griff was a quiet dude, always flirting with the outskirts of any family gathering. Kain had thought he understood what had happened to Griff in Herta. He’d spent a year in extreme pain, he’d needed to shift but didn’t know how, and if he had shifted, he would have ended up enslaved. That kind of thing changed a man.

  But now, Kain was only sure that he didn’t understand at all. Because he watched his friend, his brother, across the table and didn’t see the boy who’d come back from Herta confused and broken. He saw a man, attempting to fight for the life he wanted, with no idea of the next step.

  Kain’s eyes dropped to Griff’s arm. It was the first time he’d studied the tattoo and truly understood what it was. He tapped one of his tattooed sleeves. “This is for her?”

  “What? Oh. Yeah.”

  Kain didn’t have to wonder if he would have done that for Valentina. “Alright dude. I didn’t get it before. I was a little late to the party. But I get it.”

  Griff turned to him, eyes slow and thoughtful, and nodded.

  “Gotta take a leak,” Kain said, sliding out from the two-top and through the crowd of patrons. He skirted around a table of men he’d gone to school with. “Put your eyes in your head, Gary,” Kain growled, a defensiveness of Griff and Alayna rising up in him. “She’s new in town but she’s got a man.”

  “Just lookin’!” Gary called to Kain’s back. He definitely didn’t want there to be any confusion with Kain Keto.

  Griff smiled to himself a little as he watched Kain go. Felt good to have a Keto in your corner. He started to peel the label off his beer but his eyes tracked slowly upward when a familiar hand jutted into his line of sight. He’d always thought she had gorgeous hands, long and slim and smooth. And at that particular moment, there was a half-sucked lime wedge on her palm.

  “THIS reminds you of me?” Alayna asked, referring to their seltzer conversation from before. She must have found the lime behind the bar.

  Griff couldn’t stop the slow smile that rumbled over his face. “Of course.”

  She pursed her lips and Griff had to focus hard not to lean up and kiss that pouty mouth. “You think of me as tart and sour and barely tolerable?”

  He chuckled, low and full. He reached forward and plucked the lime wedge out of her hand, scrupulously careful not to touch her skin. Griff sucked at the fruit, the same exact place she’d just had her mouth. His shifter senses could distinguish her flavor from the lime, taste her on it, and it had his eyes slamming shut for just a second. He set the lime back in her palm and licked his lips. He had to look away before he did something nuts like lay her out on the two-top and lick her head to toe. He knew that look on her face. That heavy-lidded yes she used with reckless abandon.

  “See, when I taste a lime, I don’t taste sour,” he told her.

  “No?” She put one eyebrow up high and fisted one hand on her hip. “Then what?”

  “I taste bright. And juicy. Electricity. Makes your toes curl with the shock of it.” He held her eyes and resisted a chuckle. Only Alayna could go sharp and soft at the same time. “I taste something that doesn’t taste like anything else.”

  Sharp and soft, she glared at him. “I’ve got work to do.”

  He swept out a be-my-guest hand and gave her that slow grin.

  His grin got bigger when he saw her surreptitiously taste the lime one more time before she tossed it in the trash.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Alayna was going to smother whoever was banging at the door of the guesthouse. She was just going to slowly but surely place a pillow over their face and bring them to their maker. She flung open the door and immediately sagged against the jamb, every muscle in her body aching.

  Griff’s eyes widened as he took in her pair of tiny sleep shorts, her tank top. Her long, thick hair was tied into a bun that was bigger than her actual head. So much skin. So much strawberry gold. And he just had to be a good boy and keep his hands to himself. Right. Easy as pie.

  Her eyes were smudgy with sleep as she leaned her forehead against her hand. “What do you want, Griff?”

  “Ruby thought you might be hungry.” He held up a plate of eggs, bacon, and breakfast potatoes.

  Alayna sniffed at the air and motioned him inside. The same as before, he got out two forks and set the barstools next to one another.

  Watching her disheveled form out the side of his eye, Griff tried not to chuckle. “Hard night?”

  “I can’t feel my feet. Or my back. Or my arms.”

  He gave up the fight and let out that low, rumbling chuckle. “Waitressing is hard work.”

  She grunted. “I can hack it.”

  “I’m sure you can.”

  Now she was the one side-eyeing him. “Oh, really? You were the one who was shocked that ‘Princess Alayna’ could ever have a job.”

  He grimaced. “I’m still getting used to the fact that I don’t know you as well as I used to. You have to admit, the Alayna that I knew all those years ago would NOT have made a good waitress.”

  She held out for a minute, but then she weighed her head from side to side. “You’re probably right. I never did like serving anyone. Except for you. I seem to remember bringing you food and drink every single night.”

  He grunted. “I remember a hell of a lot more than that.”

  She quickly looked away.

  He took the moment to study her. She looked tired. Stunning as always, but tired.

  “Anybody told you about coffee yet?”

  “What’s that?”

  “It’s an Earth drink. People drink it in the morning usually, but whenever you need a little boost. It’s kind of bitter, but you can make it sweet, too.”

  She shook her head.

  “Alright, gimme a sec.” He was out the door of the guesthouse but only gone for a minute. He came back balancing two mugs in his hands. Steam curled from the top and there was a smell that intrigued Alayna.

  “This one is black. That’s the way I take it. But I don’t think you will. And this one has cream and sugar.”

  She wanted to prove him wrong. She wanted to drink the black coffee and show him all the ways he didn’t know her. But, of course, it was bitter and awful and like drinking dirt. She stuck her tongue out and grimaced.

  He chuckled and pushed the other cup forward.

  She took a tentative sip and made a surprised little chirp in the back of her throat. She didn’t acknowledge liking it, but she didn’t push it away either.

  So stubborn.

  Yet another thing he loved about her.

  “I wish they made coffee for feet.”

  “What?” he asked, bemused.

  “The coffee, it helped my head, but my feet are still about fifty
pounds and aching.”

  “Oh.” He thought for a second before he kicked his shoes off and then peeled off one sock and then the other. He held them out to her. “Put these on.”

  “Excuse me?” She raised that rude little eyebrow and he couldn’t help but laugh again.

  “I said, put these on. I’d put them on you myself but you’re flashing a lot of leg and I know I’d end up touching you.”

  She took the socks, still warm from his body, and frowned at him. “Why am I doing this?”

  He frowned right back. SO stubborn. “Just do it.”

  She did as he asked, her lips pulling into a moue. “You have sweaty feet.”

  “Pretty sure you already knew that, princess.”

  She did, in fact, already know that. It was something he used to tease her with back in Herta. Something she would have found utterly repulsive on any other human being. And something she’d always found strangely endearing in him.

  “It’s just skin to skin. Right?”

  “What?” she asked him.

  “I can only receive the benefits of your gift if we’re skin to skin?”

  “Yes, but—” She was just starting to tell him that though that was true, her personal rules were against any kind of touching from him. But before she could get the words out, he’d snatched up one of her socked feet.

  He didn’t mess around. He instantly planted his thumbs into the aching arch of her foot.

  “Mmph.” She grunted and leaned her elbows back on the counter. She knew she should be keeping her distance from him. That this was suicide. Letting the man she loved rub her feet. When he was never gonna love her back the same way. But damn that felt good. And her feet really were aching. Her eyes fell closed.

  This… was a mistake, Griff realized the second she started to melt. He’d always loved that in her. Her melting point. She was always prickly at first, whenever he’d started to make love to her. And then he’d hit on some secret spot and she’d melt for him. Well. He’d found her damn melting point and he couldn’t touch her anywhere but over top of his own sweaty socks. He was just going to have to enjoy it for what it was.

  He glued his eyes to her head, falling back on her shoulders, the way she shifted her hips when he worked the spot on the ball of her foot.

  “Maybe if you’d worn some reasonable shoes last night.”

  Her eyes snapped open. “Those shoes are gorgeous.”

  “Not denying they look good.” They did. Four-inch spikes that had made him want to get her feet pregnant. “Just can’t have been very comfortable.”

  “Milla said they’d get me better tips.”

  “Was she right?” He reached down and brought her other foot onto his lap, started working on that one.

  Alayna nodded toward the counter and let out a little moan at the magic of his fingers. He followed her gaze and goggled at the pile of money there.

  “Holy God, you must have made…” He leaned forward, trying to count.

  “Four hundred and twenty-eight dollars and thirty-two cents.”

  He would have laughed at how specific she was being but his mind was blown. “At the EAGLE? At that little dump? Man, the new girl really made a splash.”

  “I did a good job.” She shrugged.

  Griff had seen her mix up three different orders and accidentally upend a tray of drinks into a man’s lap. He didn’t think it was her prodigious waitressing acumen that had gotten her those tips but he didn’t want to wilt her flower. “Apparently.”

  She slid her feet out of his lap and cleared their empty plate to the sink. He watched in surprise as she washed the dish and neatly set it out to dry. She really had changed.

  “Milla says that I’ll need five thousand to be able to move south. That should be enough for bus tickets and housing and a few weeks of food and spending money until I find another job.”

  He cleared his throat. And tried his hardest to keep the scowl off his face. “Down south?”

  She nodded and started carefully organizing her money into neat piles. “The Ketos know another shifter family down south who could help me get on my feet while I figure out how to survive on Earth.”

  “Why?” The question came out harsher than he intended.

  “Why what? Why figure out how to survive on Earth? Because I sure as hell am not going back to Herta.”

  “Why not stay here? And figure it out here.”

  She frowned at him, clipping the bills with paper clips and stacking them. “You know why.”

  “I have five thousand dollars. I have a lot more than five thousand dollars.”

  She raised that rude eyebrow again. “How nice for you.”

  He cleared the corner of the counter and came to stand not two inches away from her. “I’ll go pack my things right now. We can be there by nightfall if the south is really where you want to be. I’ll show you exactly how to start a new life.”

  She pushed away and skirted around him. “You’re making me crazy.”

  “Why?” He followed her back to the bathroom where she slammed the door in his face. He leaned against the cold wood of the door and spoke right through it. “Because I’d turn my life upside down for you? Because I want you? Because you’re the love of my—”

  “Because you’re like a child!” She whipped open the door and he stumbled forward, nearly, but not quite touching her.

  She stalked around him, toothbrush in her mouth and a hairbrush in one hand. Two modern, Earthen amenities that she’d instantly become very partial to.

  “A child?” He was incredulous.

  “Yes. A child.” She stalked into her bedroom and whipped open a drawer. There was almost nothing in there to wear, just a pair of jeans and a little blousy thing that Milla had loaned her yesterday. Next she pulled out some underwear that Ruby had bought for her and tossed the whole thing on the bed behind her.

  She scrubbed her teeth with the toothbrush and stalked back to the bathroom to spit and rinse her mouth out. Then she was back in the bedroom and untying her hair. It spilled down past her ass, thick and reflecting the light in every way. She started brushing it as she glared at him.

  He was trying very hard to stay mad. And very hard not to swallow his tongue as he lingered in the doorway.

  “In what way am I like a child?”

  “A child says ‘I’m bored’ and really means ‘I’m hungry’. The parent know best and hands the child some food and, look at that, the whining stops!”

  “Alayna, what the hell are you talking about?”

  She took her hair in three handfuls and quickly braided it back. “I’m saying that that’s you, Griff! You say ‘I love you, Alayna’, but you don’t know how the hell you feel. You think you love me, but I know better. I know it’s something else altogether.”

  “You’re the parent who knows best.” He crossed his arms over his chest.

  “In this scenario, yes.”

  “So, if I don’t actually love you then what is it I’m feeling? You tell me.”

  “You probably just need to lie with a woman. And then you touched me, felt my gift, got confused and now you think you love me.”

  Griff paced up to her, ripped his hair through his hands and paced back to the door. “God, you’re stubborn, woman.” He faced her. “Of course I need to fucking lie with a woman. But not just any woman. I’ve needed you for eight years.”

  She scoffed, because it was the only thin armor she could muster between his words and her heart. “Don’t act like you’ve been lonely, Griff. I’m sure you’ve had more than your share of company.”

  He went still as ice in the doorway. His night-blue eyes could have left smoke in the air. “Don’t insult me, Alayna.”

  She stepped back from him. At what he was implying. “Don’t lie to me.”

  “You think I left you on Herta and came back to Earth to sleep with women who meant nothing to me?”

  He took a step forward. And then another. His hands ticked at his sides like all he wa
nted was to wrap them around her. Instead he did the only thing he could: he laid one bare foot over her socked toes.

  “You didn’t stay loyal to me,” she whispered, needing it to be true. Everything would make so much more sense to her if it was true.

  “Of course I stayed loyal to you. We didn’t break up, Alayna. I was dragged out of Herta by my family. We didn’t break up,” he repeated. “You’re technically still my girlfriend.”

  The memory swamped her.

  They lay together on the rock floor of Griff’s cell. It was too cold, but for once Alayna was grateful for it. Griff was dripping sweat, still trembling from all that he’d endured that day. It had been a month since he’d come to the main city. A month of being chained in the square and beaten, ridiculed, screamed at by the crowds. And now night was here and Alayna clutched him to her, whispering in his ear and stroking a hand over his bare back as he lay facedown on the floor.

  “I can’t stand this,” Alayna whispered. “That’s it. I’m going to my father.”

  She rose and was two steps across the cell before he grabbed her by the skirts and brought her tumbling down onto his chest. He kissed her nose. “We’ve been through this, Alayna. He’ll send you away if he knows what we’ve been doing. And he’ll probably kill me. We just have to endure it. It’s our only option.”

  She pushed out those pouty lips. “I hate it. I feel so powerless. There’s nothing I can do to help you.”

  Leaning up, Griff nipped at her lips. One of his hands snuck up the bottom of her skirts, a newer development between them. Her breath caught when his tongue slipped inside her mouth.

  “I can think of a few things you could do to help me.”

  She laughed and wiggled closer. “And how exactly would that help your situation?”

  “Hmm,” he grumbled against her lips. “It’s very complicated. Can’t explain.” He gasped. “Kinda can’t even think right now.”

  She laughed again, but it burst out on a moan when he found her underneath her skirts. She had no idea how this boy did this to her. Tied her in knots, made her soar, turned her inside out. But she didn’t care. All she wanted was him. More of him. As much of him as she could get.