Chapter 7: No Charge

I sat on the bench for a long while with one shoe in my hand and did the math.

Then I put the shoe on, got the legal pad out of my robe pocket, and knocked on his door.

He opened it in his shirtsleeves.

The shirt was unbuttoned at the collar, and I looked at his throat for much longer than a person should.

"I have a number," I said.

"Come in."

I came in.

His room had a bed the size of a lifeboat and a fire that nobody had needed to light.

I held up the pad.

"Line twelve," I said. "One night. Priced by me."

"Go on."

"The price is nothing."

He tilted his head. "That is not a price."

"It's a gift. I'm giving it to you."

"You do not take gifts."

"I know." My voice shook. "It's the worst part of this plan."

He took the pad out of my hand and put it on the mantel.

"Poppy," he said. "Say what you want, and I will do it."

"I want you to stop being so careful."

His eyes went silver.

"Say it again," he said.

"I want you to stop being careful with me."

He kissed me.

It was not careful.

His hand went into my hair, and his mouth took mine open, and I heard myself make a sound I had never made for Brent.

I fisted both hands in his shirt and pulled.

A button hit the floor.

"Separate rooms," he said against my mouth. "That was term one."

"I'm in violation. Bill me."

"I will."

He backed me against the bedpost.

My wolf had gone completely quiet and then completely loud.

I got the rest of his buttons open and put my palms flat on his chest, and he was hot and hard and shaking very slightly.

"You're shaking," I said.

"I have wanted to do this since you fell on my wedding."

"That's grotesque."

"It is," he said, and bit my lip.

He pulled the robe off my shoulders, and it landed on the floor.

Keep reading free with an account. Start Accidentally Fell for My Ex's Uncle: Dark Alpha from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.