Cullen and Aislinn had fallen back to sleep. When the hesitant knock came on the door Cullen groaned. He looked toward the clock on the table next to the bed and saw that it was nearly 9pm. He thought about that for a minute. Yeah, I guess it could be that late. The ceremony, the drive into town, got back here, spent the morning asleep then afternoon with Aislinn. The knock came again, a little more insistent. Cullen hugged Aislinn to himself as he pressed his face into her hair and took a deep breath. By the time the third knock came he was crawling unhappily out of the bed. Aislinn grinned at him before she pulled the blankets back around her and cuddled down into the bed again.
Cullen headed for the door and opened it, knowing that there were only a handful of people who had the key that would get them all the way up to the penthouse. Keith was on the other side of the door. He raised his eyebrows at Cullen when he saw the man standing there completely naked and the woman in the bed beyond the door. Keith shook his head. “Please tell me she’s conscious,” he laughed.
Cullen pushed Keith out of the doorway and back into the main living area, closing the door as they went. “Yes she’s conscious,” Cullen growled but couldn’t keep the smile from belying the tone in his voice.
Keith laughed openly at that. “Okay, I don’t feel quite so used as I did before. I do believe this is the first time I’ve seen you smile in months. I think that whatever she did to put you in that mood should be bottled and put in an emergency box that the rest of us can get to and throw at you when you start getting pissy. Or we could keep here around on emergency stand my and the next time you get that glare on your face and come after one of us we can hide behind her.”
“Alright,” Cullen said seriously. “You’ve had your fun. Now what’s up?”
“Well, we can start with the fact that most everyone is back from the reservation and they all want a more thorough explanation than I have to give them. Not to mention I’ve been running interference with Celia and the rest. Everyone downstairs knows you brought her up here last night. Between Meghan asking if she’ll be back to work at all and Celia’s group trying to find out who she is and how she got this privileged so quickly, I’m going crazy. Mostly because I don’t have the answers to give them. You kinda took us all off guard on this one, my friend.”
Cullen nodded. “Sorry. I didn’t plan it. As far as explanations for everyone go, I’ll need to talk to Aislinn before I’ll have the answers to any of the questions that are going to be asked. Give me an hour and I’ll be down. Besides, I’m starving.”
Keith grinned again. “Now if I leave you two alone, you will get dressed and make it downstairs right?”
“You know,” Cullen said smugly and crossed his arms over his chest, “do I need to remind you of that little party back in Boston, new years, 1907. I don’t recall complaining about all the trouble I went through dealing with the Merick clan while you were off with the alpha’s favorite daughter.”
“Ooo, low blow,” Keith laughed. “Alright alright I’m going, before you start digging up any more dirt on me.”
“I wouldn’t have to dig long,” Cullen smiled.
“Ouch, I said I was going.” Keith headed for the elevator and hit the button. “One hour,” he reiterated as the doors slid open and he stepped inside.
Cullen ran his hand through his hair. He knew that this wasn’t going to be an easy conversation. When he opened the bedroom door and walked into the room he was seriously tempted to jump back into his bed. He couldn’t believe how much of a hold she had on him or how pleased he was by it. The word mate kept running through his mind. He didn’t want to let her be around anyone else until he made their relationship permanent. Again he found himself forcing his wolf to concede to the human logic that it just wasn’t going to work that way.
There were a number of things he needed to know from her. First he had to find out what else she knew about what happened during the mating ceremony and how she knew about it. He wanted to know more about her and that included her past as well as what she was. He stood there staring at her realizing how little he knew. At the same time he didn’t really care. If he didn’t need the information for protecting the pack he would have been perfectly happy just being with her.
Aislinn stared back at him. She could see him thinking. She sat up, drew her knees up to her chest, and wrapped her arms around them. She watched him and waited for him to decide what he was going to say. When he didn’t seem forthcoming with what he was thinking she decided to break the contemplative silence. Aislinn smiled widely at Cullen. “I guess you don’t worry much for modesty around here.”
Her statement jarred Cullen out of his thought process. “Huh?”
“Do you always answer the door naked?” Aislinn almost started laughing, between his confused reaction and the look on his face.
“I knew it was probably Keith. There aren’t many people able to get all the way to my bedroom door without making a lot of noise. And for the most part, no, I don’t think much about modesty the same way you might.” Cullen’s voice was heavy and serious. Aislinn could feel the next question coming before it actually came out of his mouth. “That is if you’re human.”