Roxanne’s POV:
I was exhausted from lack of sleep and I somehow felt grumpy.
After Garren had escorted me back to my room, he went on to his without a word.
I knew he was attracted to me, but how could he be so at ease with me being in the same house as him?
“You can always let me take over and seduce him,” Astrid said proudly.
“No way,” I answered at the top of my voice, then stood up and went into the bathroom to take a bath.
Once I had stripped off my clothes, I stood in the shower, enjoying the cold water running down my body.
We were progressing as mates, that I knew, and he really did like me. There was no doubt about it. No one in their right mind could open up about their past life if they had no feelings for the other person. What wasn’t clear to me was which side he was going to take.
Just because he was accepting me, it didn’t mean he would stand by my side with my father. He hated him to the bone, and he was still serving the coven. That was something he was very clear about. The only thing I was a hundred percent positive about was that he wasn’t going to hand me over without a fight.
“This is not helping me at all,” I muttered to myself when I came out of the shower and turned it off.
As I slowly walked out of the bathroom, I could feel my head slightly aching.
I went to the wardrobe and grabbed a long, silky black robe, putting it on.
“And now for underwear,” I whispered to myself as I opened the drawers.
I raised a brow when I found a new pair of sexy lingerie.
“Astrid,” I called out seriously.
“He must have had them from way back when his place was a clubhouse,” she answered.
“Right,” I said, then grabbed them angrily and rushed out of the room.
I wanted to go to his bedroom and demand an explanation, but the aroma coming from downstairs made me change my mind in an instant. My mouth watered, and my stomach growled.
I went downstairs and walked into the room where a lot of movement was coming from.
I was stunned at the sight of my mate cutting tomatoes and onions on a chopping board.
He was only wearing pajama bottoms, and his upper body was bare. His hair was tied into a ponytail, and with each shift he made, his muscles flexed.
I was hungry for food a second ago, yet now I felt hungry for something else.
He looked so damn sexy without even putting much effort.
A soft sigh escaped my lips as images of his hands on my body flooded my mind. My throat became dry, and my nipples instantly hardened.
If I were to walk up to him and touch his back, slowly trailing my hand to his biceps, would he easily stop what he was doing? Would he pin me against the wall and have his way with me, or would he just push me flat against the table and finger me?
Those thoughts made my body feel hot, and my core twitched.
“Will you take a seat, or will you continue to eye fuck me?” he asked when he stopped chopping, snapping me out of my thoughts.
“I’m sorry,” I answered nervously in a husky voice.
“Should I tell you a secret, Roxanne?” he asked without turning to look at me.
“Yes,” I answered in a low tone.
He moved to the tap and turned it on, washing his hands.
“Being born a hybrid means I have heightened senses more than any vampire, werewolf, or Lycan,” he said, then turned the tap off and faced me as I swallowed hard.
“You might think I’m calm right now when, in truth, I’m trying so hard to ignore the fact that you are aroused,” he said as I gasped and quickly folded my arms, trying to cover my hardened nipples.
“You must be hungry right?” he said as I nervously laughed.
“Yes, of course,” I replied.
Having a quick slice of bread before getting dressed wasn’t a bad idea.
“That’s good, because I’m hungry too,” he said as he approached me.
“Um, should I prepare something for us?” I asked uncomfortably when he stood in front of me.
“No, I’ll handle everything,” he whispered, then leaned in and brushed his lips slightly against mine, as if waiting for my permission.
A smirk appeared on his face as I tiptoed and wrapped my arms around his shoulders.
“Good,” he whispered, and then kissed my lips slowly as I responded, following his lead.
I opened my mouth to taste his tongue and feel every little bit of him, while his arms wrapped around my body, pulling me closer and closing the small space between us. Beautiful tingles spread throughout my body, and in just a second, my knees weakened.
I gasped as he lifted me off the ground.
“Garren,” I called breathlessly once I had pulled back from the kiss.
His eyes held a burning fire of lust that I had never seen before, and his heart was beating rapidly and loudly.
I could sense that he wouldn’t stop if I welcomed his touch, and that somehow made me feel a little scared. This wasn’t how I wanted our first time to be.
“Aren’t we going to take a break…” I cut my sentence short and then trailed my fingers along the side of his face as he frowned deeply.
Were we going to mate today? I wanted to ask him and mentally prepare myself, but sadly, I couldn’t afford to make him angry.
“Damn it,” he whispered in a low tone, then slowly let me down.
“I hate it when food burns,” he said as he turned and went to check the pot on the stove.
“What?” I asked in disbelief.
“The food, it was about to burn,” he answered, then took off the lid from the pot.
Was he seriously choosing the pot over me? Yes, I wasn’t ready to go all the way, but I was okay with having his fingers thrusting into my wetness. It was hard to believe that he was just going to let me be, yet it was truly happening.
“Take a seat, will you? It will only take a few minutes to finish preparing breakfast,” he said as I glared at him.
“Stop shooting invisible daggers at me,” he said, then turned and faced me.
“I’m not hungry,” I answered angrily, then looked at the floor where I had unknowingly dropped the lingerie I had in my hand.
“And while we are still talking nicely, who owns those on the ground?” I asked seriously.
He looked at them for a second, then looked at me.
“Are you seriously asking that after the story I had told you yesterday?” he asked as I clenched my hands into fists.
Was he implying that he brought in women to have sex with him whenever he was here?
“I’m just messing with you. I love that you are jealous, but please stop thinking of me as a man whore,” he said seriously.
“I’m not jealous,” I murmured under my breath.
“Oh really?” he asked in a playful tone.
Well, I was. After all, he was my mate. He belonged to me.
“Maybe a little,” I answered, then lowered my gaze to the floor.
“You know, I find that side of you absolutely cute, but it’s seriously not what you think. Since my wild days, I have never brought any woman here. I told you how I became stupid and fucked around a lot, right? Although I did that, there was never a day I had let any of them sleep over. But with time, I began thinking of having a partner who could sleep over. I bought robes, some underwear, and a few sexy lingerie. Luckily, I came to my senses before I began picking out dresses and shit. I’m sorry,” he said softly.
I looked at him seriously, then smiled. Although he had an offensive past, I liked that he was being honest with me.
I went to him and wrapped my arms around his shoulders.
“Are you feeling better now?” he asked softly when he embraced me.
“Yes,” I answered honestly