Kissing her with hungry need, Garrick rocked his hips against her hand, pushing his cock tighter into her grip. His wolf tried to rise to the surface, but he ruthlessly shoved it back. It whimpered, wanting to claim his mate as much as the man did.
The sound of the pub's entrance door opening had them breaking apart. Garrick gazed at Nika to find her lips swollen from his kisses, giving her the look of a woman who had been thoroughly plundered. Her eyes appeared dazed. He brushed his thumb along her plumb lower lip, then went and sat on one of the stools.
Nika seemed to pull herself together, and just in time. An older couple walked through the door and took a seat at one of the tables. Garrick watched Nika become all business, easily chatting with the couple as she took their drink order. She didn't look at him when she returned behind the bar to pour them their beverages and retrieve a couple of menus, which she then brought to the couple's table.
After dropping off the menus, Nika walked back past him and into the kitchen without acknowledging his presence. Garrick bit back a chuckle. She could pretend the kiss they shared hadn't happened, but he had no intention of letting her get away that easily. They were good together. His cock was still rock-hard and throbbing. Only with Nika had his wolf tried to join with him while he held a woman in his arms. She had to be his mate. Now, it was just a question of how fast to proceed. Not only did he have to convince her he was the man meant for her, but he had to tell her about him being an immortal werewolf warrior.
Then there was the small matter of when they had sex for the first time. Not only would his eyes go wolf and his claws come out when he reached climax, but his cock would swell to lock them together. He'd continue to come inside her for a lot longer than would be normal as well. That was something Nika was bound to notice.
He had two choices—he could sleep with her and hope she didn't freak on him, or he could tell her what he was first, then sleep with her. Both Raed and Algar did the former. Garrick was leaning more toward following their example, but he'd let it play out whichever way came about first. Getting Nika to admit she wanted him would be the first hurdle he'd have to clear before any of that became an issue.
She was hiding again. At least this time, Lee wisely decided to keep his mouth shut. Nika went to the small, walk-in fridge and pretended to take stock of the food inside it. The coldness helped to cool her heated body. Man, Garrick knew how to kiss a woman silly. With his lips moving over hers, she'd forgotten where they were. Christ, she'd forgotten what day it was, let alone what country they were in. She hadn't even heard the pub door open. If Garrick hadn't ended their kiss then, she would have more than likely done more than palm his cock through his jeans. She'd been seconds away from opening his pants to get a better feel of that hard thickness she'd held. Her pussy had ached to have it buried deep inside it. Garrick was big enough to fill her completely.
"Bangers and mash are up," Lee called.
Nika took a deep breath. She could do this. She'd give Garrick his meal, then take the food order for the couple. That would give her an excuse to come back into the kitchen and stay until their food was ready. If another customer happened to arrive, she'd deal with them, making a point to avoid Garrick. As long as he kept his hands and lips to himself, she'd be okay.
She stepped out of the fridge, closed the door, and picked up the plate of food under the warming lamps. Steeling herself to be in Garrick's presence again, Nika walked out to the taproom, plunked the plate in front of him, then hurried over to the table where the couple sat. She wrote down their order and made a beeline for the kitchen door.
She'd almost made it, but just as she'd put her hand on the swinging door to push it open, Garrick called her name. Squaring her shoulders, Nika turned to him and went to stand behind the bar a little away from where he sat.
"Yes?" she asked while she kept her gaze on the plate in front of him.
"I'd like an ale to go with my food."
Without saying a word, she pulled him a pint and placed it next to his plate.
Before she moved her hand away, Garrick's shot out, and his fingers gently wrapped around her wrist. She lifted her gaze to his face to find him grinning.
"I know you're trying to run from me," he said in a low voice.
"I am not," she said stiffly.
"Yes, you are. You can try, but I'm not going to give up."
"It was a mistake," she hissed. "I shouldn't have let you kiss me."
Garrick's grin grew larger. "Then I'll have to prove to you that it wasn't a mistake." He brushed his thumb back and forth against the inside of her wrist.
Nika couldn't stop the shiver of awareness that shot through her. With him touching her, hearing his deep, accented voice, the trembling seemed to go right through her to her pussy. She fought the urge to squeeze her legs together to try to alleviate some of the aching emptiness.
Knowing she had to set the boundaries before he pushed too far, she said, "Look, Garrick, it's not going to happen. Give up. So we kissed. That won't make me change my mind. Why don't you admit defeat and leave me alone." She yanked on her wrist, but he didn't release her.
He leaned forward. "There is one thing you should know about me. Once I've set my sights on something I want, I don't usually back down until I get it."
"Well, there is something you should know about me," she said as she locked gazes with him. "I don't like getting pushed around. The more someone pushes me, the less likely it is that I'll do what they want." She gave another hard yank on her arm. This time, Garrick let her go.
Sitting up straight, he laughed. "Then I look forward to seeing how far I can push."
Nika gave him a glare before she turned and stalked into the kitchen. Garrick had no idea how stubborn she could be. And he wouldn't be the one to cause her resolve to weaken, no matter how many times he tried to kiss her. She would stay strong. She would not cave. He could hold her against his hard body, kiss her as if he couldn't survive without her, press his big cock that would feel so good inside her pussy—. She cut herself off mid thought. That way of thinking led to failure.
Handing Lee the new food order, Nika repeated inside her head, I will not fall for Garrick, I will not fall for Garrick. Maybe if she said it enough times it would become second nature. If only her traitorous body would fall into line, then she wouldn't have anything to worry about.
She. Was. Going. Insane. Garrick wouldn't leave the pub. He sat there for the rest of the day, ordering beer and food every few hours. The beers, he drank slowly, dragging them out. She gave him a bill a few times, but that hadn't worked to get him to leave. He'd pay it, then turn around and order something else. Grudgingly, she had to admit, because of him, the pub's sales were higher than a normal Saturday afternoon's.
But that didn't mean Nika wanted him to hang around for hours, driving her crazy. As a few other customers came and went, she felt his gaze following her. And if she happened to look his way, the heated stares he sent her were enough to kick her libido into double time. So she spent most of the day aroused, aching for a man she should have nothing to do with. At least he didn't try to touch her again. If he had, Nika would have come very close to giving Garrick exactly what he wanted—her.
Finally, as the sky lost its brightness, Garrick got up from the stool and headed for the pub's exit. Nika followed him with her eyes. He turned to face her, giving her a knowing grin that said she hadn't seen the last of him, then walked out.
The breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding left her lungs in a whoosh.