“TJ.”
“Just on the cheek! Check out my scent and how it makes you feel. Then kiss Keil. That’ll explain better than words.” He turned his face to the side, keeping a wary eye on his brother.
Robyn bit her lip. She didn’t need to do this “test” of TJ’s, she knew what he was saying already. She knew she was sexually attracted to Keil. Completely and utterly attracted.
But doing the test meant she could kiss Keil again.
She leaned toward TJ and took a long breath in through her nose. Nothing but the smell of dish soap and the slightly earthy scent of a male missing his morning shower. She touched his cheek with her lips and felt like she did when she kissed Tad.
Connected, like family. No fireworks.
She shifted her weight and stared up into Keil’s beautiful eyes. She started to take a deep breath but stopped quickly. His scent filled her. She could taste him, feel him slip down into her lungs and throughout her whole body. He smelt like the air of a starlit night, and dark-chocolate fondue and raw, passionate sex. Unable to stop herself, she ignored his offered cheek and grasped him by the hair, pulling him down to her reach so she could clasp their mouths together. As Keil reacted, their tongues tangling together, Robyn acknowledged that she’d never felt anything like the satisfaction she experienced at every contact with the big man in front of her.
Well, it seemed she was getting hitched.
Chapter 5
“This doesn’t mean we’ll do anything until you’re ready,” Keil said when he finally managed to drag himself away from Robyn. “We can take our time, get to know each other first. Now that I’ve found you, I can wait.”
Her bright eyes shone back at him.
TJ bumped up from behind.
“Umm, Keil, but what about—”
Keil swung his elbow and connected with TJ’s gut.
“Ugh.” The air whooshed out of TJ, but he struggled on. “I’m just saying—”
Keil turned to face his brother, careful to hold Robyn close enough that she couldn’t read his lips. “No, you’re not saying another word about this. Understand?” It was a command, said in a tone that TJ couldn’t ignore. Robyn wasn’t the only one with the Alpha voice.
TJ froze. He dropped his eyes. “Understood.”
Keil pushed Robyn away a bit and winked at her. “It’s been a tough morning and I think we could use some exercise. Ski to the top of the pass for lunch?”
She nodded with enthusiasm and slipped away to change.
Keil wanted to give her some time alone to think about everything she’d learned, but his wolf refused to let her head out unprotected. Split personalities were tough to deal with at the best of times, and right now, Keil’s wolf was pissed. It didn’t see what the problem was and why there was no marking and mating happening.
Me too, bud, Keil thought.
He let his eyes trace over Robyn’s hips as she tucked in her long-sleeved undershirt. In his mind he could already feel the weight of her body slipping over his shaft as he held onto those hips and helped her ride him. His aching cock pressed up against his ski pants and he had to adjust himself.
Again.
Yup, he was all for making the sacrifice to help her be able to shift to wolf.
Part of him wanted to send TJ back to civilization ahead of time, giving them some privacy. Only with the way TJ skied, he couldn’t be left alone. The boy would probably get lost, or break a ski, or have some other disaster.
Damn. Trapped in the bush with his mate and an unwanted chaperone.
No, it was for the best. He needed to give Robyn time to adjust. Time to talk to her family and be able to accept the changes that would take place if she triggered her wolf. It wouldn’t be fair either to make her full wolf and his mate if he died in the challenge on Sunday. It would be far better to wait until after the weekend when he’d have the proper time and energy to court her.
Even if it made every cell in his body scream in protest at the thought of waiting.
He watched as Robyn removed three avalanche monitors from the shelf and set them to the same frequency, checking the blinking lights to be sure they worked.
“No way, Keil. Oh man, you know I hate wearing those things. Tell her I don’t have to,” TJ whined.
Robyn held out the devices to the men, her eyebrow rising at the sight of TJ pulling back and hiding his hands behind his back.
“I hate them.”
Robyn’s shrug said she didn’t care what he thought as she stepped up to him, slipped the strap over his neck and fastened the waist belt. She reached up and patted TJ’s pouting cheek while she batted her eyes and gave him an evil grin.
“I feel like a dog with a collar.”
Robyn snorted and turned to make sure Keil wore his monitor correctly.
“I do this for a living, Robyn, you’ll get no complaints from me.” Keil reached and adjusted the straps around her waist, unkinking a section of elastic to make it lie flat against her body.
His fingers traced along the straps smoothing over her torso, and his heartbeat increased at the feel of her under his hands. He looked up and saw her watching him. She swallowed hard, and her tongue darted out to moisten her bottom lip.
“It’ll feel better if it’s even under your coat.” Keil’s hands paused for a moment touching the tops of her hipbones. She was halfway into the embrace of his arms, and he wanted nothing more than to complete the move and pull her to him. To feel her pressed along his whole torso. To lower his mouth to hers and taste her.
She shifted as he leaned closer, temptation pulling him, her eyes drawing him like a magnet. Closer her mouth came as he reached farther around her body with his hands to caress over her back.
A sudden sharp pain shot through his left buttock, shoving him hard into Robyn’s body as they careened backward toward the table.
“What the—?” Keil roared as he grasped Robyn and swung her around to avoid crushing her.
Behind them TJ threw gear left and right as he dug through his pack. His ski poles were tucked under his arm, extended backward, and every move he made shot the pointed tips in their direction.
“You bloody fool!” Keil attempted to grab the moving poles but they kept dancing out of reach. A sudden extra enthusiastic twist by TJ forced the poles hard toward them.
Keil pushed Robyn to the side as he shouted, “TJ, freeze!”
The solid thunk of the ski tip spearing into the wood table finally pulled TJ away from his rummaging to look closer at them.
Robyn and Keil stood side by side, the ski pole quivering as it jutted into the room from between their hips. TJ’s innocent expression was beyond irritating.
“What?”
“TJ, you’re a menace to everyone around you.” Keil growled as he yanked the offending pole out and held it to his brother.
“How did that get there?”
Keil twisted toward Robyn and, placing a hand on her shoulder, made sure she could see his lips move.
“Is there an appropriate sign to tell my younger brother that he’s a shithead and if he doesn’t watch it, I’ll tie him to the outhouse with a short leash?”
Robyn made a show of turning to face TJ and shaking her arms. Then she slowly raised her hand and flipped TJ her middle finger.
“Yeah,” Keil said, “I thought that should about cover it.”
They skied single file down the lake, Robyn following Keil as he broke trail. He insisted on going first and Robyn fought back a laugh. He was very much like Tad, refusing to let anyone work harder than him.
Still, it gave her time to let her mind wander as she simply followed the ridges he left in the snow. While everything she’d been told this morning seemed to be impossible, the proof of TJ’s change into his wolf form made it clear that this wasn’t some practical joke they were trying to put by her.
There was also the matter of her instant attraction to the large male striding in front of her. Robyn lifted her gaze to watch him ski, efficient as he worked to make tracks in the foot of soft snow that lay on the surface of the frozen lake. Something about him fascinated her.