Mind Mates (Pull of the Moon Book 2) (7 page)

Chapter Seven

At the knock on her stateroom door, Emma hurried to where she’d hung her shirt and pants but paused. Her skin felt tight and sensitive, and for some reason she couldn’t stand the thought of putting her clothes on. She compromised by leaving the pants and only tugging on her still-damp shirt. Yanking the hem to stretch over her ass, she cracked the door.

Her boss’s torso filled the gap. And then he breathed in, his already-immense chest expanding until it nearly blinded her.

Any peace she’d attained from her personal massage session exploded at the sight of those huge pectorals winging under their semi-concealing sweater vest.

Heat flushed her face and made her scrunch her eyes momentarily before she adjusted her gaze up a foot to meet his.

Deep caring filled his gaze, matched by a direct, male power. It made her whole body flush hot.
Would he stare into my eyes like this as he came inside me
…yikes. “Dr. Light! Um…is something wrong?”

“Gabriel, remember?” His quick grin added a touch of boyish charm to the aura of male power. “No, nothing’s wrong. I came by for a change of clothes from my bag. And I was wondering if we could talk?”

“You mean about what happened before?”

To her surprise, he stiffened. With obvious deliberation, he eased his stance, sliding hands into his baggy pants pockets. “What happened before, meaning the problem with Bruiser and the escape? Yes.”

What else could she have meant? “Maybe give me a minute? I was taking a nap.” She pushed at her hair. “I must look like I just climbed out of bed.”

His lids clenched briefly, and he swallowed hard, his color rising.

“Oh, I wasn’t suggesting…I simply must look a fright.” Not the other reason for that right-out-of-bed look.

“I wouldn’t have gotten you out of bed…” More eye-clenching and throat clearing. “I mean, I wouldn’t have disturbed you, except I thought as long as I knocked you up…I mean
woke
you up…I’d see how you were doing. If you needed any help. Can I buy you a coffee in the lounge?”

“Sure. We should talk about the bench too. Give me a moment to dress and straighten my hair.”

“Of course. I have a comb and brush in my carry-on. Did you find it?”

“Your bag? Yes, though at first I didn’t know it was a carry-on. You have a really big one.”

He choked.

She frowned at him. “Are you okay?”

He waved while getting redder and redder. “Yes, yes.”

“Ooohkay.” She knew he wasn’t, but without knowing why simply said, “Oh, your bag. Did you want it out there with you?”

“I want it in the bedroom.” He slapped a hand over his bespectacled eyes and released a soft sigh that almost sounded like a groan.

Over a bag?

Lifting the hand from his face, he looked quite sheepish. “I mean, you can keep the case with you in the room until we reach port. Just let me get a few things.”

“Right.” She opened the door wider for him to enter and waited, wondering what had gotten into him, while he rummaged in the bag.

He pulled out a shirt and undershirt and returned to the door, where he turned. “Um, I’ll wait in the snack bar, okay? When you’re ready, come—
ack.
” His face went bright red, and he pulled the door shut so fast it slammed.

She frowned at the closed door. Gabriel Light was normally the most rational of men. He was acting awfully strange.

Shrugging, she turned to the case and rifled through it for a comb. They’d had a stressful couple of hours. It would be strange if he wasn’t acting oddly.

A short time later, dressed and feeling better, or at least better groomed, she made her way to the ferry’s deli-style galley.

He was in line with a tray already filled with plates and cups, to the point that he’d had to pile bags of chips around the edges like a levee.

She sidled up next to him, reminded point-blank how much bigger he was than she when her head barely cleared his massive biceps. He’d weigh over two hundred pounds, all muscle. Getting enough fuel would be a problem.

She waved a careless hand at him. “I suppose you have to eat a lot to keep that much mass powered.”

His head swung toward her, mouth open, eyes wide. “Um…you mean body mass?”

What else would she have meant?

Then she saw, with their height differences, that she was waving at his crotch. She laughed. “Yes.”

“I do eat a lot, but I was picking up things for you too. You like nacho chips, right?”

“I
love
nacho chips.” She clapped hands. How did he know that? He either was more observant of her specifically than she knew, or more likely, he simply knew a lot about all the employees he supervised. She licked her lips. “Especially when the cheese is hot and salty and runs down your throat…” She broke off. He was choking again. “You really should have that cough looked into.”

“Ye-es.” He hacked a bit more before subsiding, his normally direct gaze somewhere over her head and slightly crossed behind his glasses. “So anyway, I got nachos and yogurt and some chocolate chip cookies. And coffee.” His eyes finally focused and came back to hers. “It’s always cooler on the lake.”

“It’s a warm night, though, and I’m a bit hot. Do you mind if I find seating on the deck?”

“Outside?”

“Yes. We can come in if it gets too cold or windy. But it’s kind of muggy in here, you know? Humid. I’m getting sticky.” She plucked at her shirt, still damp from rinsing out Bruiser’s drug.

“Sticky.” His eyes closed for a moment, then he sighed and opened them to take the tray to the checkout. “Outside and cooler sounds perfect.”

“I’ll go snag us a place.”

Outside, she found a long metal mesh bench facing the rail and sat.

Gabriel soon followed and sat beside her, settling the tray between them. He rearranged the plates so the nachos were closest to her, along with a capped paper cup wafting the rich smell of coffee. “Will you lose a lot of property to Bruiser’s temper?”

“I managed to get hold of a neighbor, but I’m not worried about a few things.” She considered telling Gabriel about the harem, but as he was only human, what could he do? “She’ll get word to the others. They’re safe, and anything I really treasure is home with my mom.” She thought briefly of her dad’s antique journal, the only thing she had left of his.

Then, because she was sitting beside Dr. Light, calling him Gabriel, she asked the question he’d evaded before but that she was burning to know. “So how did you know something was wrong when you called me? Really?”

He mumbled, “It’s complicated.”

She wilted. Evasion. He was hiding something.

And that answered any questions about her attraction to him, didn’t it? Mating was sex but real bonding required more than physical attraction. It needed trust and love, openness and truth.

Unless he had a good reason not to tell her everything. Her insides perked up and her wolf yipped.

She rolled mental eyes at herself. Any other male and she’d brush her hands and walk away. But because this was sexy Gabriel Light, she’d make allowances.

That, and he bought me food.
She reached for a nacho. His hand was already there.

Their fingers met.

His were warm and so very large. Male. The sensation of
other
burned through her.

He made a small, choked sound, buried his fingers into the mass of chips, pulled out a clump that stuck together, and crammed the whole thing into his mouth.

She felt her face flame and pretended he hadn’t just rejected her in the most basic way possible, picking out her own chip and daintily nibbling. “Not that I’m not glad you called. But it was almost like you knew I was in trouble.”

“I…” He cleared his throat. “I didn’t
know,
but the more I thought about it, the more I realized Bruce, or Bruiser, wasn’t the kind to let things go. You’d listed him as your emergency contact, and my employment verification service harvested his information, including his social media. I checked that, and he’d posted some disturbing bits, so I phoned you.”

“Oh.” That made sense, actually. Bruiser was a bit careless with LookAtMe sites.

“Getting back to the reason I knocked you up…I mean woke you up…Cap’n Crunch me. I also need to apologize.”

“For what? You rescued me.”

“Yes, but then I dragged you out here. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have. I
wouldn’t
have, but my sister is in trouble. I’d have made sure you were somewhere safe, but I couldn’t wait to catch another ferry.”

“I understand. Where family is concerned, we’d do anything.” She picked up another nacho, stretching gooey cheese, and popped it in her mouth, eyes closing in pleasure.

Opening them, she was surprised to find his gaze riveted to her lips, pupils dilated to the size of planets.

Are those his bedroom eyes?

She tried to swallow, realized she had nachos in her mouth, and chewed instead. When she could finally speak she said, “Actually, this might work out better. Things have changed back home. It’s a perfect opportunity to visit, since it’s only a few hours away from where we’re landing. When we get to Wisconsin, if you can find someone else to cover the bench, well, I’m catching a bus to Matinsfield.”

He blinked. “No, don’t.”

Disappointment seared her.
Don’t go home? But how will I be safe from Bruiser?
“Is it because I promised to take care of things at the store while you were gone? Or because I’ve only been working there a couple months? I know I don’t have any vacation coming, but—”

“No, I mean, yes, go to Matinsfield. I can certainly understand why you wouldn’t want to be anywhere near Bruiser for a while. As far as the bench goes, well, we both have bigger worries right now. I’ll ask Carol to do what she can remotely and let the rest of the chips fall where they may. Hopefully it won’t be longer than a day or so before I get back. But don’t take a bus to Matinsfield. Why, when I can drive you? That’s where I’m headed.”

Now it was her turn to blink. “Your sister lives in little Matinsfield?” The town was the equivalent of Nowheresville—the reason the then-Scauth-now-Blackwood wolf pack loved it. When he nodded, she said, “Well…a ride would save me money.” Which would be a problem until she could get another job. “That would help. Thanks.”

“So you forgive me for dragging you here?” He smiled, held out a hand. “Friends?”

“Friends.” She put her hand in his.

His engulfed hers, emanating heat and precisely controlled power.

This time she was the one who retreated first, pulling her hand from his the soonest it was appropriate, her cheeks warm and her body tingling with awareness.

Friends
was a start toward more…

Except with a big-assed lake between us,
more
will never get to happen.

The thought made her inexplicably sad.

“Why the long face?”

He’d put down coffee and food and his total attention was on her, the stars in his eyes intensifying, blue-green irises shading toward that piercing silver.

He really cares.

It was achingly sweet, all the more so because no one had truly paid attention in a long time, not since her dad died. “I’m hoping things have changed at home, so that maybe I can stay, but I-I don’t want to leave you. I mean, leave the Choice Buy.” Blushing hard, she grabbed a chip to cover.

“Why did you leave home in the first place?”

She tried to explain. “I had to find work. Because my brother…he left us.” Shame engulfed her at the memory, her brother’s hands cuffed together, being led away.

“Emma, I’m sorry.” Gabriel brushed the pad of one finger over the back of her hand. “It’s hard to lose family.”

She peeked at him from beneath her lashes. His face held nothing but sympathy. She wondered how much sympathy would be left if he knew her brother was in prison.

She dug her chip restlessly into the cheese. “Thanks. The local economy has started to pick back up, and well…” She sighed and gave him the bad news. “I’ll probably look for work. If I find something, I’ll stay there.”
Leave you.

Brightly, he said, “You won’t have any trouble finding a tech job right away—you’re outstanding, both on the bench and with customer service. Any Choice Buy would be lucky to have you. I’d be happy to give you a glowing recommendation.”

She blinked, a bit shocked at his response. On the one hand, his praise was so gushing she wanted to preen. On the other, he jumped on the idea of her leaving so enthusiastically she wondered if he was as eager to get rid of her as she was reluctant to leave. She’d thought he liked her work and would want her to stay.

“Thanks.”
I think.
“But little Matinsfield isn’t like Muskegon. The big tech store in my town is the hardware store, because they have wire.”

Muskegon and Matinsfield were as different as…as him and her. She had to remember they were total opposites.
No future.
Alpha geek and iota wolf, gentle giant and tiny piglet.