“Sorta.”
“Well, then, you need to convince her that she needs to change her mind.”
He turned away from the stove and faced her. His arms were crossed, and his face was pulled deep into a frown. It struck her that even moody and needled by her, Atlas could still be drop-dead gorgeous. Whoever this girl was, she was luckier than lucky.
“You’ve got big, strong arms. You smell really good. You can apparently cook and rescue damsels in distress. Setting aside the whole grumpy thing, you’re actually kind of perfect. I honestly believe that you have a shot with her.”
“I don’t think so,” he said, turning back to the bubbling pasta sauce.
“I could help you.”
He stiffened and sighed. “I don’t need help.”
She laughed. It was drier than she had anticipated. “I said that for a long time. Do you know what happened? I basically sacrificed myself to a vampire lord, and then this wolf saved me by making me his kidnap victim.” She poked his hip and laughed. “Sometimes you just gotta take a shot, you know?”
Lilliane gave him her best smile, but already, the ugly bloom of jealousy was there, pushing her heart at the thought of her wolf man with someone else. Someone that wasn’t her.
NINE
ATLAS
Atlas was doing his best to focus on cooking. Lilliane had the meat in one pan, sauce in the other, and pasta in a third. He took great care to dump the meat in the sauce and stirred it all together. He tasted the concoction, and it wasn’t half bad.
“Sometimes you just gotta take a shot, you know?” Lilliane said, bumping his hip.
His whole body was on fire, and it had nothing to do with the heat from the stovetop. He wanted to wrap her finger in his palm, put her on the counter, and eatherfor dinner.
“You can’t do garlic, right?” he asked.
“No garlic, please. Unless you want to give me some really painful blisters and a fever.”
He nodded tightly and added more red pepper flakes. It would be spicy spaghetti, but there was no way he was feeding his half-vamp mate garlic.
“So?” she asked. “What do you say? I help you with your girl trouble?”
“I don’t have any girl troubles,” he mumbled.
“But you should tell her she is your mate. I’m telling you, any woman would be relieved. Tickled pink.”
Any woman but the one woman I want.
The more Lilliane offered to help her, the more she talked about how lucky his mate would be, the harder it was to keep the secret. It was going to take all of his self-control to keep his mouth shut.
“Drop it, trouble.”
She huffed out a breath. “You’re ruining my plan,” she whined.
“What plan would that be?”
“If I tell you, it won’t be a surprise anymore.”
“I don’t like surprises.”
“Why doesn’t that shock me?” she poked him again, making him stiffen. He reached out and grabbed her wrist. Through his thumb pressed against her tender skin, he felt the flutter of her heartbeat. It was too fast. Too quick. She was stressed about something.
Atlas looked deep into her eyes and tried to decipher what could be causing her so much worry. Of course, it was probably Victor. His mate had a vampire stalker. Sheshouldbe stressed.
The last thing she should be worried about was his love life.
