“If that were true, would you be mine? Guaranteed?”
She grinned at him. “You want someone else, and I’m here because of my vampire stalker. It's not exactly a great start to a love story, is it? Not even a good story for a quick hookup.”
He tensed but didn’t stop running his hands through her hair. He didn’t want to stop touching her for fear she would move back to her side of the couch. “Don’t know about that,” his tone was rough. Probably full of need. What did she expect when she was sitting on top of him like that, wiggling and tantalizing his cock.
“You don’t want me,” she laughed softly. “I’m nother. The one you want. The one you won’t let yourself have.”
Oh, how wrong she was. What would it be to tell her? To just tell her?
“She doesn’t want me,” he said instead.
Lilliane frowned. “What? She doesn’t wantyou? You? Super sexy. Tall drink of water. Grumpy in a really sweet way? Is sheokay?”
He chuckled and continued to massage the globes of her ass. “She’s just fine, but she doesn’t want me.”
“That’s why you can’t be with her. I didn’t realize there was a choice in it. It’s not like my sisters gave it much thought. They got with their mates pretty much right away.”
“Of course, there is a choice. She doesn’t want me.” That wasn’t strictly true. Atlas didn’t know what Lilliane felt for him. Not really. Even though she was in his arms and grinding against his erection. This was physical.
Maybe that’s all Lilliane wanted. Physical touch. Release. Pleasure.
He could give her those things. If that’s all he could give her, he would. Sure, it might hurt him when she left for good, but Atlas could never forgive himself if he didn’t at least get one night with her.
“That makes me really sad, Atlas,” she whispered. “You’re a really good man. Tell me who she is, and I’ll talk some sense into her.”
He chuckled again. “NowthatI’d probably pay to see.” With agility and care, he placed Lilliane beside him.
It felt like ripping off his own arm, especially when she had been so willing, so pliant, so warm against him. But he couldn’t fuck her.
One night would never be enough, and he couldn’t kidnap her for real. Lilliane had called him a good man, and he was going to live up to her image of him.
Even if it killed him.
TEN
LILLIANE
Lilliane laid her head against Atlas’s shoulder as the woman on screen gave a talking head about how much she loved two different men who were vying for her attention. It wasn’t her favorite reality TV show, but it was in the top five.
Atlas didn’t complain when she picked it. He clicked his tongue and rolled his eyes, laughing softly. “How can you watch this stuff and keep it all straight? So many people. They all kinda look orange and fake.”
“Isn’t it great?”
“Whatever floats your boat, trouble.”
“We can watch a movie if you like.”
He shook his head. “I don’t remember the last time I watched a movie.”
She turned to face him, eyes narrowed. “What? What did you spend your nights doing as a teen?”
“I’m a wolf,” he shrugged. “Nero, Reece, and I would spend hours in the woods, running or hunting or just generally howling at the moon.”
“Ah. I guess we had different lives. We couldn’t really go anywhere. Our dad was really protective.”
“I heard about his no-passport rule.”
“Fucked, right?” she rolled her eyes. “My sisters and I watched a lot of movies. But they don’t like reality TV like me. They get mad at the people, but I think it’s fun. I can escape reality for a little bit into someone else’s.”
