15. Strawberry Mango: Josephine's Pov
Chapter Goal: 200 votes for an early chapter
QOTC: do you prefer Archer calling Josephine by her name? Or by a pet name like "darling" or "sweetheart"?
(a week and a couple days later)
'Hey 👋' I text Archer, looking at my phone under the desk. Only a couple seconds he replies with, 'Hey.'
He didn't use an emoji.
'I'm bored 🎈 Wyd' I reply, looking at the time on my phone.
'I'm doing pack work with Derrick.'
'Oh' I frown, hoping that I didn't interrupt anything important.
'Hey' he texts. 'I have a question'
'I might have an answer'
'Do you like me?' he suddenly asks.'As a mate? Romantically? Do u like me romantically?'
He sends each sentence/question as a separate text, making me thankful that I made sure that my phone is on silent. 'Ig' I answer before sending another text, '🎈'
Suddenly feeling nervous when he doesn't immediately read the text, I start to worry if I sent the right thing or not. "Court!" I whisper-yell to my friend sitting a couple desks away from me.
"What?" she asks, getting up and moving a little closer to my desk.
"He just asked if I like him or not." I inform her, nervously glancing down at my phone to see if he's read my text or not yet. "What do I say?!"
"Well, do you like him?"
Letting out a small groan, I put my head on the desk and say, "Maybe. Kinda."
"You like him." she smirks, shaking her head at me, causing me to growl. "You know you like him."
"I know." I sigh, looking back down at my phone. Seeing that a full minute passed and he still hasn't read my text, I ask Courtney, "Am I suppose to tell him?"
She nods.
"What if I come off as too strong?" I ask, starting to feel heat rise to my cheeks. "We haven't even known each other that long. If I say 'yes' will it scare him off?"
"You two are mates." Courtney reminds me. "He likes you a lot, I can tell. He's just asking to see if you like him back."
"I don't know about that." I shrug, not really knowing how Archer feels about me. 'Yeah ☺️.'
Rapidly tapping my foot as I wait for him to reply, I nearly jump out of my seat when I see the little'read' sign underneath my message. "He's typing!" I squeal, grabbing onto Courtney's arm for support. My sudden outburst gains the attention of some of our classmates, but no one says anything to me about it.
'That's cool'
Scoffing out loud at his reply, I shake my head and text, 'Do you like me?'
I watch as the three little dots signaling that typing appear, and then frown when they disappear again. A full four minutes pass before he sends, 'Yeah.'
'Cool 🎈'
Archer's Pov
"HELP ME!" I growl, pushing Derrick hard against the wall. When the idiot keeps laughing, I let out another growl and raise my fist in warning. "If you don't help me, I'll fucking banish you from the pack right now."
"You won't do that-"
Raising my right hand, I stare blankly at him and say without emotion, "I, Archer Stone, Alpha of-"
"Fine!" Derrick huffs, finally taking this situation seriously. "Just-"
"Get out." I cut him off, deciding that there's no reason for him to be in the same room as me. "Don't leave the house, just wait in the living room until I decide I need you."
"What?"
"Go." I use my Alpha command and wait for the door to close behind him before turning my attention back to my phone. 'Hey' I text my mate, hoping that what I'm about to ask her isn't going to scare her off. 'I have a question'
'I might have an answer'
Before asking her the question, I take a couple seconds to reassure myself that my question won't scare her off and that she'll most likely say yes. 'Do you like me?' I ask. 'As a mate? Romantically? Do u like me romantically?'
Turning off my phone, I watch as the text notifications appear on my phone. 'Ig' she answers before sending another text, '🎈'
Ig. I guess. She didn't say yes, but she didn't say no either. Letting out a groan, I leave my phone on my desk and walk out out the room. "Derrick." I state, finding him waiting on the living room couch just like I ordered him to. "I asked her if she likes me and she said 'I guess'"
"What did you reply with?"
"I technically haven't opened it yet. I just saw the notification." I explain.
Sending the negative shift in my mood, Derrick frowns and asks, "What's wrong?"
"She didn't say yes." I deadpan, wondering when he became so stupid. "I asked my mate if she likes me or not and she didn't say yes! She fucking doesn't like me! How the hell am I suppose to respond to that?"
"It's Sophie, remember that." Derrick says. "She probably feels weird about confessing her feelings for you over text."
"How do you know she has feelings for me?"
"Because she told me."
"When? How? Where?" I ask, stalking closer to him. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?!?"
"I thought you knew." he shrugs, acting as if he didn't just tell me crucial information. "Sophie and I were texting a couple days ago and I brought up your name. I can tell she likes you, man."
"Did she straight up tell you that she likes me?"
"No." he shakes his head. "But it's obvious that she does. I haven't ever seen Sophie act the way she is around you with other people."
Unable to hold back a smile, I turn back around and head into the office to grab my phone. 'Yeah ☺️' I see another text from her.
She does like me. 'That's cool' is the first thing that I come up with. But by the time that I realized how bad that sounded, the message is already delivered and read by my mate. 'Do you like me?' she asks.
I start typing out the word 'yes', but I quickly erase the message when I realized how weird it sounds. The next two minutes are spent trying out different variations of 'I do' and 'yes' before I finally settle for 'Yeah.' and hit send.
'Cool 🎈'
'Are you working late again today?' I ask her, hoping that the answer is that she isn't going to be working at all today.
It's been a whole week since Josephine started going back to her usual schedule and I've barely been able to spend time with her. Right now the only times I get to see my mate is right before she leaves the house and right before she goes to bed. Even though we wake up at the same time, she's ready and out the door before I can even try making us breakfast. And since she goes to work straight after school, I don't get to see her until she comes home tired around midnight. I tried offering to take her out for lunch like how we used to do before, but she's been having to spend a lot of her time in tutorials with her teachers to make up the school work that she missed out on.
'About that...' Josephine texts. 'I've been talking to my bosses about changing my work hours. I'm not going to be working so often anymore'
'Really?'
'Yeah 🎈' she answers. 'I'm not gonna be working everyday anymore and my hours aren't going to be as long.'
'That's great 😁' I smile, excited that I'll finally be able to spend time with my mate again. I showed up at the cafe while she was working a couple days ago to see her, but she was busy with other customers and other pack members were giving me weird stares since I didn't buy anything. 'Do you have anything planned after school today?'
'Nope. U?'
'Is it okay if I pick you up today?' I ask, still planning on picking her up from school no matter what her answer is. 'We can go grab food somewhere and go do something somewhere'
'Uh sure. Where do you want me to meet you?'
'Just in the front of the school. You'll recognize the car.'
"Are you still talking to Sophie?" Derrick asks, reminding me that he's still here.
Looking up from my phone, I answer, "Yeah, but she just stopped replying."
"That's because I'm texting her now." Derrick taunts, making me growl at him. He's stealing my mate's attention from me.
My wolf and I both know that our mate and Derrick aren't romantically interested in each other in the slightest, but we can't keep from feeling jealous when Josephine turns her attention more towards him than us. Derrick knows more about my mate than I do and it's obvious that she's more comfortable around him than with me. "What's she saying?" I ask with a frown, knowing that I won't get another text from Josephine until she's done texting Derrick.
Instead of verbally answering me, he hands me a phone and gestures for me to read their conversation myself. "Why the hell do you two have so many texts?" I ask, scrolling up to try to find the beginning of their texts. "You and I don't even text this much."
"We just talk a lot." Derrick shrugs, causing me to frown even more.
*** (later that day)
"Sorry, I'm late." I apologize as my mate gets into the car.
"It's fine." she brushes off, putting her backpack in the backseat before putting on her seatbelt.
"Who are those guys you were talking to?" I ask, looking at the rearview mirror to glance at the group of guys that Josephine was hanging out with before I pulled up at the front of the school. Seeing her surrounded by so many unmated males made my wolf and I both uneasy, but it was clear that Josephine was trying not to let them touch her.
"They're just some of my friends." she answers.
"I got you a smoothie." I say, grabbing the beverage from the cup holder and handing it to her. "You went to Frullati?" she lets out a small gasp, knowing that the only Frullati in the area is on the other side of town. "Thanks, Archer. You really didn't have to-"
"I wanted to." I cut her off, smiling when her eyes light up as she takes a sip of her smoothie.
"Strawberry mango." she whispers, looking at me in awe. "How'd you know?"
Shrugging, I take one hand off the steering wheel and use it to hold one of hers, "Do you want to go anywhere or do you just want to head home?"
"It doesn't matter." she shrugs. "I think it's warm enough to go swimming if you still wanna do that."
Thirty minutes later, we're back home and changing into our swimming clothes. 'We get to see mate in a bikini.' my wolf howls.
I can't lie about not thinking about that either, but I try to keep myself from thinking too much about my mate's body. I won't be able to enjoy spending time with her if I have to focus on "controlling myself". "Are you ready to go?" I ask as I walk across the hall and into Josephine's open bedroom.
"Yeah." I hear her breathlessly call back from the connected bathroom. Wondering what she's doing in there, I walk through the open door and freeze once I see her. Dressed in a white bikini, she stands with her back towards me stretching to reach the stack of towels on the top shelf in one of the cabinets. 'Ours.' my wolf growls, howling at the sight of our mate. 'She's all ours. No one else's.'
"Can you get those, Archer?" she turns around, nearly making me groan out loud at the way the bikini looks on her. "I already have towels for us outside." I tell her in a low voice, watching as she walks closer to me.
Stopping in front of me, she stares at me for a couple seconds before asking, "Are you okay?"
Stiffly nodding, I don't take my eyes off of her as I lead us to the backyard pool. "Wait." I grab her hand, stopping her from going ahead and jumping into the pool. "Put sunblock on, I don't want you to burn."
"I thought sunblock doesn't work on us? Won't it wear off faster because we're wolves?"
"We just have to reapply it more often." I tell her, holding up two bottles. "Spray or lotion?"
"Lotion." she answers, taking the bottle from me. After spending a couple minutes to spray the sunscreen on my body, I set the bottle down on the ground and approach my mate. "Do you want me to help you with your back?" I ask from behind her, laughing when she jumps in surprise.
Instead of verbally answering me, she simply hands me the bottle of sunscreen and moves her hair over to one side. Putting some of the product in my hands, I gently apply it to her back, sparks erupting from where we touch as I do so. "Your heart's beating really fast." she comments, hearing my heart racing as I silently work my hands on her skin.
"So is yours." I reply, smirking when I hear her breathing hitch as I move my hands to her shoulders. Feeling more intense sparks when I touch the spot where her neck and shoulder meet, I feel my wolf try pushing to the surface before I pull my hand away.
"All done?" she asks, the breathlessness in her tone letting me know that she felt the sparks too. Nodding, I watch as she slowly turns around and looks up at me. "Thanks." Then without another word, she faces the pool and jumps right in.
Josephine's Pov
Moving the hair out of my face once I resurface, I find Archer standing at the edge of the pool watching me with amusement in his eyes. "You didn't let the sunblock set." he states, crouching down to meet me at the edge of the pool.
"Oh well." I shrug, holding onto the cement to keep myself afloat. Staring up at my mate, I take in his appearance and notice how he's still wearing the same shirt from earlier. It seems like he just changed into swimming shorts and came outside. "You swim with your shirt on?"
He shakes his head, not seeming to realize that he still has his shirt on. "I'm waiting for the sunblock to set." he says.
"You didn't put any sunblock on your back or your chest." I inform, pointing to his upper body. Feeling a small smile come to my face when he tugs at his shirt as if he's never seen a piece of clothing before, I ask, "Do you want help with sunblock?"
He nods and keeps his eyes fixed on me as I slowly get out of the pool. Half way out of the pool, I freeze in my tracks when Archer lets out a growl. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing." he grumbles, looking away from me. Furrowing my eyebrows in confusion, I open my mouth to question him about why he growled, but I decide against it and continue getting out the pool.
He doesn't look at me at all as I spray the sunscreen on his body. In fact, it seems as if he's avoiding looking at me right now. After I'm done, I jump back into the pool and hang out near the edge where Archer is still standing. "Nice abs." I compliment, taking notice of his eight-pack. My words seem to trigger something in his mind because all of a sudden, his eyes darken and his eyes snap to meet mine.
Nothing comes out of his mouth as he stares at me, his eyes flashing with emotions that I can't read. "If you don't want to go swimming anymore we can just go back inside." I tell him, seeing that he still hasn't made a move to join me in the pool.
"I'm just waiting for the sunblock to take effect." he shakes his head, bending down again so that we're face to face. Glancing down at his lips, I lean forward without thinking and place a kiss at the corner of his lips. "You missed." he states, expectantly waiting for me to kiss him again. He leans forward to kiss me when he realizes that I'm not making any movements towards him, but I pull away and start swimming towards the middle of the pool before his lips can make contact with mine.
"Come back here, Josephine." Archer growls, obviously unhappy with what I did.
"Catch me." I smirk, swimming farther away him. "Or are you still waiting for the sunblock to set?"
Not even a second later, he's diving into the pool and making his way towards me. Just within a couple seconds, he's already halfway through the pool, shocking me with his speed. "Caught you." he growls, suddenly resurfacing by my side and trapping me in his arms. "I want my kiss."
"I can't get that high." I shake my head, tilting my head up and only being able to kiss the bottom of his jaw. Seeing that I'm the only one treading water right now, I wrap my legs around his torso and keep my hands on his shoulders to keep myself from sinking. But when I lean in to kiss him, I end up kissing his jaw again.
Noticing that I can't reach his lips on my own, he puts his hands on the back of my thighs to hold me up higher. "I like you." he says, causing a light blush to creep onto my cheeks.
"I like you too." I reply, laughing when a huge grin makes its way into his face.
"I like you a lot, actually." he lowers his voice, looking into my eyes and leaning a little bit closer to my face. Suddenly aware of how close we are and how much of our bare skin is touching, I find myself getting a little bit nervous.
'He's our mate.' my wolf says. 'He's allowed to touch us like this. He's the only one allowed to touch us like this.'
'What do we say back?' I ask her, my eyes looking anywhere but at him.
'We've avoiding mate for two years.' my wolf reminds me. 'Now we can finally be with him. We don't have to push away our feelings anymore. You don't have to push away your feelings for him anymore.'
Realizing that my wolf is right, I look back at Archer and whisper, "I like you a lot too."
Frowning when he doesn't say anything, I turn my head away from and look at the water surrounding us. "Did I say something wrong?" I quietly ask, hoping that I didn't hurt him by not replying immediately.
"No." he gruffly replies. Using his finger to lift my chin, he forces me to look at him and look him in the eyes. "You didn't do anything wrong. I was just talking to my wolf."
"What about?"
"You."
"Am I allow to know the details?"
"Only if you tell me what you were talking to your wolf about."
"We were talking about you." I start off, reaching up to trace his jaw with my fingers, the action making me relax a little as I continue speaking. "I'm working on not pushing away my feelings anymore. I've been trying to block everything out for the past two years, but I don't want to keep doing that."
Smiling at my little explanation, he informs, "My wolf and I were talking about lucky we are to have you as our mate."
Feeling heat rising onto my cheeks, I shyly look away from him and quietly reply, "Oh."
Not liking the growing awkwardness between us, I push away from him and challenge, "Let's see who can stay the longest underwater!"
*** (tomorrow morning, Saturday)
Archer's Pov
Hanging my towel back on its rack on the wall, I leave the steamy bathroom, enter the closet and throw on a pair of shorts, not bothering with a shirt today. Seeing that my mate's door is open, I enter the guest room and find her sleeping alone on the king sized bed, the duvet covers tightly wrapped around her body.
I approach the bed and slowly sit down near the edge, trying not to disturb her sleeping form. Taking the time to admire her delicate features, I take note of how peaceful she looks as she sleeps. 'She's beautiful.' my wolf breathes out as I reach to touch our mate's face.
First moving her hair away from her face, I scoot a little closer to her and caress her cheek with my thumb, frowning when I notice that her skin is a little red. Inspecting her face more closely, I see that the top of her cheekbones and the bridge of her nose are pinker than normal, meaning that she has a little bit of a sun burn. 'We told her to let the sunblock set.' my wolf tsks, recalling how our mate just jumped into the pool yesterday.
Feeling her try to lean into my touch, I smile down at her and touch her bottom lip with my thumb, tempted to kiss her. "Mm." she frowns when I take my hand off of her face. She lets one hand go of the blanket and reaches in my direction as if she's trying to find something, stopping when she makes contact with my hand. "Archer?" she calls out, not sounding like she fully awake yet.
"It's me, sweetheart." I confirm, taking pride in being able to call her that.
"Lay with me?" still keeping her eyes closed, she slightly lifts the covers and invites me to get under them with her.
Getting under the covers, I reach out and pull my mate's body towards mine, smiling when she cuddles up to me in response. "What are these?" I ask, feeling a soft, lacy material brush up against my torso.
When she doesn't answer, I lift the covers to take a look myself. "You aren't wearing pants." I state, my eyes locking into my mate's clothes. Seeing that she's dressed in only a small tee shirt and lace panties, I try to keep my wolf at bay and tear my eyes away from her body.
"It's not like other people are going to see me like this, right?" she asks, making me let out a low growl.
"No one besides me ever gets to see you like this." I growl, possessively tightening my arms around her waist.
After a couple seconds of just laying there in a comfortable silence, she speaks up, "If you feel uncomfortable I can go change."
"You don't need to do that." I shake my head, resting my chin on top of her head.
Not planning on going back to sleep but still wanting to spend time with my mate, I hold her close to me and focus on the sound of her steady heartbeat. Lightly tracing patterns on the exposed skin under her shirt, I gently run my fingers through her hair and start thinking about how the day is going to go. As much as I like going out and taking my mate around to do things, I know that today is most likely going to be a relaxed day in the house. Not that that's a bad thing, of course. I'm fine with doing anything as long as I get to be with Josephine.
Yesterday was the first day that the two of us really spent time together since she started going to school and work again. Hopefully her new schedule will allow for me to see her more often. If not, I'll take matters into my own hands and sort something out.
The fact that she's still working at all doesn't really please me either. She's my Luna and I don't like that she's working in a cafe and in a training center. I would much rather her just do Luna duties instead, but I know that it's going to be a while until she gets the title.
Besides the fact that she has to accept the title first, the pack will also need to know that she's their Luna. It sets my wolf and I on edge when we see our pack members disrespecting our mate. Most of the pack members don't know who their future Luna is, but Josephine should still be respected nonetheless.
Together we've been working on getting her brother, Nate, back home, but the process is going to take a few months. It pained both my wolf and I when we saw our mate's face fall when we told her that she couldn't contact her brother. Even though I'm keeping him at the Elite base and off of missions, he doesn't have any time to just lounge around or mind-link her. What neither of them know, however, is that I'm planning on making Nate his sister's guard when he gets back home.
I'm sure that both of them will be fine with it; my wolf and I definitely are. I don't exactly trust anyone with the responsibility of protecting my mate. Derrick is one of the closest people to me and I know that he'll protect my mate with his life, but he's already the Beta of the pack. Nate is an Elite and is Josephine's brother. Even though I haven't personally met him yet, I know that he's the person for the job. His job as her protector will be to be there for her when I can't be.
If I had it my way, Josephine would always have guards around her whenever she walked around the territory. But since I don't, she's able to walk anywhere she likes; exposed. I know that she's capable of fighting on her own, it's just the fact that my wolf and I don't want anything to happen to her. We want our mate to be safe at all times. We're willing to kill any threats and we're working on that right now.
I haven't really brought it up to Josephine lately, but I've still been working on the rogue problem and the Keaton issue. Carly, the bitch who thought it okay to make herself the "pack secretary", is still being held in the cellars. She's been going through many interrogations and so far told us nothing that we need to know. Instead of having my patrol wolves immediately kill rogues like I've always ordered them to, I've been having them bring wolves to the cellars for questioning.
Life for anyone behind bars in the Blood Moon cellars is brutal, but that's the punishment outsiders get for messing with my pack. It only gets worse for them when I come in to personally take care of things. 'Mate will never see that side of us.' my wolf says, referring to how we are when we aren't around her.
I'm pretty sure she's heard the stories about what I do to protect my pack. The Blood Moon pack is known for being destructive, but I'm known for just being mercilessly violent. I don't understand why there are people in my own that think it's okay to turn against me, but that's another issue that I'm addressing.
All that matters to me right now is that Josephine is safe and sound. She may know the stories of what I do on the battlefield, but I never want her to witness it first hand. That side of me is something that I never want her to see.
"Archer." Josephine mumbles, reeling me back into reality.
"Yes, darling?"
When she doesn't reply, I look down at her and realize that she's asleep. I wonder what she's dreaming about?
I lay there in a comfortable silence for another hour, just thinking about things. I feel Josephine waking up in my arms about fifteen minutes after that, but she just lays awake with me for a couple minutes in a comfortable silence. "We should probably get out of bed." she states, her soft voice filled with sleep.
"Do you want to go out for breakfast?" I ask, thinking about taking her to a nearby bakery to get something to eat.
"We can't be seen together." she reminds me. "I feel like you forget that a lot."
I groan, "I don't even care about the pack pressuring us to move our relationship faster, I can just punish anyone who talks shit about us. The only reason I'm still keeping our relationship hidden from the pack is because it's safer you that way."
When she gives me a confused look, I explain, "We still have the rogue issue and you told me that there are pack members joining them. If we tell everyone about our relationship, people will start targeting you."
"Do you think that we'll ever be able to tell the pack about us?" she asks, looking me in the eyes.
"The moment there aren't any threats within the pack, I'm going to make the announcement." I tell her. "I want everyone to know that you're mine."
"I think that people at school are starting to suspect things about you and me." she informs. "People I hang out with have been asking me why I smell so much like you. I tried washing your scent off of me before I leave for school, but I guess it wasn't enough to completely get it off."
And before I can say anything in response, she adds, "I mean, it's not really a bad thing since there's not much we can do about it."
I agree with her, "How about we just agree to not go out of our way to hide our relationship? We just won't make any official announcements yet."
"Yeah." she nods. "That works."
Reluctantly letting go of her waist to allow her to get off the bed, I watch as she sits up straight on the edge and stretches, her shirt rising and exposing her toned stomach as she does so. "I should probably put some clothes on." she says out loud, looking down at her bare legs.
"I'll be making breakfast downstairs." I tell her, getting off of the bed. "What do you want to eat?"
"Anything's fine." she shrugs, turning around and walking into the bathroom.
I head downstairs to make breakfast for the both of us, trying to think of what to make. It's not like I'm a professional chef or anything, I just know how to do the basic things.
*** (thirty minutes later)
"What's that?" Archer asks, staring at something on me.
Giving him a confused look, I put down my fork and question, "What's what?"
"What's that?" he repeats, pointing at something behind me.
I turn around and try to look for anything out of the ordinary, but end up not finding anything. "That strappy thing you're wearing." Archer tells me. "The lacy thing. What is it?"
"It's a bralette." I explain, feeling a little awkward as I do so. Trying to explain undergarments to my mate isn't really a normal thing to do. "Why do you look so interested in it?" I ask when he keeps staring at the exposed fabric.
He shrugs, "It's lacy. You were wearing lace this morning too. I've just never seen you wear that kind of stuff before. It looks good on you, though."
"Thanks?" I awkwardly laugh, looking down at my plate of pancakes. "Derrick got me a Victoria's Secret gift card for Christmas, so I've been using it."
I see him stiffen a bit at the mention of Victoria's Secret, but he just replies with, "Oh."
Putting away my plate in the sink, I turn around when I feel someone standing directly behind me. "You make really good pancakes." I say, looking up at him. "Do you have packwork to do today?"
He nods, "But I can just do it some other time. What do you want to do today? We haven't really been able to spend time with each for a week and a half."
"You should go do your packwork, Archer." I shake my head, not wanting him to ignore the pack to hang out with me. "I have homework to do anyway, we can just both sit in your office together and do work."
Later while the two of us are sitting the office and doing our work, I start to let my mind wander away from my math homework and to other things. To be honest, the main reason I decided to take less shifts at the cafe and training center was because I wasn't liking how little I time I got to spend with Archer. It feels weird to admit it and it makes me feel like I'm starting to let him more into my life than I planned to at first, but that's the truth.
Ever since I started going back to school and work, the longest I've gotten to see Archer was ten minutes one morning. I can tell that the distance has been making him unhappy too since he even came to see me at work a couple days ago.
One week isn't really that long, but the fact that we're wolves makes everything in our relationship more difficult. When we don't spend enough time in each other's company, our wolves get agitated and it makes us want to be with each other more; and the more time we spend together, the stronger the mate bond gets. Another problem with that is that Archer and I can't go around as a couple in public. It's already bad enough that there are still rumors going around about the "mystery girl" that Archer took the park three months ago. People at school have been wondering why I've been smelling like him and it's only a matter of time before people start putting everything together.
"What's this?" Archer asks, snapping me out of my thoughts.
"It's a bralette." I answer. "I told you that when we were eating breakfast."
"I know that. But what does a bralette do?" he reaches out and touches the lacy fabric, a look of curiosity on his face. Running his finger along the fabric going around the back of my neck, he leans closer to me and inspects the foreign material exposed from my loose t-shirt.
Laughing a little bit at his actions, I explain, "It's like a bra, but different."
"This is lace." he states again, still seeming intrigued by the fabric.
"I know."
"It's really soft."
"I know."
"Your shirt isn't covering it." he tells me, referring to the halter-style bralette.
"That's because I'm not wearing a turtle neck to cover it up." I deadpan. "Are you gonna dress code me or something?"
"I might have to." he whispers, only inches away from my face. "But I think I'll let you off with a warning."
Before I can come up with a smart reply, he points to my stomach, "Your stomach's showing."
"Thanks for telling me, dude." I chuckle, not bothering to adjust my shirt. The hem barely touches the waistband of my joggers, there's no point in trying to cover up when the second I move again my stomach's going to be revealed. "Are you done with all your packwork already?" I ask, noticing that there aren't any papers on his desk.
"I'm all done." he nods, pulling me onto his lap. "Are you still doing your homework?"
"Nope." I shake my head, turning around so I can face him.
Looking into his eyes, I find myself getting distracted for a couple seconds before I snap out my trance. "Sometimes I forget that you're suppose to be the tough, macho Alpha dude." I whisper, tracing his jawline with my fingers.
With a small spark of amusement in his eyes, he chuckles, "Tough, macho Alpha dude, huh?"
Slightly nodding, I continue tracing his jaw with my fingers, "Yeah. Sometimes I forget that you're the Archer Stone because you're so gentle and stuff with me."
He frowns a little bit when I mention his name, knowing that I'm talking about his reputation, but he keeps his gaze soft as he stares at me. "With me, you're really nice and gentle and that makes me forget about your whole Alpha status thing. But I hear people around the pack talk about the things you do and how you are to everyone else. It's like you become a whole different person when we're together but at the same time, you're still Archer Stone."
Feeling our wolves urge us to get closer, I give into the mate bond and shift a little closer to him on his lap. Silence engulfs the room for a couple seconds as I wait for him to reply. "I don't ever want to be the Archer Stone with you." he tells me, taking hold of both of my hands. "That's a side of me that I never want you to see. I just want to be your Archer Stone; the one that only you get to experience."
Smiling at his words, I look into his eyes and slowly lean forward, gently pressing my lips to his. Feeling him let go of my hands and grab on to my waist, I allow him to pull me closer to his body, my hands traveling up to the back of his head. "Today's gonna be a good day." I state when we both pull away, my lips still tingling from our kiss.
/&;$($/@/@;$;$/
"The best things happen by chance."
-Finding Dory
To make up for my awful lack of updates lately, I'm going to be posting a Valentine's chapter soon. I really want to start updating more, but writing hasn't exactly been on the top of my priority list lately.
And guys, when I say that comments and votes motivate me to update more, I really mean it. The more people that I know are waiting for a chapter and the more people who give me feedback, the more motivated I am to return the favor by uploading another chapter. So yea...
Any requests or questions?
xoxo Priscilla