Kiera pushed up on her tiptoes and hugged his neck, pressed her body along his. Against his ear, she said, “I like you just like this.”
Beast slid his hands up her back, gently squeezing up her spine every few inches as if kneading her like a cat. It felt so good she rolled her eyes closed against the stars and relaxed against him.
“I like that you have curves, too,” he murmured. “You aren’t skin and muscle like other lionesses. I like it when you hug me. The big sweaters hide you from the others, but you let me touch you.”
She huffed a soft breath. He didn’t know what they were, but he didn’t mind her baby curves. Something about that loosened her heart up even more. Her pants didn’t fit, and she’d grown fuller in all areas of her body, but here was this perfect specimen of a man telling her he still thought she was pretty.
“Food’s getting cold!” Logan barked.
The sound of a smack echoed through the clearing.
“Ow, what was that for?” Logan asked loud enough for even Kiera to hear. She thought it had been his mate, Winter, who had smacked him, but Dustin was the one that reprimanded him. “Stop being a cock-blocker, you dunce.”
“They aren’t doing anything but hugging a lot,” Logan argued.
“I think I hate them,” Beast muttered.
Kiera snorted and then settled the stick in the passenger’s seat so she wouldn’t lose it. Over her shoulder, she said, “I want some of that food before it’s all gone.”
Beast cleared his throat again when she busted him for staring at her butt as she crawled back out of her car. “You go on.” He backed up a few steps into the shadows.
“What? No, I want to go with you. Why are you going that way?”
“Because I’m hard as a friggin’ rock right now, and I’m not going over there full-mast, Kiera.”
Her mouth plopped open, but when she looked at the zipper of his jeans, yep, boner-city. And it was the biggest city on boner continent. She tried not to stare, really she did, but hell yes.
Beast covered his crotch with his giant hands. “You aren’t helping if you look at it all hungry like that.”
“Well, think about something gross. I don’t want to go over there without you.”
“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” Beast gritted out. He closed his eyes and blew out a deep breath.
“What are you thinking about?” She couldn’t help the question, the curious kitty in her had to know.
“Dustin hugging me. Salad. Dustin stealing from me. Salad dressing. Dustin’s stupid face. Okay, I’m good, let’s go.” He strode past her and grabbed her hand on the way.
She yelped as she pushed her legs to keep up with his long strides. “What else was on the human list?” she asked.
“Uuuh, girls like when you pick their wedgies when their nails are wet, and they don’t like when you go too long without manscaping. They like flowers, the plants or the seeds. Also, when you go on your period, I should buy you chocolate and watch sappy movies with you. Don’t make fun of you when you cry, and you’ll yell at me less.”
Kiera was pursing her lips hard to stifle her laughter. Beast sounded so serious right now.
“Do you want to see my den?” he asked suddenly.
“Yes.”
“Well, you can’t right now because it’s off in the trees.” He pointed. “And Dustin said your vision probably sucks.”
“Uh, my vision doesn’t suck that bad, but…” She squinted into the shadows, but all she could make out was the dark outline of a building. “Yeah I can’t see that from here.” She could, however, see a shiny silver RV parked near the gazebo. “Uuuuh, what is that?” she asked, fury rocketing through her blood, because oh, she knew.
“Your den.”
“It’s not my den because I haven’t said yes to staying here.”
Beast cast her a sharp look, then pulled her into the ring of light that surrounded the gazebo. He pointed to her. “This is Kiera.”
“Uh, we know, Romeo,” Dustin said from his seat closest to them.
Beast released her hand and lurched at Dustin. The wolf winced and jerked away from the railing as a soft whine wrenched from his throat. Beast’s smile was positively devilish, and though Kiera desperately wanted to hold onto her anger at Kane for renting the damn RV and putting more pressure on her, another accidental grin graced her lips. God, she had the biggest crush on him. He was a total rough-and-tumble, brawler caveman, but she was finding she really, really liked that about him.
Kiera gave a little wave to the Blackwing Crew, who were eating around a giant table on the gazebo. “Good to see you all again. Except for you Kane.” Kiera pointed to the RV and arched her eyebrow.
Kane shrugged and gulped down a bite. “Never said I played fair, Kiera. You want a tour of it? We rented you the deluxe suite.”
“Polite decline. I’m fine at the motel.”
“Fine to run away whenever the wind switches directions,” Dustin muttered.
“I want my stuff back,” she gritted out to the wolf.
“You have stripper clothes. Are you a stripper?”
“Why did you go through my things?”
Dustin looked offended that she’d ask such a silly question. “Because it’s fun. If you are a stripper, can you teach Emma how to dance on one of those poles? I can get one installed in our trailer.”