The Twin Moon (The Moon Series) (18 page)

Heat rose inside Andy’s body, bringing her nipples to attention.
All the things he had said on the phone came back to h
a
unt her and replayed in her head.
Excitement splashed inside her like an ocean wave breaking on the shore.

“I’m so glad you asked us to dinner.
I’ve been in the house all week.
You know sometimes you just get cabin fever and need to get out.”
Andy wasn’t sure what to say as Dillon stared at
her.
His face was stiff and he looked to her like
Ian might in ten years.
If Ian were in the military.
“So Dillon, what do you do?”

Dillon glanced at Ian.

“I’m a tracker.”

“What do you track?”
Andy smiled at him, tryin
g hard to break the ice
while her palms sweated.

“People.”

Okay.
Andy didn’t want to know.
Ian’s brother was scary.

The waitress came and Ian placed the order for pizza, while Andy and Rosie placed drink orders.

“Ian, how was your day?”
That was a safe topic.

“I had some problems with some of the yo
un…yo
uths at the center today.
I’m trying to teach them to channel their emotions, but some days I worry that I’m not teaching them fast enough.”
Ian shook his head.

“You can only do so much.”
Rosie spoke from across the table.
“I work with runaways at
a
shelter downtown.
You can only teach them if they’ll allow it.
If they’re not open to you
…
”
Rosie shrugged.

“That’s true.
I’ve found that the hard
er
I try the harder it is to get through to them.
I have to let them come to me.
This one kid today.”
Ian stopped and seemed to choose his words carefully before he continued.
“He just can’t seem to help challenge my authority.
He pushes me at every turn.
Today was th
e last straw
.”

“What are you going to do?” Andy gazed at Ian, mesmerized by his beautiful chocolate eyes.

“What can I do?
I have to speak with his father, if Edge hasn’t spoken with him already.
We can’t have him challenging authority like that inside the community center.”

“Why are you worried that he would challenge your authority?
Can’t you just kick him out?”
Rosie pulled of
f
a chunk of the garlic knot and popped it into her mouth.

“No, his father’s on the board and part of the reason the community center was started was to keep the kids off the streets.
What good would it do us to kick him out?
It would kind of defeat the purpose.”
Ian squeezed Andy’s hand as he glanced at her.
Dillon snorted and Ian sent him a glare.

Andy didn’t understand the unspoken communication between the brothers.
Something must be going on that she had missed.
Just then the waitress showed up and they placed their orders.

“So do you think he learned his lesson today?” Andy reached for the garlic knot in the center of the table.

“I doubt it.
He’s one of those kids that’s got to push his limits.
He may be docile for today, but tomorrow he’ll be back in my face.”
Ian pulled a piece of the bread too.

“Sounds like a tough job.
All I ever deal with is my boss and I know how to
do my job
.
That keeps him happy.
”
Andy reached for her drink the waitress had just dropped off.

“By the way you look beautiful tonight.”
Ian leaned in and brushed Andy’s hair behind her ear before
placing
a kiss
on
her cheek.

“
Thank you.”
Heat
that rose up her neck and into her cheek
s.
He was so sweet and he smelled so good tonight.
Andy’s body heated as she sat there smelling his scent.
The room seemed very crow
d
ed suddenly.
She wished they were somewhere alone where she could put her nose to his neck and sniff him.

The waitress brought a large pizza with everything on it.
She
ate while
everyone
chatted.
Andy laughed a lot.
Ian had a great sense of humor.
Even stoic Dillon seemed to relax
and talk
with Rosie as the evening wore on.
Soon the pizza was gone and there was not a thing keeping
any of them
at the table.

“Thanks for dinner.”
Andy was compelled to say it again after Ian had grabbed the tab.
She wasn’t used to some
one
paying for her.

“It’s not a problem.
I invited you.
Both of you.”
He pointed looked at Rosie who had finally put her money away.
“I guess I should probably let you get home.
I know you have to work tomorrow.”

“Yeah, I do.”
Andy had turned sideways in the booth to better see Ian.

“What are you doing tomorrow nigh
t?”
Ian hands ran up her thigh
caressing her gently.

“Nothing.
Just relaxing.”
Heat tripped through Andy’s
insides, making her body burn
with hidden desire.
She wanted Ian.
He made her go molten from a simple touch.

Andy put her hands out and he slid his into hers.
His hands were warm and larger than her
s
and something inside her flip flopped.
Andy almost held her breath as her heart sped up, the world around her seemed to bleed away as she stared at Ian.
It was only him and her now.

He shifted closer as his eyes lowered to her mouth.

Andy titled her head.
“
Ian
.”
Was that her voice?
That breathy whisper?
Ian leaned closer until his lips touched hers.
Twin sparks surged through her body as their lips met.
Ian pulled her into his arms until she leaned into him.
His lips were gentle against hers, running back and forth.
Andy moved with him answering him.
Then his tongue licked her lower lip and she opened her mouth, not even hesitating.
She wanted to taste him on her tongue.

Andy sighed as Ian
swiped hi
s tongue over her lips,
she gripped his waist.
He clutched her back as the kiss went on and on.
His hand rose into her hair holding her nap
,
fingers tangling in her hair as he drew her closer.

Andy burned with desire as Ian kissed her into oblivion, her nipples ached, her
channel
clenched wanting to be filled with him.
She had never had such an
urgent response from just a kiss.

“Excuse me?
You want to get your tongue out of her throat?
People are staring.”
Rosie’s voice broke through the wave of desire like ice water.

The kiss lasted a second more before Andy reluctantly broke away, panting.
Ian’s gaze was half hooded as he stared at her and he had a noticeable bulge in his pants.
He brushed his palm over her cheek as he leaned back away from her.
Fire followed in
the touch’s
wake burning over her skin.

“So
,
dinner was great
,
but we have to go now.”
Rosie stood up sliding her bag over on
e
shoulder.

Ian slid out of the booth so Andy could slide out.
Andy
’s
heart thundered in her chest and her knees wobbled as she tried to stand.
Excitement raced around inside her as Ian reached for her and kissed her on the lips again.

“Bye.”
Ian stepped back.

“Bye.”
Somehow Andy let go as Rosie caught her hand and tugged her out of the crow
d
ed pizzeria.

“You are so in trouble.”
Rosie clucked her
tongue
once they got outside.

“What?
Why?”
Andy was still shaking off the kiss.
Her head was dizzy.

“You are falling.
Fast and hard.”
Rosie had a look of concern on her face.
“I don’t want to see you get hurt.”

“Well, you either.”
Andy stormed to her side of the car and unlocked her door.

“What are talking about?”
Rosie paused with her door open.

“I’m talking about you slipping Dillon your phone number
when I was arguing with Ian over paying the bill
.
Like I wouldn’t catch that.”
Andy snorted and got in the car.

“He’s hot.”
Rosie fumbled with her seatbelt.

“Just be careful.”
Andy started the car and pulled out of the parking space.

“I’m always careful.”
Rosie flashed her a wicked smile before she cranked up the radio.

Ian held a gallon sized Ziploc bag with a red t-shirt in it, which in itself wasn’t remarkable at all.
But one whiff of this shirt and Gavin would come unglued.
Ian was positive the cub would not be able to handle his mate’s scent, if she truly was his mate.
This was a test of sorts.
Edge and Ian had come up with it to determine if the cub truly knew what he was about or if he was full of shit.
Gavin was in the locker room changing into his gym clothes.
Ian had already changed and waited patiently for the cub.
Gavin
had been dragging his feet at every meeting since this thing started and today was no different.

The goal here was to figure out if Shelly really was his mate and if she was to try and acclimate Gavin to her scent so he wouldn’t have such a violent reaction to her, until such time as
he
would
be
allow
ed
to see her.
Because, yeah, sixteen year olds hell bent on having sex on the mating moon
, not
condoned by their elders
,
probably wasn’t the s
martest idea.
Could you put a W
ere-tiger on birth control? T
hat was a question that Ian had tossed at Edge.
Ian suggested Edge
ask DJ. Would her parents even go for that?
The whole thing made Ian’s head ache and spin all at the same time and he wasn’t even the alpha who had to deal with
all the parents and grandparents and the couple, as well as his nine month pregnant mate
.

Gavin finally strolled out of the locker room.
He looked a little more himself today,
more cocky attitude,
less depressed, he actually looked at Ian and not at the floor.

“What’s that?”
Gavin’s bare feet slapped
the floor as he stopped.

“This is a training tool.” Ian held up the Ziploc bag.
“We’re not opening it yet.
I need to know if you can will the change.”

“Sometimes.
The power seems to come and go depending on the mood I’m in.”
Gavin glanced at the bag,
his eyes seemed to follow every
where Ian moved the plastic.

“Can you change now?” Ian keep a close watch on the cub’s face looking for the emotions that were below the surface.

Gavin closed his eyes and his brow scrunched.
Nothing happened.
“No.”

“Alright.”
Ian cracked the seal on the Ziploc.

“Mine.”
Gavin growled low in his throat and lunged for Ian.
“Mine, where is she?” Gavin breathed deep as his body shuddered and Ian held him off.
In seconds Gavin
tore
off his clothes and fell
to the floor.
Ian sealed the bag shut and the cub shivered clutching his nude form.

“That is Shelly’s t-shirt.”
Ian crouched down to stare at Gavin.

“I want it, give me the shirt.
I need to smell her.” Gavin twitched like a junky without a fix.