To the Edge and Back [The Royal Wolves] (Siren Publishing Allure) (22 page)

As they looked at the razors, she turned and had her back to him. Grabbing soap and shampoo that smelled a little more girly, she looked over her shoulder. “I was thinking that maybe we could just do burgers or tacos.” She saw his look and shrugged. “I don’t know, honey. You tell me what sounds good to you, honey?”

Shaking his head, he smiled at her. “Whatever you want. Though, to be honest, I’ve actually never really had tacos,” he said. When she gave him a gaping look, he chuckled. “Not everyone has, love,” he pointed out softly.

“It’s been about three years since I had any. They had these tacos that were only thirty-nine cents each. It was cheaper than the noodles I have been living on lately.” She shrugged and grinned. “We will do it. You need to be able to say that you have had tacos at least once in your life, all right?”

“I’m up for it,” he told her even as he made a mental note to make sure that they always had more than enough food around. He never wanted her starving herself again. He’d make her lunches or ensure that Ben fed her. His brother was good that way and always went the extra mile for his employees, but this was Janos’s mate, completely different ballgame.

“I heard they have these new nacho things, and so I can’t wait to try them. Hopefully they are as good as they looked on the television.” The “Loaded Nachos” looked so good that Mina had actually found herself drooling, funny really.

“Well, then we’d better hurry up with the shopping,” he told her. They still had to get her a few other pieces of clothing to beef up her wardrobe a bit as well as what they were in the pharmacy for, too. “Grab what we need so we can finish up, and then I think we’ll hit a restaurant instead of the food court.” He’d seen the sign for a taco place in the food court, but that many people in one place was just too much.

“Thank you.” He understood her too well. “Are you sure that you haven’t been following me around just so that you can learn everything about me?” Because he seemed to know everything about her, what made her tick and what made her freeze.

“No,” he said, shaking his head as he looked down at her. “Why would you say that, love?” he asked, worried that she actually thought he’d do something that creepy.

“Because you seem to know me so very well in such a short time. You are already seeing to my needs and understand my fear of the crowds and are offering to take me out of it just because you know that I don’t feel comfortable. It’s a good thing, Janos, a very good thing.” She grinned at him.

“Shouldn’t I know you at least a little by now?” he asked, relaxing slightly. “You’re actually pretty easy to read, Mina, and body language is something I’m good at decoding.”

“True, I just love that you are that attuned to me, Janos. I’m happy that you love me so much. It gives me happiness that I will never be able to explain to you.”

“You’ll get there, too, you know,” he said with a slow smile. “You’ll be able to pick up on things that normally you likely wouldn’t. It’ll just happen without any real thought. It’ll just be,” he added with a shrug.

“Well I can’t wait to see what I can learn about you.” She automatically steered them, however, from the woman in the center of the walkway who held the perfume bubble in hand and placed herself between the woman and Janos. It was purely unconscious on her part.

Growling at the woman, Janos had the pleasure, albeit brief, of seeing her jump and spin around, looking for where the sound came from. Hurrying Mina past her, he shuddered. “I hate the perfume women. They just keep spritzing even though I say no. Bloody puts me out of commission for like a month after they do it.”

“Well, we will have to make sure that they don’t do that, because I would be really, really unhappy with them if they put you out of commission for a month from me. I don’t know that I can survive if I couldn’t be with you for a month.”

Looking to her, he chuckled. “No, love, I mean I can’t breathe. Wolves can’t stand strong scents as it hurts our sense of smell. Too much of it and it throws our whole system out of whack until it dissipates and our system can readjust or compensate.”

“Oh that’s even worse.” She gave the woman a dirty look over her shoulder and hugged him closer. “I will need to remember that.” Good thing she never wore perfume, and she voiced that as well along with, “Good thing that I don’t do smelly lotions, don’t you think?”

“I’d have doused you in water and scrubbed you down if you had,” he said with a straight face, his voice droll. Laughing at her stunned look, he shrugged. “Actually I likely would have started sneezing, gotten hives, and gone into convulsions until I couldn’t breathe anymore.”

“Well that would be bad.” She licked her lips and then gave him a look of heat. “How about you douse me in water and scrub me down anyway? I would love to feel your hands on me, bathing me and rubbing soap into my body.” Yes, she was being mean because they weren’t done shopping yet and she knew it.

Pulling her into his arms, he kissed her hard, his tongue stroking over hers as he growled, the sound pouring from him into her. “How about we do that when we get home?” he suggested, rocking his very evident need against her belly.

“I think that is the best idea of all. I want to do this. I need to do this, because god, I need you.” She growled just as much as he was, taking her cue from him. “I think that the rest of our shopping needs to be really fast and over soon. We will eat and go home so that you can make sure that my every single inch of skin is without scent other than the one that we share.”

Biting her lip gently, he nodded as he lifted his head. “A most excellent plan,” he murmured. Rubbing his hands up and down her arms, he smiled. “And we need to work on your growl. It’s kind of girly sounding.”

“I rather like my growl.” Which turned to a purr as his hands rubbed up and down her arms. “Right, all right, I see what you’re saying,” she said with a grin and then said, “So we need to go.” She stepped back and tugged on his hand. “Come on, love. The sooner we are done, the sooner we are home.”

“Right,” he said with a sigh and let her lead him to their next stop. Glaring at a guy who was eyeing her up, Janos had the very real urge to kick the guy’s ass. Lucky for them both, his wife smacked him over the head and then proceeded to rip him a new one.

“What was that growl for?” she asked with a frown, not seeing the man eyeing her or the wife hitting him either. “All right, I’m lost.” She was petting him now, her hands moving up and down his arms to try to soothe him as she did so.

“A married man was eyeing you up and I felt the sudden urge to rip out his throat is all,” Janos told her honestly, knowing that if he lied it could hurt them. “His wife beat me to it and smacked him around a bit before dragging him out of here by his balls.”

Mina just looked at him for several long moments and then grinned. “Someone was eyeing me? Are you kidding?”

When he didn’t change the look he was giving her she laughed and shook her head. “I am so not used to this. I can’t believe someone would actually look me up and down.” Although now she had to admit that wouldn’t be too strange, because he was always looking her up and down. Janos would give her these looks and it would make her whole body quiver and melt.

“And why not?” he asked her as they started moving again. “You are a sexy and sensual woman, darling. You are built like a woman should be. You are graceful, elegant, and beautiful, but you don’t even realize it, which makes it all the more alluring. You make my heart pound every time I look at you.”

“Well, I’m glad that I do, because I look at you and sometimes find it hard to breathe. You are the most amazingly handsome man that I have ever seen in my life.” She smiled up at him. “I love you, Janos.” And they had to get out of that mall soon or she was going to do something that she was very, very much going to be embarrassed about later.

Smiling at her, he shook his head. “See, you know just what to say to embarrass my socks right off,” he teased her. Clearing his throat, he ducked his head slightly. “We have shopping to do, love, before we can get down and kinky,” he reminded her gently.

“Then we should hurry before I lose my mood.” Her smile was radiant. She tugged him once more toward the next store. She needed to get this over and done with because she was really, really desperate for him.

“Oh, undies,” Janos said with real interest as he came to an instant halt by the lacy underwear. “You interested in this kind of thing or are you going more practical?” he asked as he picked up a lacy bra and stroked a finger over the cup, his eyes turning toward her.

She could practically feel him stroking her as he stroked the lace of the bra. “Right, yes, you know that looks really nice. Why don’t I try that on and you can come in and tell me what you think?”

His body leapt to attention and he licked his lips. “Oh hell yeah,” he said, his voice as close to a purr as he could physically get. Looking at the tag, he replaced it and found one that was likely her size or close to it. “Go and try it on. Once we have your size we can pick out some other styles and colors,” he encouraged, knowing he was going to blow a wad on her underwear and was all too damned happy to do it.

“All right,” she said with a smile and then a soft nod, “we should definitely do this.” Taking the underwear, she looked for the changing room, and when she saw it, handed him her bags and moved toward it. “You will come when I call for you?” she asked, and when he nodded, she slipped into one of the small rooms and was very, very soon naked.

She was distracted for a moment, her hand moving over her body and smiling. “I guess that I’m not completely unsexy.” She had never looked at herself before in such a light, not like he was showing her. She was far too skinny and had too many ribs visible, but hopefully soon she would be able to move past that and gain some weight.

She pulled on the panties and then the bra and ran her hand over the barely-there lace. “Damn.” She looked good. She had to admit it. “Janos, I’m ready if you are,” she called out with a small smile.

Looking around as he heard her call, Janos was oh-so casual when he slid into the changing room. Turning as he shut the door, the words on his lips died a quick death as he saw her. All he could do was stare at her. She was a true vision. Shutting his mouth, he moved closer as he licked his lips. “Damn, woman,” he breathed out, his eyes raking over her hotly.

She grinned up at him and nodded. “Do you like it?” She was self-conscious now and placed her hands over the too-deep dip in her belly and over the ribs that showed too much. “I will be able to gain weight and fill out a little more.” Because she hated that she wasn’t soft in places where she should be.

“You will eat more,” he agreed as he moved slowly closer, his eyes tracing the delicate lace. “But you look amazing,” he breathed out softly. “I wholeheartedly approve of this type of underwear for you. It is a must.” Finally he reached out and, ever so gently, ran a light finger over the curve of the bra covering her breast. “You are never, ever to wear anything else.”

Her hand moved to cup his cheek and pushing him away slightly, she turned so he could see the back, how the ass of the panties was nothing but lace. “I like it.”

Her hands moved down the globes of her butt cheeks and then she turned to face him again. “I like how it feels on me and I really like that look you have in your eyes right now, Janos.” What’s more was that the set he chose for her was her size. “Why don’t you go and pick me out a bunch of different colors and I will get dressed?” Her body moved closer to him, touching her front to his front.

Running his hand down her arm, he slid his palm over her ass. “I really like these,” he told her with a slow smile. “I think you should wear these out. Pull the tags off, love, and I will go and choose a rainbow of colors. Do you want anything else while I’m out there, before you get dressed and cover all this luscious flesh up?”

“Anything that you want, perhaps something nice and sexy to wear to bed with you?” She popped the tags off and handed them to him with a grin. “Maybe some nice lingerie?”

“I like that idea.” He was grinning. Taking the tags, he kissed her. “Dress, love. I’ll meet you out there. I’ll be the one with half the store in my arms,” he added, wiggling his brows at her before sneaking back out of the changing rooms.

She was happy as she watched him go and then tugged on her clothes. She had to admit the feel of the silk and lace against her skin was intoxicating. It was perfection and the only thing she would like better would be having his hands on her.

Whistling happily, Janos found her size in every color under the sun in the panties and bras before he wandered over to the negligees and other naughty items. Chuckling softly under his breath, he pulled out a few that were definitely not for anyone but them and then pulled out a couple others that were a bit more subdued but hinted at what was hidden under the material.

When he couldn’t carry any more, he headed for the till and passed over the extra tags with a grin. “She decided to wear the first set out,” he said and got a knowing look from the cashier as she began to ring through the items.

The cashier grinned and nodded. “We get that more often than you can imagine.” She had seen them together and added, “She is beautiful, your wife. She is a lucky woman, but I think that you, too, are a lucky man.” It wasn’t sexual, her comment. It was truth murmured to him as she scanned tags.

“Yes, she is,” he said softly, not bothering to tell her that Mina wasn’t his wife. In other ways she was so much more than a mere piece of paper could say.

Glancing up as he scented Mina approaching, he smiled at her and turned so she could slide an arm around him. Wrapping his arm around her, he kissed her softly. “Hello, my love.”

Her arm came around his waist as she looked up at him, happiness in her eyes, and she grinned. “Hello, my love.” It was nice, to be able to look up and into his eyes, to see the answering love there for her as what she had for him.

Kissing her nose gently, he looked up as the cashier cleared her throat and grinned. Releasing Mina, Janos signed the slip quickly and pocketed his receipt along with his card. Taking the bag, he thanked the girl before wrapping his arm around Mina once more to lead her from the store. “Do you need any other clothes?” he asked her. “You know, to go over the deliciously dainty undies we just bought in bulk?” he chuckled.