Guardian (Wolf Shifter Romance): Reckless Desires (Alpha Protectors Book 1) by Olivia Arran Page A

to you. And Mr. Dark and Delicious.”
    “Mr. Dark and Delicious?”
    “Mr. Yummy?”
    I snorted, imagining how Cole would react, how his eyebrows would arch, his jaw grinding as his cheek twitched. “Okay, let’s go with Mr. Yummy.”
    “Okay, so…the kiss?” She poked my side, her fingers digging and switching to tickle mode.
    “Okay, okay!” I squealed, pushing her away. “It was…” I fanned a hand over my face, blowing out some air, “hot. He is really hot.”
    “That’s it? That’s all you’re going to give me?” Collapsing onto her back, she stared up at the ceiling. “Mr. Hot and Yummy.”
    Mimicking her pose, I bumped her shoulder with mine. “Yeah. I can’t explain it. It was like... consuming. That’s the word. He consumed me. I couldn’t think of anything else.”
    “Wow,” she exhaled the word on a sigh. “So that’s what it’s like.”
    “What?”
    “Finding your true mate.”
    “What? We’re not!”
    “Of course you are. I’ve seen the way he looks at you, how torn up he is about you.”
    “Torn up?”
    “It’s in his eyes. His big, soulful green eyes. You’re a lucky girl. He’s yummy.”
    And we were back to yummy. Though it was a good description. He was. “You’re wrong, Scar. I’m not his mate, true or otherwise. Don’t you think he’d have mentioned something like that?”
    “Just like he told you he was a shifter?”
    She had a point. “But he wouldn’t have stopped in the woods if…”
    The bed dipped as she rolled onto her side, putting her face next to mine. “What happened in the woods? Are you holding out on me?” Fingers threatened to attack again, poised above my ribs.
    “No! Okay. He stormed the set and dragged me off to the woods—”
    “Why?”
    “I don’t know.”
    “What were you doing when he stormed the set?”
    Okay, I did know.
    “You’re blushing!”
    “It was just a kiss. For the commercial.” I clamped my mouth shut, refusing to say any more until she stopped laughing.
    “Right. So he stormed the set and carried you off into the woods because you were kissing another guy.”
    “I was working ! And I didn’t kiss him because Cole pulled his caveman routine before anything actually happened.”
    “Even better. So what happened in the woods?”
    Images of falling to the ground, his weight heavy on me as he licked and nibbled, his fingers searching, the heat riding me…
    “That good, huh?”
    Shaking my head, I blinked my eyes open. “What? Nothing happened.”
    “Yeah, right.”
    “It didn’t. He jumped off me like he’d been burned.”
    “Jumped off you?” Her words were a slow tease. “Did you happen to trip and he fell on top of you?”
    I scowled at her. “Whatever it was, he couldn’t wait to get away from me. The man flashes hot and cold so fast I don’t have a chance of keeping up!”
    “But you want to?”
    Did I?
    “Should I tell you what I think?”
    I groaned, grabbing a pillow and shoving it over my head. “Do I have a choice?” My words were muffled but I knew she’d heard them. She was a shifter, after all.
    The corner of the pillow lifted as she peeked at me. “Natasha, you always have a choice. If you don’t want Cole, then I’ll make him go away. Somehow.” Her face scrunched up as though she was trying to figure out how to get rid of a heavily muscled, determined, male shifter in his prime.
    But she’d do it. I knew she would. After everything she’d done for me in the past, I had no doubts. None.
    “Tell me,” I eventually said on a drawn-out sigh.
    “Good choice. I think even Iwould have trouble getting rid of this one. Drumroll please…he’s confused.”
    I waited for her to go on, but she sounded like she’d finished. Peeling the pillow off my head, I thumped her with it. “Go on.”
    “That’s it. He’s confused. It’s a well-known phenomenon, not restricted to shifter males, but highly prevalent to our species. It’s all about the testosterone. The more they have, the