He brushed his lips over hers, stealing a kiss before stepping back and nodding solemnly. “Distraction needed. I agree.”
The cards he held forward caught her attention, all right. Official cruise seating-arrangement cards for the first-class dining hall. Shifters had hierarchies on top of hierarchies. The average pack might be very relaxed about some things, like sex, but you didn’t cross a line uninvited, and money and power often went hand in hand.
“Jared? Where did you get those?”
“I told you we had invites for dinner.” He looked away for a brief moment then returned to meet her gaze with a smile. “One of the upper-class families had room at their table, and I heard they’ve been inviting people to join them—kind of a be nice to the masses gesture, I guess.”
Keri opened the gold-gilded card with shaking fingers. There was her name written in fancy-schmancy script, seven o’clock seating time and the Fedoras’ official crest pressed into the wax seal.
Oh. Boy.
Sheer willpower kept her gaze connected with his. What she wanted to do was glance at the drawer where she’d tucked the brooch—the costs-some-ungodly-amount brooch she was pretty sure belonged to the Fedoras. But giving away the fact she knew something was up wouldn’t solve the problem.
Sudden raw anxiety wrapped around her like a miniature tornado.
It was annoying that the first thing that really caused her to panic had nothing to do with the thefts.
“I don’t have a thing—”
“—to wear?” His smile flashed instantly and he looked almost proud. “If you’ll allow me to solve that issue, I picked us up a couple things at the shop. They had your size on file from the staff list. Please, don’t say no. It’s my…mating gift to you.”
He’d pointed to the right, and for the first time she noticed the hangers hooked over the wall sconce. Something dark hung against the wall—a suit jacket, perhaps. But in front there was a shimmering red gown that made her gasp in surprise and dismay.
“Oh, Jared. How did you—?”
He caught her against him and kissed her protests away. It was a touch annoying, and yet how could she object when his mouth was doing such sinfully distracting things?
He drew away slowly, as if gauging to see if the complaints would pour out again. “I want you to feel comfortable tonight. I know it’s just a dress-up-to-dress-up thing. But you are so beautiful, I had to get you something that was nearly as pretty as you.”
“Silver-tongued devil…” Keri smiled slowly. It wasn’t her jeans and ratty T-shirts, but she wasn’t into being a rebel for rebellion’s sake anymore—she’d gotten over that as a teenager. He placed a hand on her lower back, directing her toward the clothing. The heat of his palm lingered against her flesh.
Contradictions raged inside, an emotional and mental battleground. She slid the back of her fingers down the material, a shiver racing over her at the sheer decadence of the fabric. She loved being cared for—and wearing this dress would make some of her little-girl daydreams come true. She was a princess being cared for by her fairy godmother.
Said godmother pressed against her back, and the image switched from pumpkins and formal balls to Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf, who was now nibbling on her neck and the sensitive place behind her ear.
Big Bad Wolf was a better image to keep in mind than some kind and helpless old matriarch.
But the invitation had been issued. Declining would be massively rude, i.e., rude enough to be mentioned, and suddenly Tessa’s reputation was on the line and Keri was ready to laugh out loud.
It was easy to justify what you wanted to do in the first place, wasn’t it? She let her other protests die away for a moment as she turned to face him. “It’s simply incredible. Thank you.”
The expression lighting his eyes made her incredibly happy right before a tiny corner of guilt snuck in. Had the gown been paid for with stolen funds?
Screw it. She couldn’t hide in the sand like an ostrich forever, but for the next three hours? She would take the pretense of the fairy tale and roll with it. Keep her eyes wide open and hope her heart wasn’t about to be broken into pieces.
Jared coaxed the smile back to Keri’s face, and finally his wolf stopped slapping him around. The beast hadn’t stopped poke, poke, poking since he’d hit the damn ship. He’d figured it was because of the mate thing, but now that he and Keri had gotten together—and wow, nothing had prepared him for how much better sex with a mate was—Jared had figured his wolf would take a chill pill.
Nope. Still with the poke-poke shit. The stupid beast sensed something was wrong with his mate and wanted to fix it, right now. Jared couldn’t figure out what the lupine was going on about, which made both of them slightly pissed off and started the typical shifter internal-domination games. Two-brains-in-one-head couldn’t always live together in harmony, and this was one of those times.
Keri had pulled the gown off the wall and was flipping the hanger back and forth, checking both sides. He could hardly wait to see her in it. The skimpy garment had a low, low back, which should showcase that incredible tattoo she had. Which was a good thing.
The scoop of the fabric also meant that when he managed to sweet-talk her into dancing after dinner, he’d get to have his hand on bare flesh. Which was also a good thing.
There was no way she could wear a bra with that neckline. A very, very good thing.
He was such a dog.
“Oh!” Jared fumbled in his pocket. “I checked. If you want, you can get your hair done. And your…whatever else you want. They can sneak you in so you’re ready in time for our seating.”
Keri took the salon’s card from him and that brow of hers went up again. “You think I need a haircut?”
Jared stopped in confusion. That wasn’t the response he’d expected. “Umm, no, but I thought you might enjoy getting done up all fancy.”
The pause was barely there, but he still noticed. He’d made her uncomfortable, and that was the last thing he’d intended. His wolf gave him shit and this time he agreed.
“Actually, I stopped at the salon to grab a bottle of massage oil so I can seduce the crap out of you later, and then I thought most women love to be pampered and stuff.” Jared grabbed her hands and squeezed them tightly. Starting a lifetime relationship not knowing a thing about the other person was freaking hard, but damn if he’d mess it up over something as inconsequential as a dinner out. “That whole ‘I’m yours, you’re mine’ thing? I meant it. In everything, even in the little things. Hell, especially in the little things that make you happy. If you tell me you want to go to dinner in our jeans, I’m game. I don’t mind pushing the boundaries of politeness, but I also want to give you special things. You can dye your hair neon green and I’ll still think you are gorgeous. You can—”
It was his turn to be kissed into silence. Keri all but crawled up him, and her tongue was down his throat, and if he didn’t exercise more control than he wanted to, he was going to be buried in her body and not let either of them come up for air all night long.
It took every ounce of strength to catch hold of her hair, wrap it around his fist and tug lightly. She gasped, not with pain, but something sweet and dark and dammit, his cock couldn’t possible get any harder, but it did.
“You’re going to make us late for dinner.”
She grinned. “I’m sorry I misunderstood your offer. I’d love to hit the salon, on one condition.”
He knew that look. Oh man, he’d seen it on his mom and sisters when they were about to do a little “improving” on him. “No. Please, no.”