When We Were Mates (Demetra and Emris) novel Chapter 72

Chapter 72

Emris.

“Are we the only customers here?” Demetra asks, glancing across the room for the second time at the department head, who’s setting two flutes of champagne on the counter for us.

“We are.” I sit back, watching her take in the empty store with that sprinkle of unease she thinks she’s hiding. “With the rumors floating around the city, I didn’t want someone whispering near us about this and that.”

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I take one of the filled glasses and hand it to her. She accepts it, and I don’t bother asking why her face has gone the color of a ripe tomato at the implication of us being the only ones here…though I suppose I could hazard a guess.

“Thank you.”

“Sir, we’ve brought every collection out. All in her size.” The woman in the uniform gestures to the racks of dresses.

Demetra whispers. “How… how do they know my size?”

“When I had my hands around your waist recently so I guessed it. Plus….I did caress your breasts.”

“Emris!” My name hisses out of her and she pinches me cutely.

She looks toward the male staff arranging displays at the far end of the room.

“Well, you asked me—”

“I… I didn’t ask you to say it!”

I turn my head just enough for the staff take the hint and get out of the room.

“You know I’m vague.” I continue when they are all gone.

“Oh, boy…how could I forget?” She sets her champagne down on the marble and walks toward the carts of dresses. Demetra holds up a yellow gown, and I take my seat into the velvet armchair they’ve stationed near the mirrors.

I watch her in silence. It’s something I could get addicted to. Not cleaning up around my room or bringing me honey water after an hang over… just watching her exist in space that I’ve made available for her.

“Are you going to sit there and watch me?” she asks, holding the dress against her frame.

“You have no idea how much I crave that. To just sit and watch you in your element.” I smile. “I mean, I get to see it when we’re painting, but I also know once that work is done, you may never step foot in my home again. So I suppose I’m buying time.”

Demetra looks at me like I’m joking. But the blush on her cheeks gives her away. It’s spreading. She’s not annoyed. She’s trying not to smile.

“Truth or dare.” I rise.

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10:32 Thu, May 14

Chapter 72

She scoffs, eyes going wide like she’s trying to figure out when I turned into a college kid instead of an Alpha. But that’s exactly how I feel around her. Something about her reduces me to the need to ask, to provoke, to play.

“Since when are you a college kid?”

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“Let’s pretend we both are.” I stop a foot from her. She holds the yellow dress up to her body and strikes a pose with a model’s instinct. She’s checking if I like it.

“Yellow makes you glow like the sun.”

The words come from somewhere deeper than my usual charm, and Demetra blinks.

“Truth.” She picks, following my game, and I do a small victory fist at my side when I hear it.

“Um…let’s see.” I push my hair back from my forehead, and suddenly the questions are so many I don’t even know which one to ask first. “Are you happy that I’m single again?”

Demetra bites her lip.

“Truth, only…please.” I remind her.

“Whatever. Yes.” She walks away from me when she sees me closing the distance.

“My turn.” Demetra locks eyes with me.

“Shoot me.”

“It’s been five years and you had no woman. How did you make it during the full moons? The heats? You used to have a lot of heats, and if I remember anything about my mate, it would be that he had a huge appetite.”

I lift one corner of my mouth in a smile. Since I’m taking a second to answer, Demetra quickly glances at

1. me.

“Thank you for remembering how great my appetite was…you somehow matched it.” I murmur that last part and feel her eyes light me on fire. “To answer your question…how could I feel heat when I didn’t know if my mate was alive or dead? I barely functioned as a man. Everything shut down without you being present. I can only be in grave heat when I can smell you near me, but when I’m mourning you and thinking back to how I had you, in that loss… there could never be sexual desire for anything or anyone. I hope I answered your question well.”

“Hmm.” Is the only answer she gives me as she picks up a bag that her eyes actually brighten at.

“Dare.” I say.

“How can you pick dare-”

“I dare you to try that yellow on. It would look really pretty on you.”

Demetra smiles at my choice of words. I think I’m doing a really good job…she’s been blushing here and there, and it seems my jokes are working to keep her enjoying this conversation.

“I’ll go try it on.”

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Chapter 72

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While she’s gone, I start picking out other outfits for her. When I had her, I never took her shopping. Instead, I threw my card at her. Now I’m imagining her in all these pretty clothes, and I already know…I am absolutely sure it will look so beautiful on her.

I want her to take so much home that with every one she wears, she thinks back to me, to this moment. Skirts, dresses, heels. I want to see her in all of it.

I hear the click of her shoes and look up to see Demetra in the butter–yellow dress that stops at her thighs. She’s holding the zipper at the back, and I don’t wait for her to ask. I walk forward and help her zip it, pretending I don’t see her milky skin and lace bra as I do.

I step back to look at her, and the words come out before I can shape them.

“Wow. Demetra, say something. Because if you keep standing there looking at me like that, I’m going to forget why I…exist.”

Her hands fly to her cheeks to cover the heat there. “Emris.”

I take her hand and pull it away from her face. “Let me see all of it.”

She rolls her eyes, but she lets me twirl her. The yellow skirt flares, and when she comes back around, I catch her waist and pull her closer until her body meets mine. Her hand falls against my chest, and I know she feels my heart pounding like I’ve been running for miles.

I lean in, my nose brushing hers, my mouth hovering just above her lips. The space between us is barely a breath. I can feel her want…it’s a pulse I recognize, a rhythm I once knew by heart.

She wants me to kiss her but I let go.

I step back, releasing her waist, and watch the disappointment across her face before she can hide it. Demetra blinks once, twice, then turns and walks back into the dressing room area.

I follow her in.

TOOT G