Chapter 106
Noah sat at his computer, his panther hungry for a sight of Maya.
He’d give anything to touch her again. Fucking hell, he had problems. He’d been with her one night, and she’d crawled under his skin, pushing emotions he tried never to deal with to the surface.
His gaze strayed to her shades. She still wasn’t home. He needed to focus on his work and stop staring at her apartment like a love-struck idiot.
The light in her apartment turned on and objects went flying. He shot to his feet, wondering what could have upset her to the point she was throwing things. He shouldn’t feel so tempted to go calm her, but the panther urged him to go to her, to make it all better.
Before he had a chance to rethink things, he was knocking at her door. He heard her growl, and she jerked the door open.
She blinked, huffing and puffing out angry breaths, her face flushed with color.
“Hi.”
“Are you okay?”
“Yes.”
She pasted a smile on her lips that didn’t reach her eyes.
“I thought you had work to do?”
He nodded and moved forward, pushing his way into her house. He glanced around and found the notebooks she’d thrown against the wall. He marched to them and picked them up off the floor, turning to hand them back to her.
“These must have been terrible to you for them to get thrown across the room.”
She frowned, glancing at her closed blinds and then back at him.
“How do you know...? You know what, never mind. Listen, I’m not really in the mood for company right now.”
The hurt in her voice stabbed his gut.
“I can help. Just talk to me.”
She shook her head and glanced upward, letting out her breaths slowly.
“You can’t make stupid people smart.”
He took another step toward her, and she took one back.
“I can’t make stupid people smart, but maybe setting a panther loose on them could be entertaining.”
She lifted her lips into a soft smile that tugged at his heart.
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
He stopped by the door, not leaving, but not making moves to get near her.
“Got any vodka?”
She widened her eyes and smiled.
“Yes. I do. Have a seat. I’ll make you my famous coconut mojitos.”
He didn’t know what the hell a coconut mojito was, but her disposition had gone from angry and hurt to excited in a heartbeat.
She rushed off to the kitchen and pulled out a blender and started rummaging through her fridge.
“Come sit by the kitchen. You can talk to me while I make us drinks.”
He glanced down at his hard-on. He’d need to figure out how to make it go away. It appeared this was going to be one of those nights the female wanted to talk. He’d read about it. Apparently they liked to speak out their frustrations. Noah liked to run as a panther and hunt to get rid of frustration. Or when it came to the worries in the form of too many thoughts of Maya, he had to take cold showers. Masturbation only went so far.
He sat across the kitchen counter and watched her take out a plastic bowl with shaved coconut. Then she took out a plastic bag with mint leaves and coconut milk. To his surprise, there was a bottle of vodka big enough to worry him on her counter.
“How often do you make these mojitos?”
She glanced up from her work with a grin.
“That’s a big bottle of vodka, huh?”
“I’m just wondering if I should expect to see you sucking these down often.”
She laughed and winked.
“You can relax. My co-workers all chipped in to get this to me for my birthday a few days ago. Apparently, I was supposed to open it at work and let them all drink their share of it but I forgot.”
She threw coconut milk, vodka, and vanilla in the blender and mixed.
“You seem to have all the ingredients to put the stuff together so quickly.”
She blinked and shook her head.
“My friend was supposed to come over, but then changed her mind. We make a habit of having girls night and drinking these once a week.”
He already knew that. Not because he was stalking her through her window or anything. Okay, maybe because of that. She was too interesting to ignore.
She poured the mixed concoction into tall glasses and handed him one.
“Oh, wait!”
she opened a drawer and pulled out two straws.
“I know guys don’t normally like drinking stuff out of straws, but my teeth are sensitive to the cold and I wasn’t sure if you did too.”
He shoved the straw into his cup.
“There you go. Drink and let me know what you think.”
He took a sip, wondering what the hell he was getting into and how he would politely tell her he loved it if he didn’t. Thankfully, it didn’t come down to that. The combination of vodka, coconut, and milk created a smooth texture that went down great.
“This is really good.”
She laughed and picked up her own glass.
“I can tell. You already downed most of it in a single sip.”
He glanced down at the glass, and sure enough, there was about an inch of the drink left after only one gulp.
“Come on, let’s sit in the living room.”
He glanced at the remainder of the mojito.
“Don’t worry, I’ll bring the jar with us.”
She poured the rest of the liquid into a glass jar and carried it to the coffee table.
“What upset you earlier?” he asked, wanting to know more about the underlying distress he sensed in her.
“My family. They honestly think I can’t handle getting a man on my own,” she said and took a sip of her drink.
“What the hell makes them think they’re experts? My sister is dating a real loser. The guy wants her to be at his ideal weight so they can get married. The crazy part is, I know he won’t marry her even then.”
He sucked in a breath.
“What do you mean ideal weight? Is she not happy with her body?”
She rolled her eyes.
“To be honest, I don’t know what she is. She doesn’t really talk to me much. I love her to death, but she can be so easily influenced by men.”
“You don’t seem to have that problem,” he mused.
She raised her glass to salute.
“I’m too stubborn. I like myself the way I am. If a man’s gonna love me, then he’s gonna have to love every round bit about me. I don’t pretend to be perfect, and I’m never going to be. I’m me.”
He put his glass on the napkin on the table.
“You look pretty perfect to me.”
“Hah!”
She shook her head.
“Cut it out. We both know I’m not. Hell, nobody’s perfect. But I’m okay with that. I’m happy being the big girl in the family. I just wish people didn’t act like because I’m big I have to lower my expectations in life and men.”
“In what sense?”
He liked this. Talking to her. Listening to her and having her open herself up to him. He might not realize how much he’d been needing it, but he had. Her soft, husky voice held him captive. Her words drew him in, and for a long moment he had no idea if he was just fascinated because she was his mate, or because she was really interesting.
“Men. Men think that I have to put up with things I dislike because I’m the fat girl.”
She frowned.
“Screw that. I might be the fat girl, but I have priorities and expectations too. I don’t deserve any less than what I want in life or relationships.”
“What happened with your ex?”
Her shoulders dropped.
“He turned out to be a dick. Plain and simple. He wasn’t a horrible guy, just thought that he could do whatever and I’d put up with it. Not.”
He leaned closer, close enough to grasp her hands in his and lift them to his lips.
“You’re an amazing woman, Maya. It’s not just because of how gorgeous you are, but because you have such inner strength. You know what you want, and you’re not going to settle for less. Too many times in life, we settle when we shouldn’t.”