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“Thanks,” he said, walking into her bedroom and closing her bedroom door behind himself to keep her out while he showered.

Hellen stopped short when he closed her door in her face, but instead of getting irritated, she actually laughed.

“Fine. Coffee and Hallmark it is.” She changed direction and went to her kitchen to make herself a cup of her favorite coffee.

Added enough sugar and creamer to make anybody else’s teeth hurt, and sat down in front of the television to look for her favorite mind numbingly dependable channel to occupy her brain and truth-be-told, her heart.

More than an hour later she realized it had been quite a while and there was no trace of the stubborn gator yet.

Setting her empty coffee cup aside, she got up and went to her bedroom, pausing to listen at the door.

She didn’t hear water running from the bathroom, nor anything else.

She opened her door and peeked inside. She shook her head when she saw him all curled up in her bed, her pillow held tight in his arms, her comforter pulled up high enough to only allow the top of one shoulder to peek out as he slept.

His slow, steady breaths told her he was deeply asleep.

Hellen stood where she was in the doorway, watching Lucien sleep.

He was without a doubt the single most beautiful male she’d ever seen.

He was obviously quite capable of interacting and socializing, but he was also so damned arrogant and self-assured.

His snide remarks often had her wanting to box his ears.

But the sight of him asleep in her bed did strange things to her.

Just as his words of promise back at Vince’s had done.

She’d been sure she didn’t want him here, had no intention of letting him stay.

But when he’d said that he wasn’t going anywhere, and he’d vowed that no other female would ever know what it was to be kissed by him, something inside her had shifted.

Something had settled into place and sighed in deep satisfaction.

She quietly closed the door and went back to the living room, her thoughts racing with every step.

“Fuck me,” she murmured. “What the hell am I supposed to do with an alligator shifter?”

“Mate him”, her Wolf thought back at her almost immediately.

~~~

Later that night, well after dark Lucien woke and looked around the darkened bedroom.

He stretched out his hand tentatively and found that he was still alone.

He rose from the bed, quietly opening the door and following the murmur of the television in the living room, soon found Hellen.

She’d fallen asleep on the sofa with the television on.

“Hell?” he said quietly, gently touching her shoulder.

Her sudden intake of breath and the tensing of her body let him know that he’d startled her. “Sorry, I woke up and you weren’t there.”

She looked around sleepily, her hand scratching the back of her head. “I must have fallen asleep.”

“Why don’t you come to bed?”

“Because you’re sleeping in there. I’m fine out here, or I can go in the other bedroom,” she said, standing up to do just that.

Lucien watched as she turned off the television then the other lights she passed on her way to the other part of the house.

He decided at just that moment that he was quickly losing patience with the games the two of them were playing.

He quickened his step and caught up with her, taking her hand in his and causing her to stop and look back at him.

“Hell, will you please stop the games for just tonight?”

She looked at him sleepily. “What games?”

“You’re not sleeping in your bed because I’m there.”

“We’re not a couple. And you’re trying to get some rest and heal a little more. I was being nice, not playing games.”

Lucien sighed tiredly, his eyes closing for a brief moment before he looked at her again with that one perfect blue eye. “What I’d really like is for you to sleep beside me tonight.”

“We’re not a…”

“I know! We’re not a couple. But I really need to feel you next to me tonight. I’ve never wanted to have anyone sleep next to me. Can’t remember that I ever did, but I need you next to me. Please. I’m asking.”

Hellen hesitated, their gazes locked as she tried to determine if he was just playing her to get her into bed, but she didn’t believe that he was.

“I just want to feel you there. Hold you. Not be alone for once in my life,” he confessed.

“Okay.”

“Okay?” he asked, with a slight smile.

“Okay.”

Lucien stepped past her, but kept her hand in his as he led her back to her own bedroom.

He closed the door after her, then went straight to bed, lying there in the dark watching her undress and pull her favorite over-sized, old, threadbare teeshirt over her head.

She kicked off her underwear and put on a fresh pair, then gathered up her dirty clothes and dumped them in the hamper sitting on the other side of the dresser.

Hesitantly she approached the bed. He was lying on her side, but that was an argument for another day.

“I know this is your side, but if you don’t mind, I’m liking lying here tonight,” he said.

“Smells like me.”

“Exactly,” he readily admitted.

She crawled up the foot of the bed and climbed under the covers, lying down on her side facing away from him.

He reached out and curled his hands around her waist, tugging her back closer to him.

Hellen complied, scooting back toward him until she felt the length of his body warm against her back and legs. He waited for her to settle her head on the pillow he was using, then snuggled his own head in right beside hers, his nose buried in her hair.

“Never figured you for a death metal fan,” he murmured.

“Hmm?” she asked.

“The shirt. Death metal band.”

“Oh. No. It was my brother’s. He left it for me when he moved to Missouri before we graduated from high school. It was really hard on me when he left. He knew I liked to sleep in it and left it for me. It brought me a lot of comfort in those days.”

“Why’d he move before graduating?”

“Got a girl pregnant and didn’t want his true mate to have to watch them together. He wasn’t walking away from his baby.”

“Harley.”

“Yes. She’s wonderful. Unfortunately, her mother, not so much. But Havoc did really try his best.”

“And he’s back now with his real mate?”

“Yes. Analise. Everyone has known they were mates since they were little kids.”

“Damn.”

“Yeah, wasn’t easy for them. And now it turns out that Barron and Emmalyn were mates, too. But they didn’t know until they were almost out of high school.”

“What about you? You have somebody they all thought you would end up with?”

“No. I thought I would end up alone. Didn’t think I had a mate.”

She felt his lips press against the back of her head.

“You definitely have a mate,” he said quietly, hugging her a little closer and sighing deeply. “Sleep well,” he whispered.

Not five minutes later his breathing evened out and got deeper.

Five minutes. That’s all it took and he was asleep again.

“You gotta be kidding,” she said to herself.

Then she grinned when she realized all he really wanted was to hold her.

She thought he might try to entice her to have sex, but he’d really only wanted to be next to her.

Still smiling, she closed her eyes and relaxed in his arms. His scent surrounded her and it wasn’t that much longer before she, too, fell into a deep sleep.