Page 38 of His Retribution

"Wow," she breathes. "You shaved your beard..."

So it is my appearance. Bummer.

My hand instinctively goes to my goatee, smooths it, and I feel a touch of nerves. "It was time." Then I hesitantly remove my ball cap and finger comb my hair. "This too."

My angel swallows hard, her eye twitches. "Wow..."

Now I feel far too self-conscious to relax.

This really wasn't about pleasing my mate, impressing her with my looks or build but the fact that she's been rendered fucking speechless is doing quite the number on my ego as well as my confidence.

This may have been a mistake.

I should have waited for Henrich to find a way to trigger her memories before I made myself seen, should have—

"You are so fucking hot."

My brows go sky high as my light slams her hands over her mouth and I see the signature nervous hives appear on her neck.

No doubt this is my mate, alright.

She never had much of a filter, cussed more than most men I knew and always said what she was thinking, damn the consequences. It's why we are so perfect for each other; I am much the same and though it would cause the occasional tiff, it also showed our passion for each other.

And I feel like king shit knowing my mate is seemingly very pleased by my makeover.

Maybe a little too much because the second her scent grows, becomes thicker in the air, my cock twitches and there is absolutely no place for that right now.

"Thank you," I choke out, my voice strained. "You arefucking hotas well."

My light blinks as I wait for her reaction, one that does not disappoint because she uses her hands to cover her whole face while she dissolves into a fit of giggles.

"Oh my gosh, I can't believe I said that."

I smile. Smile so big. "I'm flattered you think so highly of my appearance. Now you know it is mutual. Nothing to be concerned over."

My angel peeks at me through her fingers. "That was definitely not what I was planning to say to you though."

"No?" I feign disappointment as I relax into our familiar banter. "No intent to stroke my ego? Feed me compliments so I'll work on your truck?"

"Hardly." She drops her hands and plants them on her hips. "I would never stoop so low as to give a man anything just to get something in return. You'll work on my truck without one single complaint and you know why?"

Gods I've missed this. "Why is that?"

"Because you think I'm fucking hot too." Then she smiles and loses the fake scowl. "Plus, I'm going to feed you anyway.”

My dick perks up at this but I know my light does not mean her vein. He just isn't getting the memo.

Down boy.

Then my angel picks up what I now see to be packets or pouches made from foil, walks closer, and holds one out with a fork on top. "I haven't had dinner yet and since I wasn't sure when or if you were coming, I didn't want to be rude and eat in front of you."

My heart fills with so much love for this woman I can feel the ice around it start to melt. "You made me dinner?"

She chews her thumb and nods. "If you already ate though, you can just save it or give it to Samson or whatever." My light looks away briefly. "I mean, I just thought it was the least I could do and I didn't want—"

"This is most kind of you." I smile and pretend like I'm not going to cry over this whole damn situation. "I have not eaten and appreciate your consideration for me."

I'm rewarded with a huge smile as she nods. " It's not much, nothing fancy but it's easy and quick, filling, especially considering the kind of cook space I'm working with."