Page 18 of Same Thing

“No, Nory, now I have to go get you another damn coffee because every time I think about leaving you without your morning coffee, my skin tingles with an urge to Change, and I’m pretty sure no one in this complex is ready to deal with that. So, to keep everyone here safe, I need to go back to the coffee shop now.”

“You seem mad at me.”

“I’m not.” His voice was too gruff.

“You still seem mad at me,” she said softly. “What did I do wrong?”

He glanced at her, and away. Back to her, and away. The next time his eyes met hers, they were softer. “I’m mad at me. Not you.”

“Oh.” She gave him a sympathetic smile. “I know that feeling. I’m going to put on a bra. Follow me.”

“What?”

“Oh,” she said turning around as something hit her. “Is it like a vampire thing? You may cross the threshold. Come in.”

He hesitated. “It’s not like a vampire that needs to be invited in. You just shouldn’t invite strangers into your house.”

Nory shrugged her arms tighter over her chest as she headed toward her bedroom. “There are paper towels in the kitchen. When she ghosted a look at the door right before she disappeared into her room, Liam was standing in the open doorway looking around her apartment with a baffled expression on his face.

She bit back a smile.

“I just told you I’m on the verge of a Change, Nory. In the future, if any werewolf says that to you, you get away from them. You don’t invite them inside your den.”

“My den?” she called, rifling through her closet for something cuter than a huge t-shirt to wear. “Is that what you call a home?”

“Yes. Who is this in the picture over your fireplace?”

“That’s my mom, my grandmother, and my great grandmother. And me.”

“Four generations,” he said quieter, and she almost didn’t catch it. “Are you all close?”

“My great grandmother isn’t with us anymore, but yes. They’ve always just understood me, you know? It’s good to have a support system like that.”

“You mean understood the shyness?”

She pursed her lips against a response. He would never know how much she had struggled with it when she was younger. For a few years, she’d had trouble even speaking to other people. He didn’t need to know that though.

She peeled off her shirt and pulled on a grey bra, and then a forest green sweater, and a pair of skinny jeans, and socks with little pine tree patterns on them. She shoved her feet into her favorite pair of fall boots, zipped them up and then brushed through her hair in the dresser mirror. A little mascara, a little eyeliner, a little lip gloss and one last look over in the full-length mirror in the corner of her room, and she came back out to find Liam looking at the framed picture of her and her mother that she kept on the coffee table. He looked up and set it down slowly. His eyes traveled down her body, and then back up, and Nory stood there frozen. Not because she was afraid, but she’d never had a man look at her in such an intimate way before. His expression wasn’t hungry, or possessive. No, it was different than the way Jackson looked at her. Liam seemed to just appreciate whatever he saw. But that didn’t make sense. He was Liam, the tall, sexy, perfect werewolf, and she was just…Nory.

“We match,” he rumbled.

She looked at his green T-shirt that was just tight enough to show off his defined chest. Even his jeans were a similar color to her skinny jeans.

“Oh my gosh. We do. Why did I do that?” she asked. “Sorry,” she said, turning back for her room to change.

“No, it’s fine. I don’t mind it. You look…” He cleared his throat and clasped his hands behind his back. “You look human.”

“Thank you?” she said with a soft laugh.

He nodded once. “I’ll be back in ten.”

“I can go with you,” she blurted out as he moved to leave.

“Oh, I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Why not?”

“Because it’s dangerous.”