Griffen reached out a hand and took hers to pull her closer. She wore only another T-shirt of Miles’. “Where’re you going?”
“I need to train today, guys. I’ve only got two more weeks before the race. This week is my most important training week. Next week I taper off before the actual race day.”
“And what does that mean, exactly?” Miles asked. “Where do you train? Doing what?”
“Every day is different. Today I need a long run and weight training.”
Griffen wrapped a hand around her waist and hauled her closer. He set his lips on her belly and kissed her through the shirt, sending a shiver across her middle.
She squirmed at his touch. Even after two orgasms, well one and a half, less than an hour ago, she found herself quickening in an instant. Her nipples jumped to attention, and she squeezed her legs together against the tingle in her pussy.
She wiggled in his embrace to break the contact, but he ignored her and held her tighter. “Baby, we need to talk about this.”
“What’s there to talk about? I need you guys to take me home so I can clean up and get back on track. I have to work tomorrow, and if I don’t get started on my run soon, I’m going to be up very late.”
Miles leaned his elbows on the table. “Love, you can’t just leave.”
She opened her mouth, but Griffen cut her off, scooting his chair back and hauling her into his lap where her bare ass landed against his jeans, making her hyper-aware of his cock against her hip. His hands circled her body. He nuzzled his face in her hair and then nudged it away from her neck to kiss behind the ear. “Rebecca, we’re going to work with you. I know this is important to you, but hear us out.”
She chewed on the corner of her upper lip, narrowing her gaze at him. She wanted to put her foot down, but that was difficult seeing as she was about to melt against him. Her mind said get the hell out of there. Her body said turn around, straddle the man, and thrust down on his cock.
She wiggled again at the image.
“Mmm.” He closed his eyes as he lifted his head to face her. “That’s the sexiest image you’ve projected yet.”
She cringed. “Oh my God. You’re invading my brain.” How humiliating.
He appeared to fight against a smile. “Baby, you’ll learn to block us. Trust me. But it’s hard at first, especially for a human mate. Everything is so foreign to you, it’s difficult to add blocking to the list of accomplishments. Give it time.”
“That’s a relief.” She pushed against him. “In the meantime, you have to let me go, Griffen. I’m serious.”
He didn’t budge. “I’ll make you a deal. Miles has to work today. I do not. He’ll drive us to my place, and I’ll take you home. On one condition.”
“What’s that?” She narrowed her gaze at him. She wasn’t sure she was going to like his plan.
“You let me go with you.”
“To train?” Her voice rose a few decibels.
“Yep.”
She hesitated. “Seriously? That’s whacked, Griffen. I’m a big girl. I run by myself nearly every day of the week. Why do you want to go with me?”
“For many reasons, not the least of which is your safety.”
“Why did I know you were going to say that?”
Miles interrupted. “Rebecca, we don’t take this mating lightly, love. I know you don’t fully comprehend yet, but you mean the world to us. And your safety is always going to be our top priority.”
She stared at him, mouth open.
Griffen stroked a hand up her side, grazing the edge of her breast.
She swatted his fingers. “Stop trying to distract me. This is serious. You can’t possibly mean to insinuate you intend to start following me all over the place. It would suffocate me. And I would resent you in a heartbeat.”
Griffen stiffened beneath her. “Baby, we don’t want you to feel suffocated. That’s not our goal at all. We do want you to be safe, and for right now, I’m going to have to agree that until we understand better about this possible spirit thing, we don’t want you running all over creation unprotected.”
She spun to face him better. “No.” She shook her head. “You can’t. I’m not a child. I’m a grown woman. I need a fifteen-mile run today. I don’t need company. I need my iPod with some uplifting tunes, not a sexy wolfman alongside me distracting me from my workout.”
He gave her a coy grin. “I’ll stay one pace behind so you can’t see me, and I won’t say a word.”
She pursed her lips. It didn’t seem like she was going to win this battle. Not today anyway. She was concerned, however. This couldn’t become a habit.