All in the Chemistry [The Royal Wolves 4] (Siren Publishing Allure) (6 page)

Her nose wrinkled and she laughed. “Good point.” She turned her face skyward as well, the rain pelting the glass above them was a song to her, and it called to her very blood. She did her best thinking in the rain and afterward her paintings were always so much more than they had been previously. “Would you mind terribly if we left?” she asked suddenly as she looked back at him. She didn’t know what she wanted to do, but it wasn’t being there. She wanted to just simply be with him where they didn’t have to hide in the shadows for fear someone would see them. A frown crossed her face as she asked, “Do you not want to be seen with me?” It made sense. He had asked her to keep her mask on and he had them hidden in the darkest corner of the terrace, but why?

“I’d like to go, too,” he said with a shrug as he touched her cheek. Pausing at her question though he frowned. “Of course I want to be seen with you,” he said shaking his head and then the light apparently dawned. “Because of where we are right now,” he smiled slightly. “I just wanted a little privacy to have you to myself. I thought if everyone knew it was you for sure, or knew it was me we’d be under siege. I’m not sorry for stealing a few minutes alone with you, my mate,” he threw out there, obviously wanting her to get used to the idea. “But I say we toss the masks and walk boldly through the no man’s land in there and thumb our noses at the hoity-toity.”

She smiled and nodded. “I’m with you.” Her mask was off and in her hand before she finished speaking and looked up at him with a big smile on her face. “You do know that we will be on the cover of every magazine and newspaper come morning, right?” Simply because of who they were, rivals in their fields and now lovers, or so she hoped. With his name being in the papers, often with a picture that wasn’t always flattering, hair askew and a glower in place, he’d be very recognized. And after the raking over the coals she’d taken, thanks to her Board she now knew, the reporters were always on the lookout for something she might do they could turn to scandal. The two of them together, at a huge event like this, reporters galore…They would definitely end up in a paper of some sort, somewhere, with something cheesy and gag worthy as the title.

“I don’t personally give a damn and I’ll even sign autographs,” he said, pulling his off and tossing it toward a small table. “You are my mate, Courtney, I am not ashamed to be seen with you, ever. We are meant to be together and the world will just have to accept it all.” Of course, it would also mean that his findings about her work were now null and void, but he knew his Board would just pass it to another department head and Kris knew that her work would stand fast.

“I agree.” She laughed as she tossed her mask atop his. “Let’s blow this popsicle stand.” They had danced through the night and now, now she was going home with her mate. “I can’t believe that I have a wolf as a mate, and I’ve been hiding from him for nine years.” She had been hiding, she nearly marched over to him nine years ago when that article came out but something had stopped her. “We have a lot of lost time to make up for.”

“Don’t,” he said shaking his head. “It wasn’t our time to meet then or any time until right this moment. We are where we need to be in the now,” he told her gently stroking her cheek again. He just couldn’t seem to get enough of stroking and touching her skin, taking every opportunity there was to touch her. “We weren’t ready to meet, but now we’re at the right place in time.”

“I agree, this is where we were destined to meet, Kristof,” she leaned into his touch, she loved his touch and hoped he would never stop. “That is why we dreamed of a masked ball, we have been hidden from each other for too long.” And they had. “Take me home?” she whispered, leaving it to him to choose where ‘home’ would be for them.

Smiling he tucked her hand in his arm and headed for the doors. Pushing through, he closed them behind her before leading her around the dance floor and toward the doors. Spotting the cameras coming up he shook his head. “Smile for the cameras, darling,” he murmured as he put his remote but slightly amused look on as they moved closer to the main doors and finally outside.

Her smile was already in place, a smile that was so filled with love and adoration that several people could be heard commenting in surprise. She couldn’t hide her feelings, never had been able to hide them so she leaned closer to him as he led them out of the ballroom and toward where the valet waited. She watched as he handed the man his ticket and leaned against him, inhaling the scent of the ozone and rain as they waited under the canopy for his car.

Slipping his arm around her shoulder, he turned into her slightly and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. Eyeing the people watching them, he rolled his eyes wondering why they couldn’t just mind their own business. When his car pulled up he moved around to the passenger side and opened the door for her.

Chapter 2

She got into the car and tugged the train of her gown in to wrap around her feet. Buckling up when he closed her door, she waited for him to come around and take her home. His car was a surprise, much like him.

When he got in she waited until they were on the road to slip her hand into his. “Where are we going?” She didn’t want to ask if he was taking her to her studio apartment or his home, so she left the question as it was.

Turning his hand and lacing his fingers with hers, he stroked his thumb over her soft flesh. “Home,” he said softly squeezing her fingers gently. Heading for the city limits, he let the silence stretch, and for the first time ever, it was a comfortable silence.

She closed her eyes and leaned her head back, a gentle smile caressing her lips. “We will have to eventually go to my studio so that I can get clothes, but for now, home sounds delightful, Kristof.”

Looking to her he smiled. “Clothing is overrated,” he told her softly. Lifting her hand he nibbled on her fingers gently as he kept his eyes on the dark road ahead of them. Resting her hand on his thigh he continued to stroke her skin with his thumb. Twenty minutes later he pulled into his driveway and hit the remote for the large gates. Glancing to her as they swung open, he winked before pulling up the long drive and swinging slowly around the central planter full of huge trees that sheltered the front door and parked before the single level rambling ranch style open concept house. Parking, he climbed out, reluctantly releasing her hand, and moved around to open her door and help her out. “Welcome to my humble abode,” he said of the four thousand plus square foot house. His was slightly larger than his brothers’, but he’d had to put in a lab at home so he could putter on the weekends.

She let out a breath and whistled low. “Wow, humble abode, huh?” She turned and looked at him, grinning. “I think that we are speaking different languages. This”—she gestured with her hands—“this is a palace in the hills. This is a mansion. Humble is nowhere on this map, Kristof.”

Shrugging, he looked at it. “You say that now, you haven’t seen inside yet,” he told her quietly. His style of decorating was boring to say the least. Except for a large sofa, his portrait with his mother over the fireplace and his huge bed he really didn’t have much furniture or need for much. Although, he did have the guest rooms done up thanks to a designer, but he’d cut her off when she’d wanted to do his room in earth tones with a fountain and kicked her ass to the curb. Unlocking the door he let her go through first. “Remember, I warned you,” he said hitting the lights, the giant chandelier hung in the double high entrance throwing softly muted light around the whole space.

She looked at the wide open space and grinned. “You, too, are a minimalist.” She lived in a studio because ‘things’ drove her to distraction. She wasn’t much on a lot of things. “Can I have a room in the house to use for painting?” She would have to choose just the right room and hoped that he didn’t have it earmarked for something else.

Looking at her he grinned. “Not a minimalist so much as lazy,” he told her honestly. “I keep thinking I should get some more pieces in so it doesn’t look like a cavernous space, but I just find it annoys me to shop and I hate having people in here. I had a designer do most of it and the other bedrooms, but when she wanted to turn my bedroom into a naturist retreat instead of what I wanted I fired her ass.”

“Smart choice.” She looked at him with a grin. “I think I would have hated to have to tear that out.”

Looking around he shrugged. “I don’t know, it needs something, but I’ve never really been able to figure out what. As to your studio”—he took her hand—“Come on, I think I have an idea.” He grinned leading her to the back of the house and the large sunroom that was, like the rest of the place, bare save for some plants. Pushing open the door he grinned at her. “Will this work for you?” he asked hitting the lights so she could see all the glass that would give her light throughout the day and the very empty space.

She looked around the room and clapped happily. Looking up at the glass and hearing the rain pelting away at the glass and the wind bellowing she grinned. “It is perfect, thank you!” She moved into his arms, half throwing herself at him, and embarrassingly enough, half tripping into his arms. “I would also love to set up a lab somewhere.” She pulled back and looked at him, grinning. “Unless you already have one set up and are willing to share?”

Blushing slightly he shrugged. “I already have a fully stocked one here,” he told her with a half-smile. “You’re more than welcome to share if you can put up with me in there. If not, there’s still the other half of the basement you could use,” he said quietly. Stroking his fingers over her cheek he leaned in and kissed her softly. “Are you hungry?” he asked pulling back to look at her. “I was thinking of grabbing a snack if you’re interested. We can go and change into something a little less formal, have a quick bite, and then I can give you the tour and see what your thoughts might be.”

“I would like that.” She licked her lips and smiled. “However, seeing as how I have nothing but this dress you will have to begin your sharing with giving me one of your T-shirts and maybe shorts if you have a pair small enough?” She was delighted, she wanted to be able to work with him at home. “I just hope you can put up with me in a lab. I’ve been told that I could have made the Nazis cry like school girls.”

His lips twitched slightly. “I’ve heard that rumor, too,” he said in a soft voice trying to hide his smile. “But it’s okay, I have a stun gun in case you get a little too feisty for your shorts. Come on, I don’t know about shorts, but I might still have a pair of boxers that shrunk in the wash you can borrow.”

“Sounds good enough to me.” She was hopeful that she wouldn’t remain in clothes for too long at all, if life was smiling on her they would only be in clothes long enough to eat and him to show her the bed because just looking at him made her want him in a way that was primal and lustful.

Leading her from the sunroom and to his bedroom, he pulled open the closet doors. “Feel free to rummage through,” he told her as he grabbed an old pair of jeans that really had seen better days and a shirt. “The boxers are likely in the drawers at the back,” he said pointing to the back of the cavernous closet.

She snickered and shook her head. “You are going to go into claustrophobic shock when you go to my apartment.” She snagged a well-worn and well-loved button down shirt and couldn’t find shorts. “Can’t find shorts so it’s going to be just the shirt and my panties only it seems.” She moved out and toward him, giving him her back. “Will you undo the stays on the back for me, please?”

Blinking, he reached for the back of her gown and began to undo it, once he’d fumbled around a bit. “You know,” he grumbled. “Women’s clothing is the one thing that flummoxes every male in the world. Doesn’t matter how many degrees you have it still can make you look like a complete moron.” Pulling the last tie free he breathed a sigh of relief. “There, done,” he said stepping back.

Holding the dress up to her front she grinned. “You should have seen Lucy lacing me up into this thing.” She rubbed a hand along the fabric. “But I love this dress, Kristof, I felt like a princess in this gown.”

“You are a princess, darling,” he grinned at her, reaching out to stroke his fingers over the top of the dress. “In many more ways than you know, but that’s for a discussion later,” he told her. “Take it off love and I’ll hang it up for you so that it doesn’t get wrinkled or dirty.”

“All right, turn around, Kris.” Her eyes sparkled with amusement and delight, she wanted him to see her naked, but later.

When he was turned around, she let the silk dress slip off of her body and into a pool at her feet, pulling on the shirt and quickly buttoning it leaving on the lace thong and silk garter and stockings. When he turned back around, she had just picked up the dress and had it in her arms. “I need a hanger, preferably a really sturdy one.”

“I’ll do it, love,” he said gently taking the dress from her and heading for the closet. Pulling down a hanger, he got the dress on it and it actually stayed, amazingly enough. Stripping he changed quickly and rejoined her brushing his fingers through his hair. “Ready for some food?” he asked holding out a hand to her.

She had her arms up and nodded. “Let me finish taking my hair down and we will be golden.” Her stomach growled and she laughed. “I seriously need to eat, can we walk at the same time?” Finally all the pins were loose and with a shake of her head and fingers through her hair the strawberry-blond mass fell in waves around her face.

Pausing he reached out to capture a strand of the hair. “Beautiful,” he said softly rubbing it between his fingers lightly. Smiling as he refocused on her he shook his head. “Sorry,” he murmured letting his hand fall. “Come on,” he told her gently as he moved down the hall.