The Designated Mate novel Chapter 31

"Who! How?!" she demanded at a loss for words. I just blushed bright red and bit the corner of my lip.

"A girl never kisses and tells," I teased.

"Oh bullshit, you better fucking tell!" she demanded angrily. I giggled at her reaction.

"Fine, but later. We have to get this darn painting done," I reasoned to which she huffed in frustration before agreeing.

I was glad we started with the bathroom and guest bedroom first, knocking those two out of the way. We were both freezing by the time we made our way to the living room, a painful reminder that I still needed to have a new heating and cooling system installed throughout the entire home. The single fireplace wasn't cutting it.

We only had one wall left to finish up when I heard heavy footsteps coming up the front porch stairs.

"Who the hell is that? It's one-thirty in the morning!" Grace asked, looking somewhat worried.

"Could it be Jason trying to find you?" I asked.

"No, I left him a note telling him where I was and that I would be back late," She whispered, dropping her voice as the footsteps grew nearer.

The door swung open, revealing a bundled up Knox with bloodshot, tired eyes. I released a breath of relief before smiling wide.

"Knox, you scared us half to death!" I giggled before getting up from my kneeling position and setting my paint brush down. I rushed over to him and took his coat, hanging it up on the old coat tree in the corner.

"How was border patrol?" I asked, completely oblivious to Grace watching us from a few feet away as if we were an exhibit in a zoo.

"Boring, except for a group of pups who decided it would be a good idea to try and sneak out after curfew and go skinny dipping at one of the falls," he grumbled, visibly annoyed. I giggled at his child-like expression of irritation as he slipped his shoes off.

"I didn't know there was a pack curfew," I admitted honestly.

I hurried back to my room, giddy to be with Knox again.

Upon entering, I blushed bright red seeing him already stripped down to just his boxers and laying on the bed. I was shocked to see him on top of the covers while wearing so little clothing. He had to be cold, right?

His eyes opened back up, catching me in the act of ogling his body.

"Like what you see, Flower?" he asked, a barely-there smirk pulling at the edge of his lips. I cleared my throat and looked away. Yes, yes I very much do I thought. My wolf flapped her tail a few times in my head in agreement. I chose not to answer him as he clearly already knew the answer. Turning, I grabbed a pair of thick flannel pajamas from my suitcase on the floor and entered my walk-in closet to quickly change.

Once dressed, I was thankful that my mom splurged on these for Christmas one year. They trapped my body heat in and made it so I didn't notice my cabin's lack of heating.

I tried to calm my nervous stomach as I walked out and climbed under the covers on my bed. Knox joined me seconds later, catching me off guard when he slid my pillow out from under my head, resituated it under his own, and pulled my body back so that he was cradling my body with his own as I used his bicep as a pillow.