Lupi 04 - Night Season

fun…mostly.
    â€œOw!” Cynna stumbled, then slapped at Cullen’s back. “Damn branches. Slow down. It’s a lot darker under these trees for me than it is for you.”
    He obeyed. Cynna had a hand hooked into the waist of his jeans so she could follow him in what was, for her, nearly pitch blackness. He was enjoying that hand. “Not a nature girl, are you?”
    â€œI like nature fine in small, orderly amounts. Are you sure Mika won’t mind us dropping in?”
    â€œHe hasn’t offered to eat me since my first visit. Like I said, I amuse him.”
    â€œMaybe he isn’t there now.”
    â€œIf he…” A sound caught Cullen’s attention. He stopped beside a large oak, cocking his head.
    â€œWhat?” she whispered.
    â€œShh.” Yes, those were footsteps on a paved path, not the random rustlings of some animal in the brush. He pivoted on one crutch so he could bend close and whisper near her ear. “Park police about fifty yards downwind. We’d best wait a moment.”
    He didn’t mind waiting. The moon was just past new, her song all but inaudible, but the touch of wilderness here called to him almost as sweetly. The air was full of lovely smells—earth, vegetation, the musky traces of wild creatures that had passed this way recently.
    And woman. Cynna always smelled delicious to him in spite of the chemical assault she waged on her hair. She was standing deliciously close, too. He let one crutch rest against the trunk of the oak, leaned in and ran his free hand up her arm to her throat, letting his fingers drift across her pulse there. “Mmm. It occurs to me we don’t have an appointment, so we can’t be late.”
    She shoved his hand away. “I’m not in the mood for seduction.”
    â€œCynna! I’m shocked by such blatant untruth. Your scent says otherwise.”
    â€œWell, quit sniffing me! It’s annoying for you to—to—”
    â€œKnow things you’d rather I didn’t?” He captured her hand and drew circles in her palm with his thumb.
    â€œDraw stupid conclusions! There’s a difference between sex and seduction, as any man of your age and experience ought to…That reminds me. How old are you, anyway?”
    He shook his head, surprised. “Why is it so easy to underestimate you? You’re right—seduction’s as much mental play as it is physical. If you don’t want your mind played with right now, why don’t I just toy with your fabulous body?”
    In the dimness he caught the shape of her smile in the curve of her cheek—and the reluctance of it in the tone of her voice. “How about you quit playing altogether and answer my question.”
    â€œI’ll turn sixty next month.”
    â€œJesus!”
    Anxiety pinched, an irritation without focus. Why should he worry about Cynna’s reaction? True, Lily had had a hard time accepting Rule’s real age, but his situation was hardly the same. Unlike Rule, he wasn’t dealing with a bonded mate…just with the mother-to-be of his child.
    Anxiety had teeth, yes, it did. “You knew I’m older than I look.”
    â€œYeah, but…” She snorted. “A sixty-year-old stripper! If your groupies only knew.”
    â€œI don’t have groupies.” He touched the corner of her mouth, tucked up at the moment in amusement. “You have to be famous to have groupies. I may dance in a mildly notorious club…or did. I think Max has fired me again. But most people have never heard of me.”
    â€œQuit it. You may not be famous, but…” Her voice dropped back to a whisper. “What was that?”
    The thud had apparently been loud enough for human ears. “Mika, I believe. He’s been redecorating.”
    Her brows twitched into a frown. “ Not the park policeman you heard earlier, then. If you did hear him.”
    â€œOh, I did. Perhaps I forgot to mention that he went the other way.” Cullen dropped a hit-and-run-kiss on her scowl and jumped back, grinning, before her fist could connect.
    She heaved a sigh. “You’re pissing me off, Seabourne. How can a man on crutches move that fast?”
    â€œShall I drop the other one and let you have another swing?”
    She tilted her head, considering it. She was definitely considering it. Lord, but the woman delighted him almost as often as she annoyed him.
    â€œI guess