With Abandon: With or Without, Book 4

not up high. Extracting his shoulders from the front of the couch he’d been using as a backrest, he peeked under the coffee table.
    Where the hell was that ringing coming from? It sounded like an old dial telephone with real bells. His home phone made more of an electronic ring sound and his cell played, “You Ain’t Just Whistlin’ Dixie ”.
    “I got it,” Matt said from his sprawl on the couch but made no move to get up. Instead he turned his
    head, which slid off the cushions, nearly taking the rest of him with it.
    Obviously, Matt wasn’t used to alcohol. Maybe he should’ve been cut off after the third one. Oh well,
    it wouldn’t last long with werewolf metabolism being what it was. “What is it and where is it?”
    The bells stopped only to start up again a minute later.
    Aubrey pushed Matt’s dark head back onto the cushions, unable to resist giving him a quick scratch
    behind the ear. Matt wouldn’t remember it anyway.

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    J.L. Langley
    Matt’s shoulders ended up next to his ears, and his right foot kicked a couple of times. “Ooh ooh
    ooh…”
    The lupine reaction was just too cute but not conducive to getting answers. Pulling his hand away,
    Aubrey turned his attention to the floor between the couch and the bar. “Matt, is that your phone?”
    “Yep.” Matt lifted his head off the sofa and slapped around his waistline in a halfhearted search
    before letting his head fall back down. “No clue where it is though.”
    It wasn’t anywhere in the vicinity of the couch, TV or coffee table. “Okay, this shouldn’t be that hard.
    We’re wolves, for crying out loud. Pinpointing sounds isn’t difficult.” Aubrey heaved himself up from the floor.
    The phone stopped.
    “Drunk wolves.” Matt giggled. The sweet, innocent melody echoed through the apartment. Was Matt
    always this uninhibited or was it the booze?
    Aubrey shook his head. “I’m not drunk.” He never let himself get so wasted that he was careless
    anymore. At one time he’d been a party animal, trying to drown his problems, but that was years ago. He envied Matt the ability not to care, not to have to keep his guard up. Aubrey would give just about anything to have some of that innocence back.
    The ringing started up again.
    Aubrey wrenched his brain out of la-la land and followed the sound to the phone in the middle of the
    floor between the couch and the front door. Now he remembered. Matt had dropped it when they’d first
    seen each other some three hours earlier.
    Swooping down and retrieving the cell as it rang for a third time, he hit the call button before whoever it was hung up or the call went to voice mail. “Hello?”
    “Who’s this?” The voice was a little surprised, gruff—like whoever it was didn’t appreciate Aubrey
    answering Matt’s phone—and male.
    Aubrey ground his teeth together and his right eye twitched. Who the hell was this and why was he
    calling Matt’s phone and acting all possessive? If Aubrey had been in wolf form, his hackles would’ve
    risen. “Aubrey Reynolds. Who’s this?”
    “Oh hey.” The caller’s tone lightened immediately. “This is Logan. Can I talk to my brother?”
    Ah, Logan. Aubrey relaxed marginally. Which one was he? Aubrey needed to learn which of Matt’s
    brothers were which. That was something he should know about his mate even if they weren’t really mated.
    But he had the next several months to figure that out.
    Sprawled on the couch, Matt wiggled his fingers in front of his face. What was he doing?
    Aubrey suppressed a chuckle. “Yeah, just a sec.” Taking the phone away from his ear, Aubrey headed
    toward Matt. “It’s Logan.”
    Matt blinked up at him and flopped his hand out, palm up.
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    With Abandon
    Aubrey gave him the phone and Matt put it upside down to his ear. “’Lo?”
    “Matthew?” The concern in Logan’s voice came through loud and clear.
    No doubt Matt heard his brother, but Aubrey took the phone and turned it the right way.
    “What?” Matt scrunched up his brow and gave Aubrey a heart-stopping grin. “Thank you.”
    Sitting on the arm of the couch over Matt’s head, Aubrey smiled down at his mate. “You’re
    welcome.” It would be easy to bend down and kiss him. What would he kiss like? Would he throw himself
    into the kiss? Or would he be shy and reserved, willing to follow Aubrey’s lead?
    “What’s going on? Are you okay?” Logan demanded.
    Nodding, Matt kept