James' POV
She's mine. Officially mine. I turn my head and look over at the slice of heaven that rests so peacefully beside me. Her glasses are askew on her sweet face and her curly brown hair is sticking up wildly. And as crazy as she might look to others, she looks nothing but perfect to me right now.
I stare at the bean next to me for a few more minutes in silence, my sore body grateful for this break in her heat. I can only imagine how hard her body must me aching. It's this thought that convinces me to climb out of bed. I walk to the bathroom before stripping down to nothing and turning on the shower, standing patiently as I wait for the water to get warm.
Once steam starts to fill the bathroom, I slide open the curtain and step in, my muscles thanking me for the steady beat of hot water that falls against them.
I feel Sloan nudge the wall I put up last night and finally let it down, allowing his conscious to speak with mine once more. 'I almost fucked up didn't I?' He asks me sadly and I sigh, knowing this conversation has to happen sooner or later, but hoping it would be later.
'Almost.' I agree but I continue as he groans loudly in embarrassment and disappointment. 'Almost but you're didn't. Everything is fine.' I tell him as I lather my wash cloth with the soap I brought from home, swiping the warm fabric along my chest as I begin to wash myself.
'If you didn't have so much self control..' Sloan starts and I can hear fear in his voice. I shake my head at him and give him what I hope is an encouraging pep talk.
'We are not on what ifs and possibilities, nothing happened last night that I didn't handle. I know not meeting your Mate is hard. I don't blame you for acting off of instincts last night. And I swear you'll meet her wolf at some point, just be patience and everything will be okay.'
Though he doesn't answer me verbally, I can finally feel his nerves settle down enough, his anxiety no longer choking him. With an all around feeling of calm and bliss, I complete my shower, humming some songs quietly while I wash the last few days worth of sweat and cum off my body.
Once I smell like myself again, minus the arousal, I turn off the shower and step out on to the dry mat outside of it, body shivering at the sudden cold.
'The cold is not doing us any favors.' Sloan mutters as I dry my body and I laugh, nodding my head in agreement, the cold always the enemy of a man.
After I dry myself off, I walk to the sink and pick up the toothbrush I unpacked when we got first got here, and begin brushing my teeth. Now as much as I love my bean, this is something we just can't agree on. I wet my brush, put the toothpaste on and then wet it again before I begin brushing my teeth like any sane normal person would.
For some unknown reason, Carramel says that there's too many steps and you should just wet the toothbrush put the toothpaste on it and go straight for the teeth. I wonder what it's like to have dry tooth paste. Could never be Sloan and I.
I chuckle at the random thoughts in my head, and spit out the foam from my mouth, rinsing the toothbrush before putting it up.
'Oh I guess you can spit after all.' Sloan muses and as much as I would usually get annoyed and start arguing with the snarky wolf, I'm only glad he's back to his normal self. Making sure I put everything away, I wrap my towel securely around my waist, not to hide myself from my Mate but because, something about a blanket and a towel gives so much security even though it can just be ripped off.
I open the door that leads to the bedroom slowly, not wanting to accidentally wake up my bean that's sleeping so peacefully in a sea of blankets and pillows. I walk to the set of drawers in the room and open the top one, shifting through my clothes for a simple outfit around the house.
I'm about to grab some underwear and sweats until I remember Carramel's heat. I don't want anymore clothes destroyed, so I just go with a pair of boxers, calling it a day before I turn around to put my towel back in the rack in the bathroom. I head towards the end and fix the blankets so that my Carramel-Bears body is covered, leaking down to give her a forehead kiss before I quietly leave the room, grabbing my phone on the way out.
I turn the kitchen light on once I get there and walk straight to the fridge, a plan to make my baby a breakfast in bed coming to mind. I open the fridge and lean down to grab everything I need for a big healthy breakfast like my mom used to make. I think about calling her for a second but refrain, not wanting to ruin the good mood I have just in case she brings up her.
Instead, as I pull out the eggs, spinach and tomatoes, along with some other things, deciding to call Alex to check in on the pack. I put the phone on speaker as I begin to chop up the food in front of me, tomatoes first as I plan out an omelet.
"Hello?" Alex answers after the third ring voice irritated as usual.
"Hey, Alex." I greet a smile coming to my face at the sound of my obviously tired best friend.
"The fuck do you want, James? Aren't you on vacation?" He groans and I laugh, already knowing that no matter what time of day I called him I would get the exact same response.
"Yes I am, and I was calling to make sure everything is going okay." I tell him, taking my phone with me as I reach into the cabinets I explored last night for a frying pan. I take the pan to the sink, washing it since it's been years since it was used as I listen to Alex's response.
"Oh everything is on fire, I killed all the Faeries and all the girls beat up the dudes and shoved them in the pond." He replies sarcastically and I hum in response as if in deep thought.
"See I would actually believe that last one, as much as we're wolves is it really necessary to act like dogs, too?" I ask and he barks out a laughs and I chuckle at my own joke as I dry the pan and set it on the stove, turning on the heat carefully.
Just as I'm sliding the butter into the quickly heating pan, the sound of small feet slapping the floor comes down the hall and my grin is instant. Carramel comes around the corner with damp hair and one of my large t-shirts on, the fabric covering almost to mid thigh and she looks sexy as hell without even trying.
I put the food in the pan, leaving the eggs as Alex begins to say something, but my attention is no longer on him but on my blushing lover in front of me.
"Yeah yeah yeah, cool." I interrupt Alex, not hearing a words he's saying. "My baby just woke up, I'll call you." I promise him and instantly disconnect the call before I open my arms for Carramel to come into.
She looks at the ground and slowly comes to me making me frown, but I try and chop it up to pain as I wrap my arms softly around her body. "Good morning, Carramel." I greet giving her a quick kiss as I use one hand to keep the food counting down softly in the butter, not wanting to burn the cabin down.
"Hey." She says softly and my frown comes back twice as hard as I look down at my Mate in concern.
"Everything okay?" I ask her, a sudden fear gripping my neck horridly. What if she regrets last night?
"I'm okay. I just... can we talk while we eat?" Carramel asks, making a large lump form in my throat at all the possibilities those three words can mean. Can We Talk, the scariest words to anyone, human or not that has anxiety and an overthinking problem.
But for her, I try to remain calm for her and give her a reassuring smile. "Of course. Let me finish making breakfast." I say, proud of myself for keeping my voice steady and calm. It takes about ten more minutes before our food is done, though I certainly did rush through it, trying to give my brain something to focus on so these thoughts would leave me alone.
I grab some paper plates and fill them, before grabbing some silverware and bringing our plates to the table. I turn back to grab some juice and to double check that's everything is turned off and put away until there's nothing else's to do but face the conversation.
We begin eating first, my leg bouncing a million miles per hour until Carramel finally speaks.
"I'm sorry." She tells me quietly and I feel my heart begin to break as I wait for the words, always knowing this was too good to be true. "Sloan was right it's not fair to him what I'm doing." She finishing and I instantly take a large breath of relief as Sloan wakes up from his nap and takes notice.
'Carramel said my name?' He asks but before I can answer, My bean continues.
"I hope he's not upset with me. If he gives me a chance, I would like for them to meet. Just because I don't get along with him doesn't mean, they can't." Carramel says and as much and Sloan and I want to jump straight into this opportunity, this is the chance that I've been looking for, and it might be my only.
So I suck up the lingering anxiety, and finally ask the question I've been waiting to ask. The one about why she hates her wolf so much.