“A game?” Selene’s interest perked right up. She adored all kinds of board games. “What kind of game?”
Jett opened a small cupboard beneath the television stand and took out a few board games. Selene immediately spotted Uno, a game she loved to play, and one she always beat Astra in. Selene was the Uno champion of the Bishop family. She might love board games, but card games were her specialty.
She reached out and grabbed the pack of cards. Taking them to kitchen table, she was already shuffling the cards. “Let’s play this,” she said as she settled into a chair. She was giggling like a little girl because she knew there was no chance in hell he could beat her.
Jett sat in the seat in front of her and he held out his hands for the cards. “Why don’t I shuffle those?”
She slapped the cards to her chest, away from his outstretched palm. “Why?”
“Because you’re sitting there, grinning like a fool. So either you’re already cheating, or you need to get out more. No one loves playing Uno this much.”
Selene laughed because he wasn’t wrong. She would never cheat at a game; she had way too much integrity for that. But there was truth in what he said about not getting out much.
“I run a holistic health center, which basically means I am a small business owner. Do you know how many hours a day I work? Not just with clients, but doing the administrative stuff?”
Jett shook his head, but he leaned in. Selene took it as a sign he was actually interested in what she was saying.
“I get to the center at seven, even if we open at nine. I do all kinds of stuff, like make sure the rooms are clean and ready to go. I go over the day’s appointments and send out reminders, either by email or phone calls, to upcoming clients. I do the accounting, restock our supplies of towels and it just goes on and on.”
“Doesn’t your sister help?”
“She does more client work than me,” Selene said with a shrug. “She’s a Reiki master. I’m not. I don’t have the same affinity for energy as she does. Which really annoys me, but we all have our strengths. I’m the brains of the organization, I guess.”
“I get it,” Jett said as he looked down at the cards Selene had drawn out for him. “Blaze owns the only shifter bar for miles around. I work there with him. I’m the barback, the security team, and bartender all rolled into one. It’s long hours, especially since we don’t close until one or two in the morning.”
Selene felt her eyes go wide in surprise. “Ew. That’s way too late for me. I’m in bed at nine.”
“Yes, but what time do you wake up?” he asked with a light chuckle.
“Around five. So by the time I’m getting up, you’re just going to bed.”
That meant they had completely different schedules. Another great reason not to be affected by his hot bod, warm eyes, and delicious kisses.
The went on to play a few rounds of Uno, all the while chatting about everything and nothing. Selene beat him with every hand, but that wasn’t what was giving her the rush. It wasn’t winning hand after hand that made her giddy.
It was Jett.
There was an easiness between them. Conversation just flowed, and laughter seemed to be a guarantee.
“All of this losing has made me hungry,” Jett mumbled as he pushed away from the table.
“Oh?” Selene giggled, watching Jett stomp off into the kitchen.
He pulled open a cabinet door and took out a bag of marshmallows and a box of puffed rice cereal.
“What are you doing?” she asked, standing by the counter.
“I’m going to make squares,” he answered nonchalantly.
“Are you in the habit of making your own snacks?” This was more of a wonderment, one she very well could have kept to herself, but the words flew out.
Jett chuckled as he went on, mixing the ingredients in a large glass bowl. “Yes, absolutely.” There was a silence for a little while as she watched him work. “When I was a kid," he said, "a lot of the other kids had moms that made them snacks and baked all kinds of cool things. I didn’t have that, so I started making my own. I could only do simple things, but…” The ding of the microwave nearly made Selene jump. She wanted to hear the rest of his thought.
Whatever Jett had been about to say, he didn’t feel the need to continue. He pressed down the cereal and marshmallow mixture into a pan and set it aside. He took a small packet of chocolate chips and nuked them.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“Well, I have a guest. I have to make the fancy kind of squares.”
Selene’s brow furrowed. It wasn’t until he was drizzling the melted chocolate onto the setting puffed rice that she understood. She was fascinated, watching him drizzle the chocolate into a fancy pattern.
Shit, this man was more intriguing than any cooking show Selene could have watched.
Jett tucked the pan into the fridge before turning to wink at her. “It’ll be ready in a few minutes. Want a glass of milk with your squares?”
All she could do was nod. How was this the grumpy man who had snapped at Lester in the cafe? Selene supposed that hadn’t really been him. This version of Jett she was seeing was the real one. The one who cared for a guest like his life depended on it.
“So tell me. How often do you need to eat to keep from passing out?”
Selene’s brain had to catch up to the question. “It depends on how I feel, how much moving around I’m doing.”
“Are you diabetic or something?” he seemed genuinely interested, so Selene licked her suddenly very dry lips.
“No. I have low-blood sugar. It’s called hypoglycemia, but I’m not diabetic. It’s just this thing I have. The doctors were baffled by it when I was a kid. It just seems to be a stress response my body has.”
“Cool. Well, this should help.” He took the pan out of the fridge and proceeded to cut a few squares out. He placed one on a plate and nudged it toward her.
“Were you really hungry, or did you just get worried that I would pass out on you?”
Jett blushed. He actually blushed. It made him look sweet, not just insanely hot. It was a dangerous mixture on Selene’s nervous system.
“Sort of. I mean, don’t get me wrong. Shifters are always hungry, but I was also a bit worried.”
Selene had to keep all of her focus on the square on her plate. She brought it to her mouth and took a bite, enjoying the added taste of the chocolate on her tongue. Her heart was doing this weird thing, and she knew.
She was in serious trouble.
Chapter Twelve
Jett
Jett watched intently as Selene brought the snack to those beautiful lips of hers. He had to swallow a few times to keep his wolf from completely tearing out of him to get to Selene. Watching her eat was quickly becoming one of his favorite things because it brought attention to her mouth. It also made him feel good to know he was taking care of her.
That’s because she’s our mate. We should be taking care of her.
His animal was having all kinds of fantasies about the different kinds of things he could feed her. There was a box of freezy pops in the freezer that was all but calling his name. But Jett knew that watching Selene suck on one of those would kill him. He had to readjust the situation growing in his pants as he grabbed one square and bit into it to keep from kissing Selene.