SEAL Wolf In Too Deep(35)
“You would,” she said, trying not to smile.
“So unless you object to my staying overnight again…”
“I’d be the worst kind of partner if I sent you home tonight, considering how bad the weather is.”
He smiled. “Okay, so where are those chocolate chip cookies? Homemade?”
“You bet.” She snagged his hand and led him into the kitchen. “They were freshly baked this morning. I couldn’t sleep and baking helps me in that regard. And they’re double chocolate chip. It’s not a chocolate chip cookie if it doesn’t have a chocolate chip in every bite.”
He laughed. “I could smell them.” He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and walked with her into the kitchen, smiling when he saw the tray piled high with chocolate chip cookies.
“All for you?” he asked, his brows raised a little.
“I was going to drop some by the police station, but they never made it because I had car trouble.”
“We can do that tomorrow, if there are any left over by then.”
She grinned. She couldn’t help it. She was always pleased when someone loved her cookies. Of course, she’d better reserve judgment. After he took a bite, he might not care for them at all.
She realized then that he didn’t have an overnight bag. Although he always carried a change of clothes or two for emergencies. Maybe he had a shaving kit in his bag. She had some spare toothbrushes and toothpaste. If he didn’t have a razor, she might have some spare throwaways. They would be pink though.
“Music or a movie?” she asked as she made the hot cocoa and he carried the tray of cookies into the living room.
“Movie. We can get our mind off work that way.”
“Okay. Just pick out whatever you’d like.”
Allan had rationalized that driving back and forth from his home to hers on the snowy and icy road would be unsafe when they were going to do the interview together tomorrow anyway. And further, with her car in the garage, they didn’t have any other choice but for him to pick her up. The kiss? That was harder to rationalize. He told himself that the situation between them wasn’t going anywhere. But as soon as he kissed her and she kissed him back—just like a hot alpha she-wolf would—he knew he was going to have trouble stepping away from any further relationship with her.
Wolves could have flings with humans, no mating for life allowed. So a brief relationship—a couple of dates and maybe a little sex—could work. As long as they both knew this wasn’t going anywhere. But if Debbie wanted this to go somewhere further with him, she wouldn’t understand why he couldn’t. That was the trouble. She would be hurt in the end, and he didn’t want that.
He sifted through her movies and found the Underworld series, all about werewolves and vampires, and tons of other paranormal movies. Maybe she was more into the paranormal than he’d suspected.
“Anything you would prefer to watch?” Allan asked.
“Jingle all the Way.”
“In January?”
“Yeah, I want to watch something funny and lighthearted. Or whatever else you’d like.”
He saw she had Game of Thrones and The White Queen and other historical fiction series he’d heard had a lot of sex in them. He smiled. He’d always seen Debbie as very sexy. She had a natural appeal. Her movie selection was an interesting side to her that he hadn’t known about.
He figured it was safer sticking with humorous stories like Jingle all the Way. He could just imagine snuggling with her on the couch, watching something with sexual overtones, and wanting to take her to bed.
She joined him with two steaming mugs of cocoa, this time in bright green mugs. She’d already topped the cocoa with whipped cream, which was for the best, since he was fully dressed this time. He thought the night couldn’t get any better.
At least he didn’t think things could get any better, until he wrapped his arms around her while they watched the movie. She was warm, soft, and cuddly, and smelled like lilacs and spring, while the winter storm covered everything outside with a fresh coating of snow.
One last night of staying at her place with her like this, he told himself. One last night, and he could never do it again. Making love to her could lead to trouble in their work relationship—which up until now had been the best.
“Have you ever done that?” Debbie asked, feeling so good in his arms. In a way, he wished she was a wolf, but then again, he loved her just the way she was. But if she was a wolf, he’d love to go for runs with her and tackle her in the powdery snow.
“Forgotten someone’s Christmas gift and it was too late to buy it? Nah. My family is really laid back. They’re happy with whatever I get them. We always share a Christmas list way before Thanksgiving so everyone knows what we’d like to have, and we don’t get a bunch of duplicate gifts that way.”
Debbie smiled. “That sounds nice.”
“What about you?”
“Not buying a popular gift in time? No. Not me. I think that’s why I enjoy the story so much. I can just imagine having my own kid someday who hears about something everyone else in school wants, and then not ordering it in time because it’s a limited edition. Actually, that happened to me once. On the receiving end. I wanted a doll all the kids were talking about. But”—Debbie shrugged—“only a couple of the girls in school got them, so it wasn’t like I was the only one who didn’t.” She looked up at Allan. “Don’t tell anyone else I played with dolls.”