Elder: Reckless Desires (Norseton Wolves #6) by Holley Trent Page A

“Notices things you wouldn’t think a kid would be paying attention to. He gave his uncle a very thorough grilling about what he does for a living.”
    She groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose. Of all the people Kevin would have a loose verbal filter for, Anton was a safe party, but she hated that she hadn’t been awake to coach Kevin on verbal restraint. She needed the kids to operate more or less on the status quo, at least until Esther had gotten a good feel for Norseton’s dynamics.
    “We also played a lot of poker from our respective sides of the doorway.”
    She dropped the hem of her shirt and put her hands on her hips. “Nixon!”
    He snorted. “I’m just fuckin’ with ya, Momma. Go Fish is more his speed, but Vic said he was going to teach him to play Spades.”
    Nixon leaned over and massaged the hinges of her jaw, laughing some more. “Quit grinding. I don’t think he really meant what he said, but you can never tell with Vic. He’s got a questionable sense of humor, that cousin of yours.”
    Esther should have been concentrating on her teeth and how she needed to stop gnashing them, but instead, her focus was fixed on Nixon’s hand so near her lips, her nose.
    The feel of it. His scent, woodsy and alluring.
    Lickable.
    She didn’t lick him, though, even though his palm was dangerously close to the seam of her lips. Even though she craved a taste of him.
    She rolled her gaze up to his sultry amber one, and damn near fell into his thrall.
    “Quit grindin’. Seven’s a novelty, is all. No other kids in the pack around his age, or Darla’s. Of course the others are gonna to take an interest.”
    She blinked, but the fog in her head didn’t clear any.
    “Wouldn’t hurt for him to learn early on how to beat the old guys at cards. Maybe we’ll even keep the cussin’ down to a minimum. One fuck per game. How’s that?”
    His massage of her jaw hinges devolved into a more tender, sweeping of his fingertips along her jaw. Down her neck.
    “Did you ever learn to play?” he asked.
    She struggled to swallow as his hand played over her throat. “C- cards ? No. Not really. I’m not good at games.”
    “That’s not necessarily a bad thing.”
    He was closer, suddenly.
    Or maybe I am .
    She’d moved into his touch, like some pathetic animal seeking warmth on a bitter cold day.
    “You don’t have to be afraid of me,” he whispered. His lips were so close to her ear.
    When’d he get there?
    For that matter, she didn’t remember him looping his free arm around her back, either. Didn’t remember him pulling her so close that she could hear his heart beating, loud and strong. Steady.
    Hers wasn’t so steady. Her heart raced and forced the blood up her neck and to her face, to the cheeks that burned hotter than the plate she’d brought him. She could hardly catch her breath.
    His fingers danced over the scars at the top of her chest, and instinctively, she reached to push his hand away.
    He wouldn’t let her. “I’ve already seen them,” he said. “I know why they’re there. I’d kiss them away if I could, but I don’t reckon that’s how wolf magic works.”
    “I wish the magic did work that way,” she whispered. She wanted to be kissed—wanted him to kiss her, anywhere he liked. Her body tightened at the thought that he just might, and at the fact that she actually craved such a thing.
    “I—used to cover them,” she managed to squeak out after a difficult swallow. “People would stare, and I knew that they knew why they were there. I never saw anyone else except other wolves.”
    “Why’d you stop?” He dragged his fingertip up from the top of her cleavage to the underside of her chin again, keeping her chin propped up and her gaze on his face—on his lips, parted and so kissable.
    She had to close her eyes, or she would have kissed him, unbidden. “Um. Everyone had already seen them, so hiding them was pointless. Explaining to the kids why they were there was the