The Mating Game

by Lana Ferguson

I decide then and there that should I ever find myself miraculously given a seat in Congress, my first order of business would be rendering Hunter Barrett’s smile illegal.

and when his fingers accidentally brush against mine, it feels like a current of electricity passes between us, one that I feel zapping deep in my belly. Even when it passes, I still feel the echo of the sensation, like it’s reverberating through me.

“Not unless you’re up for chasing me away.” Oh, I’d chase you. The thought comes unbidden.

She is absolutely in heat, and she’s looking at me like she needs me.

Alpha, I recall. She called me alpha. Like I was hers. Like she was mine.

And when I finally turn…I find the most stunning creature on four legs I’ve ever seen.

“I smell so…?” “You smell like you need me.”

“I’d probably tell you that you’re so beautiful it hurts to look at you sometimes.”

It’s like a knot that’s been tightly wound for ages slowly starting to unravel. That’s a heady thing for someone who isn’t sure they’re worth all that.

“I think everything about you is something I want to remember,” I answer quietly.

I feel the word as if it’s reached out and caressed me,

But then I think about her smile and her big brown eyes, which looked at me with such trust over and over again, and honestly…I never stood a chance, I think.