Free i 9b654a818c6188f7 by J. L. Langley Page A

the threshold.
    It was so nice that Rhys nearly forgot to growl his disapproval.
    He hadn’t seen Sterling in a week. He’d actually missed the
    constant bombardment of carnal attention.
    Sterling chuckled, but didn’t push.
    Rhys sighed. Anyone else would have cowered in fear if he
    growled at them. Not Sterling.
    The tv was on but turned down, Sterling’s Macbook and
    homework cluttered the coffee table and Sugar Daddy by the
    Bellamy Brothers played on the stereo. Sterling had found and
    confiscated that CD as well as the Eagles Greatest Hits CD
    and a Lynard Skynard CD last weekend.
    Grinning Rhys shook his head. That was Sterling for you, he
    had way too much energy to just do one thing. He got bored
    too easily. Hell, Rhys was actually impressed he wasn’t
    playing video games, talking on the phone, cooking or
    cleaning too. Rhys had come home more than once to find his
    house cleaned, Sterling parked in front of the Xbox 360,
    homework spread all over the floor and dinner waiting in the
    oven on warm. “What are you doing here?”
    Closing the door, Sterling shrugged. “Thought I’d get a head
    start on tomorrow. Football practice let out early. I called your
    mom and checked the flight info again. Remi and Jake are
    going to pick her up on their way over here tomorrow. So they
    should be here around noon.”
    “Ah. Thanks. You put the turkey out to thaw?” Rhys headed to
    his room to take his gun and shoes off.
    “Yup.” Sterling followed Rhys into his bedroom. “I had to
    look up how to cook a turkey on the net. Said I should let it
    thaw for a couple of hours, so I put it out and started on my
    calculus homework. And why does she call you Reese? Are
    you sure she won’t care that I’m younger? What if she doesn’t
    like Remi? I don’t think I could take someone not liking Remi.
    That would be worse than her not liking me. Do you think she
    really likes me? She seems to like Jake. She asked about him
    and — What if she doesn’t like the dinner? What if I burn it
    and..”
    On and on it went but Rhys stopped listening. He’d heard all
    he needed to. Sterling constantly rambled but this was a
    different babble, a rushed type of chatter. It was a tale tell sign
    that something was bothering him. Sterling was always so self
    confident and sure of things. Actually, Rhys was pretty sure he
    was the only one who ever witnessed Sterling’s infrequent
    insecurities. Rhys’ chest tightened with pride at the realization
    that his mate trusted him so much, but it pained him to think
    of Sterling even slightly uncomfortable. Stopping in the
    middle of taking his belt off and freeing his shoulder holster,
    Rhys turned.
    Arms folded across his muscled chest, Sterling leaned against
    the doorframe. The stance was casual but the scent of
    lingering arousal was now laced with nervousness. He
    shrugged and gathered the fabric of his sleeve in his fist,
    making it pull tight across his biceps.
    Damn , that was a nice shirt. The jeans weren’t too bad either.
    At six foot one Sterling was still several inches shorter than
    Rhys, but damned if those tight jeans didn’t show off his long
    legs. Sterling had grown in to one fine looking man.
    Ignoring the flutter of excitement in his stomach, Rhys
    crooked his finger.
    “What?” Sterling pushed away from the wall and ambled up to
    Rhys, his eyes cast downward.
    “My name is actually pronounced Reese. My father was a
    wolf and thirteen years older than her, so she knows all about
    wolves and their mates. The age difference doesn’t matter to
    her. She will like Remi. She adores Jake and—”
    “Reese? Then why does everyone pronounce it Rice?”
    Sterling’s brow furrowed.
    “Because I got tired of correcting people way back in grade
    school and started pronouncing it Rice myself.”
    He shrugged. “I like it better anyway.” His mother was the
    only one who enunciated his name as Reese now days.
    Sterling drew close, his eyes dropping again. “I like it