Free Black Gold by Vivian Arend

crowds of women waiting to leap out of the blue boxes and besmirch my virtue.”
    They both laughed, comfortable together in spite of her out-of-the-blue suggestion, and she could only cross her fingers and hope for the best.

    There was a small headache crouched behind him, waiting to pounce. Shaun opened his eyes slowly, fearful of what he was about to discover. The last time he’d been this groggy when he woke, there had been hijacking, Russian fishing vessels and anvils involved. The ceiling looked unthreatening, but he didn’t do anything stupid like move too fast. He never knew when a billowing black cloud would leap out and burst into a neon lightshow that would force him to squint in pain.
    He hated these kinds of mornings, but had to admit they were fairly entertaining.
    A soft purr of contentment sounded on his right, and he jerked. Then he cursed silently as the jerk triggered explosions that ricocheted through his brainpan.
    He took his time and went for a slow roll. He only made it part way over. His legs were trapped, his hips tight against something warm and soft. Shaun leaned on one elbow to stare down at a one-hundred-percent, honest-to-God beauty-pageant winner.
    She had the most incredible eyelashes. He wasn’t used to spotting facial features first on a woman.
    Usually, it was her breasts or her legs he keyed in on. Being an equal-opportunity admirer of the female body, he hated to have a favourite part.
    But this woman? Her lashes were like little furry caterpillars. Only—attractive caterpillars. He was tempted to touch one to see if it would crawl away, but he didn’t want to wake her. She must be awfully tired after last night.
    Whatever it was they’d done.
    He had to assume that since they were in bed, naked—he checked— yup , naked—there had been some major mattress shaking going on. He really wished he could remember, because the sex must have been spectacular.
    Shaun lay back and took a few deep breaths. Strangely, that didn’t have the result he was looking for.
    His goal had been to relax and close his eyes until Miss Universe woke up and they could have a second, or third, round of whatever they had enjoyed before.
    Nope, relaxing was out the window as soon as his brain registered what his nose said. It wasn’t just how incredible her scent was, but the fact she smelled like him. He matched her, they were all mixed up and— holy crap .
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    Black Gold
    “Oh my God, you’re my mate.” Shaun was up on his elbow again in an instant, staring at her. He racked his brains. Yesterday—fighting with bears, drinking with Evan, crashing at the hotel—he got that far. When the hell did find your mate and fuck her silly slip into the equation?
    He wasn’t sure if he should scream in joy or horror. He was so screwed.
    She wiggled, brushing his side, and a shiver started where she made contact, the sensation racing all around his groin.
    Think. Think. Shaun had to remember before she woke up, because he was sure there was something in the female-wolf manual about permission to castrate your partner for forgetting your first time together.
    He’d forgotten a girlfriend’s birthday once. It was kind of guaranteed that this would be an even bigger screw-up.
    Maybe if he had a scorching hot shower. Or another couple stiff drinks. Shaun scrunched himself as small as possible before peeling backwards off the mattress with the same care he would use in disassembling a bomb. If he knew how to do such a thing.
    One foot contacted the floor. The other. He used his hands to force his body upright, pleased to find he had no trouble staying vertical. She hadn’t moved, the long strands of her hair wreathed around her head like a fluffy black cloud.
    He liked how she looked, all soft and warm. Which was fabulous, since they were mates, but enjoying the visual feast laid out before him didn’t answer a few vital questions.
    A sudden mental itch stopped him in his tracks,