Free So I Married a Werewolf (Entangled Covet) by Kristin Miller Page A

assuming so.”
    Conniving bastard. “What did you tell him?”
    “That we’re very happy in a secure and loving relationship.” She nudged him away with her forearm. “I painted the picture you asked me to.”
    Something about that whole scenario rubbed Carter wrong. Had Nate been trying to figure out if their relationship was a hoax, or had he been using the opportunity alone to flirt with Carter’s fiancée?
    Friend , he corrected.
    “So, are you in?” he asked. “Will you come to the retreat next weekend?”
    She sighed and glared at him with narrowed eyes. “I’m packing my sweats.”
    “That’s fine. All I ever wanted was for you to be you. I never intended for you to pretend you were somebody else. Nobody could keep that up.” He flicked a bag of sugar sitting on the counter. “Just promise to leave your baking supplies behind on the trip. Wouldn’t want you burning down our hotel room.”
    “Wait.” She swiped her hand across her forehead, leaving behind a smudge of flour. “Our room, as in…one?”
    “We are engaged, Faith.” He picked up the bag of flour and pretended to roll it closed as he turned his back on her. “Don’t you think it’d look strange if we told Mrs. Owens that we’d like her to reserve us two separate rooms?”
    “Yes, but—”
    “We’ve fallen asleep together on the couch a few times. We should just think of next weekend as an extended Friday night.”
    “Fine,” she said from behind him, “but I call the bed.”
    “We’ll see about that.”
    He reached into the bag and sank his fingers into the flour. He grabbed a handful and spun around. “Surrender the bed and I won’t give you a flour shower.”
    “If you think I’m afraid, you’re sorely mistaken. I bet you throw like a girl.” Digging her hand into the sugar bag, Faith pulled out a handful of her own grainy ammo. She faced him, holding the sugar behind her back. “I’m not giving you the bed. You can have the couch or the floor. Or sleep in the bathtub for all I care.”
    “The bathtub?” Carter chuckled low and deep. “The porcelain would be fucking cold! The bed is mine.”
    “Fine.” She cocked back. “But you’re going to have to fight me for it.”
    Faith flinched. Carter didn’t bite. She cocked back farther. Humperdinck skidded around the corner and slid over the kitchen tile. He hopped between them excitedly, his sickeningly cute gaze bouncing back and forth between them. Using the pup as a distraction, Faith let the sugar fly.
    Carter ducked below the sugar cloud and ran at her, tangling her arms behind her back. He pinned her against the oven, using his body for pressure. Laughing hysterically, Faith squirmed, elbowing him in the gut.
    “Let go,” she said, the laughter lingering in her voice.
    “Surrender the bed.” He held her hands in front of her, shackled by one of his own. With his free hand, he dusted her cheek with flour, covering it with a shadow of white. “It’s easy to say: Carter, the bed is yours . Try it.”
    She nudged her chin at him, smiling. “You think a little flour on my cheek is going to make me buckle? You should’ve stuck with the flour shower. It even rhymes.”
    “All right, you asked for it, you stubborn woman.” He held his hand over her and sprinkled flour over her head. “All you’ve got to do is say the words. Just give me the bed and this will all be over.”
    “Never surrender!” As she shook her head, giggling into a fit, a clump of flour fell from her hair onto her eyelashes.
    “Wait, close your eyes,” he said, and reached up to brush off the flour. She hesitated, her now-white eyelashes resting feather-softly on her cheek. “Almost done.” He gently swiped away the last of it, and then paused, his gaze trailing to her smiling lips. “You almost got a ton of it in your eyes.”
    Her smile fell as her eyes fluttered open and she caught his gaze on her lips.
    “That would’ve stung,” he said.
    He was still holding on to her