She paused, pleasure heating her. “Oh.” Her hands started fluttering, so she flattened her palms on her jeans. If he was finally going to open up to her, she was going to take the moment and enjoy it before she left this world. “I guess in your day there were many arranged marriages or matings?”

“Aye,” he said softly. “It was a way of life, and frankly, more people stayed together in those days than they do now.”

She wrinkled her nose. “Getting intimate with a stranger would be difficult, don’t you think?” At least she and Adare had known each other for years, and the attraction was there. Oh, was it ever there. The idea of his impossibly hard and naked body had kept her up for more than one sleepless night.

He shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t think we’d have to worry about that.”

Was he flirting with her? Why not daydream a little? She swallowed. “We wouldn’t?”

His grin, this time, was more wolfish than boyish, but it was endearing nonetheless. “Oh, I’ve wanted you for years. Based on your reaction the other night, I believe it’s mutual.”

Yeah, there was no reason to deny that fact. “Aren’t we so adult discussing this?” It was too bad they couldn’t just find a couple bottles of wine to get sloppy drunk and then naked. But it was not to be.

He exhaled slowly. “Thus far, I’ve kept my distance from you, and it has probably appeared that I’m easy-going. I’m not.”

She burst out laughing. Full out, relieved to deal with the tension, belly laughter. “This has been you easy-going?”

Both of his dark eyebrows rose, instead of the usual left one. “Well, yes. Why are you laughing?”

She quieted. He was serious? “Dude.”

He frowned. “Maybe this is a good time for you to express what you’d like out of this mating, and then I’ll do the same.”

Express? Seriously. “We are not mating. You really need to listen to me.” She lifted her hands, gesturing.

“Huh. All right. Before we argue, how about you hypothetically tell me what you’d like if we did decide to trust fate and science and mate again?”

Oh, she wasn’t strong enough to resist playing along. “Well, hypothetically, I’d like for you to pull the stick out of your ass and show some real emotions.” She leaned forward, on a roll, losing the battle to be an adult. “This brick wall you’ve built around yourself has to end. I can’t break through it, and I would not beat my head against it for eternity. Or even for a while.”

“Meaning?” he asked, his rough voice silky.