“There you go again. Your cheeks have turned seriously red.” He gave a small shake of the head. “You have nothing to feel embarrassed about. You’re making me repeat myself here.” He gave her a half smile. The guy sure was sexy. Far too sexy. Torrent leaned forward, the smile disappeared and his eyes narrowed. “I’m fucking thrilled you put them on there. It means—”

“Don’t get any ideas. It’s just precautionary. I don’t have sex without a condom especially since I can no longer get my pill prescription filled.”

“You mean pills so that you can’t become pregnant?” He didn’t look happy.

“Look, just because I’m getting some condoms doesn’t mean we’ll be using them any time soon, and by the way, they work perfectly well at preventing pregnancy too.”

He frowned, looking confused.

“I can see you’re not happy that my pill prescription ran out. Like I said, condoms work just as well. In fact, they work better since they also prevent STD’s.”

“Firstly… I don’t want you taking pills to prevent pregnancy. Secondly… I don’t want to use condoms”—he put up his hand when she tried to talk— “but I would do so in a heartbeat if it would make you feel better. I want to fully claim you. I also want to start a family as soon as possible. We can’t give each other any STD’s and I can scent when you are in heat. Humans call it ovulating.”

She dropped the pizza back onto her overfull plate, glad she wasn’t swallowing because it would’ve made her choke. “Back up about a hundred miles, please. We’re not even properly married… mated. I haven’t even wrapped my head around that yet. Pregnancy and children?” She swallowed hard. “We need to get to know each other much better before we can take the whole mating step let alone to bring a helpless child into the world.” She struggled to pull air into her lungs. It felt like someone was sitting on her chest. “I didn’t have the best upbringing. My dad had a ton of affairs. My mom was… is an insecure wreck because of it.”

Torrent clenched his fists and his jaw tightened. “That is when one of the mated pair ruts with someone else without their partner’s consent?”

She nodded. “Yup. He finally ran off with one of the women. I was still very young. I never saw him again. After he left, my mom went through boyfriends like she did underwear. She had zero confidence and needed a partner to bolster her. She’s far too clingy and chases guys away. I hated my father for leaving but I missed him just as fiercely. I do want kids of my own…”