Two Times the Trouble by Mellanie Szereto Read Free Book Online

speak then closed it again. Pulling her down with him, he knelt at the stream. “We’ll have to wash them off here.”
    Water splashed, and he rubbed his arms and chest. She repeated his words over and over in her mind, the sudden realization of how he might’ve interpreted her alarm abrading her conscience. Did he know that she’d shared her body with Liam first? Did Ivan think she cared how Liam would react? Or had she broken the wonderful sense of connection by bringing up the outside world?
    She scooped up the water and let it rinse the ants from her skin. A lump formed in her throat from a return of confusion and guilt. While allowing Liam to see her and Ivan together might soothe her wounded ego, hurting him wouldn’t heal the sting of his rejection—if he even gave a damn. His comment about sleeping with every man she met hit closer to home than she expected. “I’m sorry. I checked the ground for sticks and rocks before I spread out the blanket. I didn’t notice any anthills.”
    Ivan didn’t respond, only continuing with the removal of critters. His stiff movements spoke for him. Her actions most likely suggested premeditated seduction, confirming what Liam had implied. That she was slut. That she was too aggressive. That no man wanted a woman like her for more than a single encounter.
    A call cut through the quiet tension. “Jolán? Are you out here?”
    Her cousin had saved her from another embarrassing scene. Jolán straightened, gauging the quickest route to the mansion without having to pass the construction site. “I have to go.”
    Cutting through the flowerbed, she leapt across the creek and sprinted past the lily pond toward the north wing of the house. She splashed through the shallow end of the wading pool on her way to the bathhouse. Grabbing a towel from the shelf just inside the door, she quickly wrapped it around her and tucked the end between her breasts. She sucked in a deep breath before jogging to the courtyard outside the study.
    Her lungs burned by the time she stopped in front of her cousin. “Ilona. I was...out for a...swim.”
    “Rebeka would like to see you if you’re not busy.” Ilona’s brows furrowed. “You’re not dressed. What happened to your clothes?”
    “Oh, um, I left them at the pool. I’ll get them in the morning.” Jolán slipped through the open French doors, hoping to escape further questioning. Goddess, I’m so ready for this day to end.
    She hurried upstairs to her apartment, thankful to see no one else with judging eyes or ridiculous observations. Taking a couple minutes in the bathroom to clean up from her second disastrous sexual liaison, she considered the not-so-numerous ways to avoid Ivan and Liam.
    Fake an illness? Oh, yeah, because she really wanted to drink some nasty concoction that would make her sick.
    She strode to the dresser for a tank top and a pair of underwear.
    Volunteer for babysitting duty? With her luck, she’d end up with cranky, teething babies to remind her she was a failure at mate-hunting and faced seven years of waiting to try again.
    She tugged on her shirt and panties then grabbed a skirt from the closet. Seven years won’t change anything. Or would it? The last four Macska women to go through the joining ceremony had done so at the end of their second fertility cycles. Was the first time meant for experimentation? Had the Fates doomed her to failure until her twenty-eighth birthday?
    But...but...what about Liam and Ivan? The thought of giving either of them up to some other woman made her supper churn in her stomach. Adjusting the waistband of the skirt, she rolled her eyes. Horny and fickle. What a combination.
    No wonder most of her female relations had put off taking a mate...or mates . All logic and common sense had abandoned Jolán the moment the day of her birth had arrived. Spending so many hours indoors with the threat of the ancient shifter’s attacks hadn’t helped. Her mind and body had gone stir crazy in the