Accidental Surrogate

Ella

The flour collides with Sinclair’s face in an explosion of white powder, covering his features in dense grains and fluttering through the air around us. A low growl rumbles in his chest, and fear slices through me as I wonder if I’ve made a grave mistake. Sinclair takes a moment to open his eyes after the flour hits, but when he does, his wolf is glowing bright in his irises, and my instincts take over.

I try to duck under his arms, to evade his hold anyway I can. However the moment I begin attempting escape he leans forward, crushing my body between him and the counter. At once I’m reminded of how much larger Sinclair is. Sometimes it’s easy to be fooled when I’m dressed up in heels or there’s space between us, but now I can feel how helpless I am beside him. The top of my head barely reaches his sternum, and next to his muscles, my slender limbs feel terribly frail.

Sinclair’s breath is coming in heaving gasps, and I have the good sense to remain frozen as he tries to gain control of his wolf. When I look up at him, I can see only the wild animal fuming beneath his skin, and I realize exactly how dangerous this man is.

I’m not sure if he’s going to attack me, or yell at me, and my heart is racing a mile a minute. I instinctively flinch when he moves, but he doesn’t raise a hand against me. Instead he reaches past be towards the bowl of chocolate cake batter, and the next thing I know, a river of the thick, sweet mixture is dripping down my face.

I gasp in shock, realizing that Sinclair is pouring the batter over me, and try to jerk away. “Dominic, no!”

A dark laugh rolls through the big wolf like thunder, “Oh baby, you asked for this.”

I raise my arms over my head, trying to protect myself, but when that doesn’t work I reach for the bowl too, returning fire with handful of batter straight into Sinclair’s expensively tailored shirt. Soon we’re wrestling over the bowl, trying to retrieve more sweet ammunition to splatter each other with, and I’m laughing harder than I can remember laughing in a very long time.

cake batter for icing, reaching up with two hands and smearing it over his face as he playfully nips

still searching for new ways to combat one another. The bowls on the counter are already empty, and I narrow my eyes at Sinclair as I contemplate moving to the pantry or fridge for more ammo. His white teeth flash, and

pulling open the door to use as a shield and disappearing inside, zeroing in on a bottle of caramel syrup, even as I see Sinclair plucking a can of whipped cream from the fridge. Soon we’re stalking around the kitchen island, trying to get close enough

to feint around the edge of the counter, making him think I’m going to go in a direction other than the one I intend, but I’m outmatched in this game in every possible way. Sinclair is bigger, stronger and faster, and he can read my intentions far better than I can read

letting me escape. If he wanted to he could have easily pinned me in place, but we’re both having

had this much fun. Sinclair has completely surprised me too – I never expected him to have a playful side, and it’s so different from the men I’ve known before. Mike and I certainly never did anything like this, and I doubt my

Sinclair in comparison to my past lovers, when I know he doesn’t see me this way at all. Yet I can’t help it, the more time that passes the more certain I

of caramel is empty, I try to make my way back to the pantry, but Sinclair has other ideas. “Come here you.” He purrs, snatching me up. “Such a bad girl.” His fingers are digging into my sides, tickling me ruthlessly and

against one another, getting more and more dirty with every minute that passes. Sinclair lets me pin him to the tiled floor, straddling his middle and trapping his hands above his head. ‘Ha!” I declare

do you?” He taunts, grinning up at

so scary, you know.” I counter, smiling widely. “What would all those big tough wolves say if they

I’m on my back with Sinclair looming above me. The air leaves my lungs in a great whoosh – I didn’t even see him flip me, but suddenly our situations are completely reversed. I’m still straddling Sinclair, my legs spread on either side of his body so