Rising Covenant (Living Covenant Trilogy Book 1) Read Online Free

threat,” I teased. “I see it as a fun bedroom challenge … with prizes.”
    Aric grinned, shaking his head as he turned his attention back to whatever he was chopping on the cutting board. “You’re lucky I love you.”
    Paris and I exchanged amused looks, and then she returned to admiring the house. “I have never seen furniture this … well made,” she said, running her hand appreciatively over the wooden couch. Like everything else in the room, Aric toiled over it for weeks. I picked out the cushions after he vetoed my original color choices. Everything in this room was him, though. I liked it. It made me feel safe, protected and ready to curl up for a nap at a moment’s notice. “Wherever did you buy it?”
    Aric cleared his throat as he glared at me. “You put her up to this, didn’t you?”
    “I am hurt and appalled that you would think … .”
    “Don’t bother lying, Zoe,” Aric said. “I know you too well. You’re a horrible liar. You told her I made the furniture, and she’s praising it because she wants to make sure everything is smoothed over between us. I know how the female mind works.”
    I narrowed my eyes. “You always said I think like a guy.”
    Aric shrugged. “So?”
    “Where did you get all of this insight into the female mind if you live with a woman who thinks like a guy?” I pressed.
    Aric was caught. He knew it … and I knew it, too. That’s what he was worried about. “Crap.”
    “Are you telling me that you got all your insight into the female mind from women you dated before me?” I asked. I enjoy messing with him. I could win a gold medal if they ever made it an Olympic sport.
    “No,” Aric sputtered.
    “Well, if you didn’t get it from the women you dated before me – all of them should be killed, mind you – then where did you get it?” I asked. “Have you been getting insight from others since we’ve been together?”
    Aric knit his eyebrows together as he tried to figure a way out. “Trouble, you’re the only woman I can handle,” he said finally. “I know you’re trying to make a thing out of this so we can fight and make up later. I know how your mind works.”
    “I don’t like to fight and make up,” I protested.
    “Yes, you do.”
    “I do not.”
    Aric snorted. “You like to fight because then I’ll give you massages and foot rubs to make you feel better and soothe you so you’ll calm down,” he said. “I’m on to you. Don’t bother denying it.”
    Well … that sucked. There went my massages.
    “I happen to like giving you massages and foot rubs because you make these cute little moans and sighs when I do,” Aric added. “The only thing that comes out of your mouth during that time is praise for me.”
    “Does that mean you’ll keep doing it?”
    “Of course I’m going to keep doing it. That always ends well for me because once I’m done rubbing you … .” He trailed off, shooting me a mischievous grin as he returned to his task.
    “You guys haven’t changed at all,” Paris said, grinning as her gaze bounced between us. “The only thing that has changed is that you’re in a much nicer house and Zoe isn’t insecure about your feelings, Aric.”
    “Zoe never had to be insecure about my feelings,” Aric countered. “I tried to tell her that from the beginning, but she was a distrusting little thing.”
    “People were trying to kill me, and I had just found out that human beings turned into werewolves,” I reminded him. “How was I supposed to take that?”
    “I hoped you would trust me because I had an honest face.”
    I rolled my eyes. “Whatever. I think I was more than fair with you.”
    “Yes, I really enjoyed that year we spent apart. It didn’t hurt at all,” Aric deadpanned.
    I refused to give him the satisfaction of turning around and instead focused on Paris. “You said you don’t have a boyfriend. Don’t you miss fun like this?”
    “I don’t think anyone has fun like this except for you two,”