Series: Lee Savino
Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 66414 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 332(@200wpm)___ 266(@250wpm)___ 221(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66414 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 332(@200wpm)___ 266(@250wpm)___ 221(@300wpm)
My lips part in shock.
That’s why he didn’t want to mate me? Not that I wasn’t experienced enough for him, but this was Matthias’ altruism coming out. The tight bands that had been constricting my heart since the day I left Las Vegas burst open. My chest fills with warm light.
Still, I want to be sure I understand. I tilt my head. “So you were… were protecting me…from yourself?”
Matthias
It feels so incredible to have my mate in my arms again. Her caramel and cinnamon scent soothe my bear. It’s a miracle I didn’t expect.
“Yes, beautiful. I was afraid I’d steamroll you. I know I’m a lot. Especially in bed. You have no idea the filthy things I want to do to you.”
Far from being taken aback, my mate smiles and frames my face with her hands. She drops her voice into a sexy purr. “I want you to do those filthy things to me.”
My dick lengthens under her lap. I grip her ass and pull her closer, a possessive twinge returning to my behavior.
She lowers her lips and slides them across mine, and I want to weep from the pleasure of it. The sweetness.
“Did you ever stop to consider that maybe I wasn’t out experimenting with other guys because I was waiting for you to claim me? I might have read a gazillion sexy books, but I was fantasizing about you to experience the real thing. I mean, here you are, and yet, you’re the guy who’s explaining away our entire attraction to biology.”
I groan and lean my forehead against hers again. She will probably never let me live that one down.
She continues, “Wouldn’t it stand to reason that if I’m your mate, my biology wouldn’t allow me to be interested in another man?”
I blink. “Well, yes, I guess that would make sense.”
“Listen, here’s the only way this is going to work.”
My heart pounds. I’m usually the dom. The one in control. Before I knew Maisy was my mate, I made females beg and plead for more. Even with Maisy, I’ve been the one setting the rules in our relationship or non-relationship.
It’s unnerving to be the one prepared to beg now.
“I’m either your equal and able to make my own decisions about who I want to be with and whether I want to be with you, or I’m out. You’re either going to let me choose, or you’re treating me like I’m a child, and I’m not going to be with someone who doesn’t value me or trust me to make up my own mind.”
I suck in a breath, finally understanding how badly I fucked up.
I was trying to protect her from my controlling, dominant, all-consuming side. Trying to protect her from all the dark and filthy things I want to do with her. I tried not to wield undue influence on a female so much younger than I am. But it was that very paternalism that offended her.
I thought I was leaving space for her to have a choice. But in reality, I took a choice away from her. I didn’t let her choose.
I clear my throat. “I’m sorry, Maisy. I took your choice from you, and that was wrong. You are my equal. Absolutely.”
“So I get to choose?”
“Of course.” My heart’s still pounding. She’s here, on my lap, in my arms, but she could still tell me it’s off. She could still walk away like she did in Las Vegas.
“Do you trust me?”
“With my whole heart.”
Her expression softens at my choice of words. Yes, I included my heart, and I wasn’t even talking about the organ that pumps blood through the body.
“I choose you.”
My eyes get wet. The lump in my throat won’t go away.
“I choose you,” I say. “My heart chooses you. My mind chooses you. My soul chooses you. My bear chooses you. My body chooses you.” I try to cover all my bases, so she’ll never doubt my love again.
“You,” she whispers, her eyes glittering with tears, too.
“You.” A smile cracks my face for the first time in a week. It feels like it might break. No, wait. That’s the cage around my heart splintering open. I kiss her, hard. “Yeah?” I ask when I pull away, and she’s breathless.
She smiles back and nods. “Yeah. Only you. It’s always been you.”
I capture the back of her head with my palm and pull her down on top of me then log roll us until she’s on her back, pinned beneath me.
“Once I mark you, I’ll never let you go,” I warn.
She flushes, but her expression is pure pleasure. “Promise?”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Maisy
Matthias’ eyes glow electric blue. His fangs look long and sharp and deliciously dangerous.
“Last chance to run,” he warns as he yanks my sweater off over my head. I toe off the boots I am still wearing, trying to aid him in his endeavor to get me naked.