Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 92941 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 465(@200wpm)___ 372(@250wpm)___ 310(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92941 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 465(@200wpm)___ 372(@250wpm)___ 310(@300wpm)
“Hey,” I called softly. “Look at me.”
Her hair was even more tangled than usual, and I swallowed hard when it curled around my fingers as I brushed it off her shoulder.
“I don’t want to feel like this,” she rasped, tipping her head back to meet my eyes.
“I’m sorry,” I ground out, the sight of her red-rimmed eyes like a punch to the chest. Her face was wet with tears.
“I don’t want to feel like this,” she repeated angrily.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered, cupping her face in my hands. Gods, she was made for me. What the hell had I done?
When I leaned forward and pressed my lips to hers, I was sure she was going to hit me. Her entire body stiffened with anger.
“I’m sorry,” I said again. Kissed her again. Her mouth softened.
How had I deprived myself for so long? Her lips were plush and soft. I wanted to drown in her. Gods.
“I’m sorry.” Kneeling, I pulled her toward me and kissed her again.
“I’m a fucking idiot,” I murmured against her mouth. “I’m so sorry.”
“You don’t have to do this,” she said, her body shuddering. “Just—” She shoved at me half-heartedly. “You don’t have to.”
“I fucked up,” I breathed, holding her steady. “I keep fucking up.”
“Then stop,” she whimpered, sniffling.
“I promise,” I choked out.
She was everything I’d ever needed, and I hadn’t seen it. I’d been too stubborn to even acknowledge it. Reese called me out constantly, and she forgave me just as often. She never let me get too far into my head because she couldn’t stand for it to be quiet. When I leaned into the bond, which I’d only allowed myself when I was inside her, it was as if everything about her was familiar. I knew her. The details were irrelevant. We were matched pieces in a set.
“You don’t have to do this,” she repeated. “I’m already here. I’m not going anywhere.”
“Do what?” I asked, cupping her face in my hands. Gods. In less than a week, she had me wrapped around her finger. There wasn’t anything I wouldn’t do for her.
The realization settled inside me like it had always been there.
Chapter 15
Reese
“You don’t have to pretend,” I ground out, forcing myself to maintain eye contact. “I signed up for this, remember? So, we’ll figure it out. You don’t have to pretend.”
“I’m not pretending anything,” he replied quietly, his thumbs wiping at my cheeks. “Gods, Reese. Haven’t you noticed? I can’t get enough of you.”
I didn’t cry. I grit my teeth, and I dug my fingernails into my palms if necessary, and I moved the fuck on. I’d been doing it since I realized that tears served no purpose. They changed nothing and usually just made me feel worse.
But I couldn’t fight the stinging in my eyes. It was as if I’d been turned inside out, and I couldn’t figure out how to fucking fix it.
“It’s the heat,” I reminded him with a shudder. “It’s not real.”
“It’s the realest thing I’ve ever had,” he countered. “The physical ache, yeah. That’s the heat. Breaking down your door because you weren’t answering it—even though I’ve known how to pick a goddamned lock for the last hundred years? That’s not the heat. Wanting to murder my parents for cornering you and putting this shit in your head? That’s not the heat. Calling your friend who hates me because I didn’t know how the fuck to help you? Not the heat. The mating bond physically pulls us together. It doesn’t make me care that you’re upset.”
“Vampire instincts—”
“Would force me to keep you from harm, yes. They don’t care what kind of food you like or make me follow you into antique stores all day.”
“You could’ve had someone else. If we hadn’t met at the bank—”
“Then I would’ve seen you walking down the street, and I would’ve pulled the fuck over. I would’ve run into you at a restaurant or a grocery store or somewhere else, and we would’ve ended up exactly where we are now,” Beau argued. He winced and shook his head. “And maybe I would’ve figured shit out earlier and realized what I had the moment I met you, and you wouldn’t be on our bathroom floor arguing with every single thing I say because you don’t trust me.”
Someone knocked on the outside door, and Beau’s head shot up angrily.
“Go the fuck away,” he yelled.
“It might be important.”
“Not as important as this,” he assured me, leaning forward to brush his lips over mine.
God, he was trying. He was trying so hard. I could see the sincerity in his eyes. He meant everything he said—but I couldn’t get past it.
I’d never been anyone’s first choice. No one had ever looked at me and thought, that’s her. I have to have her. She’s mine.
I grew on people. That was my superpower. I wore them down until they thought I was funny and cool and worth knowing. I’d done it with Rena when we were kids, I’d done it with Mr. Miranda in high school, and now I’d done it with Beau. Even with the mating bond pulling us irrevocably together, it had taken him days to actually want to be around me.