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“You better.”
I lost count of the innuendos thrown back and forth by the time the waffles were gone. Everything from taste to the fact that their faces were covered with toppings. Relentless, and my abs hurt from laughing.
True to the bet we made, I opened my own car door on the way there and back. But Joel gave me a hard look as I closed it. “No more.”
“Because the world began to collapse when I opened my own door.”
“You are perfectly capable of opening your own doors,” Cade nodded in agreement. “But here’s the real question. Why should you have to?”
I didn’t have an answer for him, except for it being ‘unnecessary.’ If I pulled at that thread, it would go to the coreof everything I was dealing with, which was that I didn’t feel worthy. Of them, of having a door opened, of anything.
Cade lifted my hand and kissed the back of it. “It’s not a bother. It’s not an obligation. It’s not something we’re doing while internally rolling our eyes. If it truly,trulymakes you uncomfortable, I don’t want that. But if it’s because you think you’re making things easier for us, don’t.”
“You don’t like things easy?” I teased.
But Cade didn’t rise to the bait. He stepped into my space and pulled me to him, kissing my forehead with such tenderness it stole my breath. “Of course I do. Everyone loves easy things, princess. But someone who only looks for the easy way out, especially in something as small as this, is never worth your time.”
I breathed him in, leaning into his hold, and he smiled into my skin. “Can I say something?”
“Thought you already did.”
Soft laughter. “You don’t want to let us do this because being taken care of makes you afraid. Letting your guard down means it can happen again. That you’ll get hurt, and it will prove everything you already think is true.”
My heart stuttered in my chest, like Cade had reached into my chest and pinpointed the heart of me. “Will you give us a chance to change your mind?”
I’d already started to, and with my vow earlier tonight, I had to let them in. I had to give them this chance. “Okay.”
“Thank you.”
He released me, my body unsure what to do now that he wasn’t holding me. I swallowed. My knees were unsteady as I crossed the gravel drive to the house. Ellie waited by the front door, watching. “What were you going to tell me?” I asked.
“I’ve never seen you like that. That’s all I wanted to say.”
“Like what?”
Ellie searched my face. “So fucking happy, Iz. I may not have known what a piece of shit Beau was, but I know you’re happier with them than you ever were with him. I hope you can feel it.”
I glanced over my shoulder at the pack, chatting with Warren and giving the two of us space before they came inside. “I do,” I finally said. “I really do.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
________
HAWK
Ismiled at the photos on my phone. They were perfect. The one I’d managed to snap while I kissed Isolde was a photo I was going to keep forever. Once she knew who we were to her—and I refused to believe she wouldn’t be with us after—I was having it fucking framed.
Said Omega was sleeping late. The others hadn’t objected when I told them I wanted to spend the day with Isolde. Now I just had to see if she wanted to spend it with me. I had a plan, but I would change it in a second if that’s what she wanted.
Crawling across the bed, I brushed her hair out of her face, making her stir. “Five more minutes,” she mumbled.
“Five more minutes and it will be the afternoon.”
Isolde’s eyes flew open. “What?”
“Such a sleepy Omega,” I teased. “Rowan and sugar wore you out.”
“Why didn’t anyone get me up?”
