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“I keep extra stuff. Sometimes a friend will stay the night and forget to bring a toothbrush or paste. D.O. That sort of thing.”
Did she mean a man? It wouldn’t be fair to ask, though I ached to know.
“Thank you.”
“I’ll go out first thing in the morning and buy you some clothing.” Her low laugh rang out, and the sound tickled across my skin like the sweetest caress. “You can’t walk around dressed like that.”
“I hate to impose on your kindness.”
My brother would be back in a week, and Mazie was suggesting I stay here with her until then. That would give me time to show her who I was and what I could offer a mate, assuming I had anything to offer.
I needed to figure this out. Did I have a home or any income at all? I remembered finishing culinary school, but I couldn’t remember if I’d used my training or . . . Everything was such a jumbled mess in my mind.
“It’s no imposition,” she said. “I want to help you, Gravor. Will you let me?”
This was the only place I wanted to be. I’d be a fool to keep fighting my feelings. So I smiled instead. “I appreciate it. I’ll find a way to repay you.”
“This isn’t something monetary. I’m a nurse, and you need my help. But it’s more than that. I like you, Gravor, and it might sound odd, but I feel as if I need to have you here where I can watch out for you.”
An obligation to my brother? Perhaps, but for now, I’d swallow my pride and take what she offered.
I wanted to be with Mazie forever. If I was here, I could talk with her, laugh, and learn everything there was to know about her. She was my mate, and a touch of jealousy stabbed through me at the thought she’d been with others, a feeling I had no right to wallow in. We’d just met. She was entitled to live a full life whether I was in it or not.
She didn’t understand what true mates were, and it would be wrong of me to insist she was mine or make demands.
Though I wanted to. I ached to kiss her, touch her, and claim her fully. I suspected she would help me get back on my feet, that she hoped to help me heal and regain my memories.
But I had my own motive here.
I was going to do all I could to make her fall in love with me.
“I’m not taking your bed,” I insisted. “I’ll sleep in your son’s and on the couch when he comes home.”
We stood in her bedroom and all I could picture was us climbing beneath the covers, of what we might do together while we were there. The picture haunted me, and for one instant, I could swear I saw us entwined, doing things I ached to do with her now.
My mind was playing tricks on me. Nothing could make me forget us being together. She said we’d met briefly in the past but in essence, we’d only met tonight.
“You’ll be much too cramped on my couch.” She snorted. “It’s as small as Asher’s toddler bed.”
“You need rest as much as me.”
“It’s okay, really,” she said, grabbing things from her bureau and going to the open doorway. “My bed’s bigger. You’re an above average sized guy. Please. Will you let me do this for you?”
I hated that I felt like I owed everything to her. As a male and a dragon shifter, it was my role to protect and care for my mate.
Although, her role as my mate was to do the same for me. A relationship should be shared. One person shouldn’t do everything for the other, or it would feel unbalanced.
It would do me good to compromise here. The tension in her face told me she wanted to help.
And I wanted to please her.
“All right,” I said. “I’ll sleep in your bed.”
Chapter 7
Mazie
Iwoke early the next morning, partly because the sun blazed through Asher’s east -facing windows but mostly because I was excited.
