Page 78 of Vampire Pack

King slipped a hand around the back of my head, tilting my chin until I was looking directly into his eyes. "I loved every minute of it. Thank you."

My eyes started to burn again. Just the tiniest bit. Not because of heat, that time. Just because of him.

I lowered my head back to his chest, and took a deep breath of his scent.

Home.

When had he started feeling like home?

"Did I dream up telling you I kind of love you?" I asked.

King chuckled. "Nope. That was real."

"Shit. How long did we sleep, afterward?"

"You were out about twelve hours afterward. It was a long, rough heat, but the next ones should be easier."

I nodded. "About the love thing…"

"Don't worry about it. Heat messes with your head."

"Yeah. But that's not… it's not why I said that. I just…" I let out a rough breath. "It's not a secret that I felt strongly about you before. When I insisted that I hated you. I think maybe I just had strong feelings, and was… scared."

"It's okay to be scared. You were young when we started fucking. You didn't expect it to turn into anything."

"No. I didn't. But I don't want to try to convince myself that I hate you anymore. I have feelings for you. Strong feelings. That means something to me."

"It means everything to me." He dragged his hand slowly through my hair. "Yorkie, I fell in love with you years ago. I'll take whatever you're willing to give me. Lust. Hatred. Love. You're mine. And I'm sure as fuck yours."

My face flushed, and this time, it wasn't because of the hormones. "I'm not there yet, but I think I want to get there."

"There's no rush. We've got forever."

Somehow, that was exactly what I needed to hear.

Eventually, we got out of bed, and showered.

I was stable enough to wash my own hair, thank god.

It was around 8 PM, but there wasn't another game until the next day, so I had time to recover.

I could've texted my friends to try to meet up. I could've asked King to take me back to my apartment, so we could spend the night there, too.

But I didn't do either of those things.

"How do you feel about finishing that hockey romance show?" I asked.

"I'm dying to see how it ends."

My lips tilted upward. "I could go back to my apartment instead, if you want me to. I get it if you want space."

"I could drag you back into our bed kicking and screaming, if you tried," he said mildly.

I bit back a grin. "The bed is a mess. Maybe we should go out to the couch?"

"The couch is also a mess. We can go out to the pack's living room, though."

"Jude and Hollis might not want to watch hockey romance," I pointed out.