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“No,” I said patiently, cupping his chin to make him look at me again. “You didn’t know. I made sure you didn’t know, Larkin. It wasn’t your problem, and I wasn’t going to make it your problem. Even once we were fooling around.”

He still looked guilty, and I hated seeing it. I smoothed my thumb over his chin and along his jaw, then found myself hesitantly asking, “What… what made you change your mind?”

His eyes darted back to mine, and he wet his lips. “About us, you mean?”

Us. God. My belly tightened. My heart squeezed. Every muscle in my body tensed, my wolf threatening to burst out from under my skin, sweep him up into my arms and cart him off somewhere private, snarling at anyone who got in my way.

When I nodded, Larkin swallowed thickly and fiddled absently with my hair. “I mean, I just felt… safe with you. From the beginning. And once we started having sex, I didn’t start feeling excited or eager to go… you know… with the wrestlers. Or anyone else.” His lip curled a little. “The thought of doing it just made me feel really shitty. And then it was… it was just everything else.” His voice grew hoarse. “Everything else we did together. Getting to spend time with you, and sleep with you, and…”

He trailed off, then swallowed again and looked at me.

“It was just you, Seb. I just realised that all I wanted was you.”

Fuck. My eyes were burning, my throat bobbing convulsively as I tried to muster up some kind of response that would be even half as good as that.

“Lark,” I eventually croaked, exhaling a shaky breath.

“You’re way too good for me,” he mumbled self-consciously. “You’re all, like, smart and well-adjusted and good at everything—”

I burst out laughing at the absurdity of his statement, and after a moment of surprised blinking, he tentatively grinned back, his cute little fangs peeking out.

“What?”

“You, thinking I’m ‘too good’ for you.” I snorted, shaking my head. “It’s just complete dogshit.”

Larkin gurgled with laughter, cheeks sweetly flushed and those little fangs nibbling on his lower lip as he grinned up at me. Then his eyes softened, tongue swiping over his lower lip as his gaze darted down to my mouth. He lunged up and kissed me, but it was a little awkward because I was still grinning like a fool. He huffed against my mouth and pulled back with his own wide smile.

“I’ve only ever seen you smile at me like that,” he said shyly. “Maybe I should’ve figured it out sooner.”

“Maybe.” I chuckled, then held up the slip of paper. “But then I might not’ve gotten this. And this is the best thing anyone’s ever given me.”

“Oh my god, you don’t have to say that.” He flushed and scrubbed his cheek. “It probably sucks, right? I had to use a thesaurus online for some of the clues.”

“It doesn’t suck. It’s perfect.” I tucked it carefully into the inner pocket of my suit jacket, then wrapped my arms around his waist to tug him closer again. “I’m going to frame it.”

His eyes brightened. “My mom went through a frame-making phase once. We have a buttload of empty frames in the attic. Maybe I could find a good one.”

I grinned. “That sounds nice.”

“Or maybe… you could come over at the weekend and we could look together.” He gave me a nervous grin. “And you could meet my family. I mean, I know you met my mom at the diner, but… my dad would lose his shit. In a good way. I want you to meet them.”

It almost felt like I was having an out-of-body experience. Or maybe I was in the middle of an incredibly lucid dream.

“I’d like that,” I said hoarsely. “And you’ll have to meet my family too. Just ignore whatever embarrassing nicknames my sisters call me in front of you.”

He gurgled with laughter, darting up to kiss me again. “Um, no, dude, I’ll be writing them all down.”

The sudden sound of fists banging into glass made him jump. We both looked up to see Vince and Dan staring down at us through the windows of the wrestlers’ backstage area above the arena. The latter had his head tucked under his arm and was holding an apple up to his mouth so his head could take bites. Bits of masticated apple were falling from his neckhole onto the floor.

Vince pointed at us, held up a finger, then vanished for a few seconds. When he reappeared, he was holding a big piece of cardboard, which he flattened against the glass, a permanent marker still clutched in his hand.

U 2 TOGETHER??? it said. He peered over the top of it with a grin, waggling his eyebrows.

Then Mads, Susan and Carl appeared, pressing their noses to the glass and staring down at us. Kit’s head popped into view at the top of the window, their shaggy hair falling in a curtain as they hung upside down.

Susan was clasping her hands together over her chest, her eyes wide and glimmering. She looked back to say something over her shoulder, before Gabe and Biff joined the others at the window. Then Holt appeared, shoving between them to get the best view and dragging Taylor with him.

Jesus Christ.