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“First, if we’re going to be mated, we need to live together. This is a two-bedroom suite, and since it’s the largest one, this was the best for us.”
My sip grew closer to a gulp, then another, before I said, “So I’d share a room…”
“With me.”
He waited patiently, watching to see if I had another question. I had many, but I wasn’t quite ready to ask any of them yet.
He cleared his throat. “Look, I explained to you how I felt about mating, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to force intimacy. Still, I want to at leastappearto be committed to being together. I feel it sets a better example.”
“So you won’t sleep with anyone?”
“We need it to look real, but if it’s not, I’m not going to be celibate for the rest of my life.” He shrugged, as if that was common sense.
“You’d sleep with another woman while you’re mated to me?” My voice was a little harsher than I’d intended.
“I’d be discreet, but yes, especially if you’re saying you want it to be a mating in name only.” He stared at me as if this were all so obvious. “You can’t expect me to never have sex again.”
I wanted to jump across the couch and rip his hair out of his skull.
“You told me you didn’t want me to step out,” I said. “Butyouget to?”
“But it’s yourchoicenot to have sex. I’d choose to have sex with you.”
His stating it so point-blank numbed my brain. “I don’t like your arrangements,” I said. It was the best I could come up with when he was telling me he wanted to sleep with me.
“Once we get settled somewhere more permanent, we could probably spread out into different bedrooms and figure out a situation that works for both of us.”
“Till then, no one does anything,” I said, wanting to lock him down.
“Fine. I can agree to that.”
Settled somewhere—like Arkansas? Would he expect me to move there? After all the moving, would onemoremove matter? Either way, I wasn’t going to think about it right now.
A couple minutes passed as we both adjusted to this new situation.
“I gathered a few things for you and left them in the bedroom,” he said nonchalantly.
I was already shaking my head. “I can sleep on the couch.”
He waved a hand toward Charlie’s room. “Are you going to tell the kid to lie, then? He’s an open book. At some point he’ll tell people that you’re sleeping on the couch.”
“What’s the difference?”
“I told people you were going to be my mate so that it would be an easier transition. Shifters don’t tend to accept movements from pack to pack well, even for a guide. They view it asdisloyal.” He got up, refilling his glass and then leaning on the table there as he turned back to me. “Look, if you don’t want to do this, tell me now while we can still undo it. We’ll say we weren’t compatible and call it quits before it sets into the pack’s psyche. We can play it whatever way you want. It might be a rougher transition, but everyone will adjust. Just make a decision.”
“No.” It was a knee-jerk response, and I could see from Kicks’ expression that he was as surprised at my quick answer as I was. “I want Charlie to be secure,” I added.
Kicks nodded, looking as iffy on my explanation as I was feeling about it. Itwasfor Charlie. This was the only time I’d ever felt sure about anything, and I was sure this was the move. If I was Kicks’ mate, everyone would view Charlie like his son, in a sense. It was just the smart thing to do.
It was.
I downed the last of my bourbon. “Okay, well, I guess I’ll go get settled in. I’m pretty tired.”
I walked in and stared at the bed. He followed me a few seconds later, walking to the other side of the room, already acting as if this were normal. How many women had he been with that he was so at ease?
Doesn’t matter, because he’s mine now.
Huh? Where had that come from? He wasn’t really mine. Well, not completely mine, but I guessed I did have a certain ownership.
