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“Wrong? You’re leaving?”
She swallowed hard then shook her head. “No, you oaf. I’m not leaving. Thoughts like those are going to give you a heart attack. I’m your mate,” she repeated. “I’m not going anywhere. But I’m also not going to be locked away because you’re scared of what might happen to me. I’m not worth anything if I rely on others to live. I need to be my own person, too.” She let out a breath. “I need to learn how to be Brie Brentwood. I can’t do that if I never leave the house…if I don’t get to know you.”
She didn’t like hiding the truth. She wanted to be as honest as possible, so if she had to bare her soul in order to be the person she wanted to be, then so be it.
Her mate leaned down, pressing his lips to her forehead, and her body softened. “I’m not doing this right.”
She put her hand on his chest. “We did everything backward, Gideon.”
He pulled away and nodded. “You’re right. We met and then mated. I didn’t…I didn’t court you.”
Her eyes widened, her mouth dropping open. “Courting?”
He smiled then, and she sucked in breath. He was handsome when he growled and looked intimidating. But when he smiled? She was lost. Those blue eyes pierced her, his lips full…tempting.
“Courting,” he repeated. “And I’m going to try not to be an asshole, but it’s not going to be easy.”
She snorted then rolled her eyes. “You’re not an asshole.” He gave her a look. “Fine. You’re not an assholeallthe time. You’re still learning how to deal with a woman in your life. I get it. I’m learning how to deal with living with a mate. So we’ll work on it. Start fresh.”
His eyes darkened, and she had a feeling she knew where his mind had gone. “Fresh.”
She pushed playfully at his chest, and he caught her hands in his. She licked her lips, and his gaze went to her mouth. “Go shower so we can go to the Pack circle. Then after…well, after we get to play a game.”
He growled softly, squeezing her hands. “A game?”
She smiled then, liking the way he reacted to her words. “Yes, a game. We’ll play twenty questions.”
“Huh?”
Poor guy, he seemed so forlorn. “We ask each other twenty questions and get to know one another. With each question, we get to find out not only another facet of who we are…but…” She leaned close so she could feel the heat of him. “I’ll kiss you for each question and you can do the same.”
He growled again. “Just a kiss?”
She went on her tiptoes and kissed the bottom of his chin. “I never said where I’d kiss you.”
He took her lips, crushing his mouth to hers in a punishing kiss. She gasped, rocking her body into his. She felt the hard line of his cock against her belly, and she panted before she pulled away.
“Shower. Alone. Go. We can’t be late.”
He licked his lips when she spoke then nodded before moving past her toward the bedroom.
The image of him naked and wet and palming his cock while he finished what she’d started filled her mind, and she moaned. Gideon froze then turned around slowly.
“I won’t finish what we started alone,” he said, his voice low. “I’ll wait for our…game for that.”
Her eyes widened, and she smiled slowly. “Good.”
With one last nod, he went back to the bedroom for presumably averycold shower.
Goddess, she knew they were good in bed. That was one thing she never had to worry about. It was the soft moments like this, when he wanted to play with her, when she thought this could work.
Only things never worked out perfectly, she thought half an hour later when she found herself standing at the Pack circle on the raised platform next to Gideon. The Pack was in an uproar.
And it was all because of her.
Words likeweak,submissive, andwhorewere bandied about as if they had a right to judge her. Not everyone spoke, nor did they all yell. No, only a few shared theiropinionsof her as Gideon’s mate.
They weren’t doing it behind her back any longer.
