When she shivers slightly, it’s a fight to drag up the sheets from the bottom of the bed with my toes to cover us both. I struggle to pull my cell phone from my pants on the floor andshoot Archer a quick text to let him know I’m staying with June for now.
And it’s easy, too fucking easy, to wrap my arms around my mate’s soft, warm back, holding her even as I tell myself I’ll just close my eyes for a bit. The second my knot releases her, I’ll leave her just like I promised I would.
Chapter 33
June
Knotted.
I told Callum not to knot me, then I begged and begged for it until he gave me his knot, and I don’t even have the excuse of being in heat to blame for it.
And it had feltgood. Like an orgasm that goes on and on, the muscle at the base of his cock was squeezing out more pleasure until I was near drunk on it. So damn good that I don’t know how I won’t want it again.
As I get up, I wrap a sheet around myself and try not to notice the man quietly snoring on my bed. When my gaze drifts over tanned pecs and washboard abs, I yank it back to his face before I can discover just how much my sheet covers. Or how much it doesn’t cover.
Hetoldme that he would leave right after I’d taken what I needed from him. That might have been possible if I hadn’t immediately crawled on top of him, tucked my face against his neck and fallen asleep.
Again, I didn’t have being in heat as an excuse for my behavior. Maybe it’s biology fighting to keep my mate close. Maybe I’d liked how warm he was to snuggle up to. Or maybe, and this is probably most likely, I’m a sucker for punishment toeventhinkof snuggling up with a guy who treated me the way Callum did.
I could just be an idiot.
Padding into the living room part of my studio apartment, I curl up on the couch with the sheet tucked around myself and close my eyes.
I’m not sure what wakes me. Some small sound, maybe. I open my eyes to Callum dressed and reaching for the door. I could pretend to be asleep, but I don’t want to.
“You’re leaving.”
My voice stops him in his tracks.
He peers over his shoulder, his gaze probing. Only when his expression relaxes do I realize how rested I feel. Over the last few days, I’ve been sluggish and tired.
Sex with my scent match has chased away the bond sickness. It won’t last. My heat is still coming, and I need to make a decision about what to do before it hits.
“Sorry I didn’t leave before,” he says.
“You’re to blame for a lot of things.” I sit up and carefully tuck the sheet around me. “But you’re not to blame for making a promised task impossible. I shouldn’t have crawled on top of you.”
Even now, I’m not sorry I did. It felt as natural as breathing.
One corner of his mouth lifts in a half-smile. “You were like a sleepy kitten. I meant to move you when…” He clears his throat as heat fills his gaze. “When I wasn’t locked inside you. I fell asleep. You felt too good, Juniper.”
Sunlight is streaming through my windows on a brand-new day, yet here I am, fighting with myself not to ask him to stay.
Idiocy. That’s what this is. It can’t be anything else.
With my head lowered, I study him from under my lashes. “That first night, when I was in your car on the way to yourhouse, if you’d told me about your families, none of this would have happened.”
We might have fought about other things. We also might have been happy. A large part of me thinks we would have been so happy, and that’s why their betrayal hurt so much.
That first morning, waiting for them to come down for the cake I baked for our first breakfast together felt like the start of my happily ever after, and it turned into a nightmare I could never wake up from.
His smile is as sad as it is bitter. “It’s a decision I’ve regretted ever since I found your nest.”
My body jerks in response to his soft admission. I haven’t thought about my old nest for a while, and I thought I never would.
He walks over to me, his steps light, and sits on the coffee table in front of me, legs spread wide. He dips his head a bit, just enough to meet my gaze. With his hands resting on the tops of his thighs, his voice is quiet and serious when he asks me, “Why did you do it? Why did you destroy your nest like that?”
“The first time was after I saw you with Lottie.” I lift my eyes from his black t-shirt to his face. “I couldn’t rip out my heart like I wanted to, so I did the next best thing instead.”
