“Then how do you know now?” I asked. He’d sounded so sure when he told me, but if he wasn’t, I needed to brace myself for a broken heart.
“I just do.” Another kiss on my head. “When we first get our beasts, we don’t always pick up on things. We have to grow into them. Think of it like a second puberty.”
I shuddered at that. No one wanted to do puberty twice. Once was bad enough.
“But looking back, all the signs were there,” he continued. “You felt it too, right? Tell me you felt it too.”
“I more than felt it. I still do. Upstairs, today, I recognized you from the way you were leaning to one side, pretending to listen.”
“You paid attention to me tonight, even before I talked to you?”
“How could I not? Looking back, I knew then, too. Maybe if I had understood more about mates, then I’d have picked up on it and dragged you with me instead of leaving you.”
We were still in each other’s arms, talking about our lives since we last saw each other. When the door clicked open, I was a little sad. I wasn’t ready to break the magic that had been there in that wine cellar with us. I felt that doubly hard when my manager started going off on me.
“You were here all night instead of working? What, you just think you can pick up a hottie, sneak away, and it’ll be fine?”
They were such a fucking dick.
“And now you expect me to let you go on vacation?”
“Don’t worry about that,” King said.
“I haven’t even decided if I’m still going. Something came up.” I took King’s hand.
“Let me introduce myself. I’m Kingston Basson.”
My manager’s face changed to the perfect customer-service one they reserved for only the most important customers. “Oh, Mr. Basson, I’m so sorry you got stuck here. There’s still some time left for the party. Why don’t you two go and have fun? And don’t worry about that vacation. It’s taken care of, okay?”
I looked at King, who gave a nod. I walked out with him, still holding his hand.
“I should probably work the rest of this shift for my coworkers,” I said. “But you’re gonna stay, right?”
“I’ve waited for you for years. Of course I can wait until this shift is over.”
“And when it is, will you tell me what just happened in there? My manager decided not to be an asshole to staff for the first time in their entire career.”
“Let’s just say my family business is doing pretty well, and this place kind of relies on us for a lot of their functions,” he said.
I stared at him. “So you’re saying I not only got a mate, but I got a fancy, rich one?”
“Say it again,” he whispered.
“Fancy, rich one?”
“No, say the part about the mate.”
“I got a mate?”
He squeezed my hand tight. “Those are the most beautiful words I’ve ever heard.”
I had to agree with him on that. They felt so right and filled with promise. King was my mate. How all of this would work out, I had no idea, but I didn’t need to because I knew it would.
King was mine and always had been. He was just mine from a distance before, and I wasn’t going to let that happen again.
I dropped his hand, not wanting to leave his side, but glad that it was only for a few hours.
6
