I groaned when I heard a vehicle approaching. I wasn’t in the mood to—Gods, was I being punished?
“He’s gonna think I’m a stalker,” my mate said.
“Trust me, son, he won’t,” my papa reassured my mate. And he was right… I kinda liked that Kian had tracked me down… Not that I’d even known I wanted him to.
Why wasn’t I surprised? Even though Papa hadn’t come out and asked me anything, I knew he knew.
I looked up at his approach, and dammit, I wanted him back in my arms. He stopped at the bottom of the stairs and nibbled on his bottom lip. Growlingminewasn’t the way to go, even though every fiber of my being screamed it. His lips were mine to nibble on. Every part of him was mine to cherish.
I waited for him to speak first even though I didn’t know what I was hoping to hear.
“Your papa said this is where you grew up,” Kian said.
Of all the things I expected out of his mouth, that certainly hadn’t made the list. I was waiting for him to ask me why on earth I’d kissed him.
He looked up and studied the house for a moment. In a soft voice, Kian said, “It looks like it has a lot of happy memories.”
That made me smile because he wasn’t wrong. Growing up had been amazing with all my siblings. Austin and I were thick as thieves.
“Must be nice having so many siblings.” I could hear the sadness in his voice, and I wanted to comfort him. Let him know that my brothers were his now, and so were my parents.
“Yeah, very loud and rowdy,” I said, chuckling. “I don’t think Papa kept anything breakable in the house for years.”
Kian’s gorgeous lips curved. “I can imagine, with all of you running through the house. I wouldn’t have either.”
An image came to me of Kian running after our kids in the backyard of our housewhile I put together a swing set for our little ones.
“Do you want a big family?” I asked.
Kian smiled and nodded. “Definitely, but I wouldn’t mind just one healthy kid. My parents tried for more kids, but it never really happened for them. It would be nice if my kid weren’t all alone if something ever happened, though.”
He didn’t need to add like he was with his parents gone. “If anything happens, they’d have Rhys’s kids and—”
My mouth snapped shut the moment I realized what I said.
“That would be great.” Kian grinned. “Rhys’s kid as my kid’s best friend, just like he’s mine.” He met my gaze, still smiling. “I never thought of that.”
If I had my way, they’d be more than just best friends—they’d be blood. Cousins. Family.
We fell into a companionable silence which Kian finally broke when he said, in a soft voice, “I don’t regret it.” “The kiss,” he added, like I didn’t know exactly what he’d meant.
I smiled. Both my bear and I were thrilled to hear that, but did it really change anything?
My bear growled, screaming at me to stop being a boneheaded idiot.
Why was it so hard to admit this to Kian? He would understand… He would, wouldn’t he?
But what if he didn’t? What if this was too much for him… But was just having him close enough? Without ever telling him what he meant to me… What if one day, he met someone?
I growled, and Kian took a step towards me. For some reason, that made me happy. That side of me didn’t scare him.
Because he doesn’t know what it comes with. What if he knew you could turn into an almost nine-hundred-pound wild animal? That would go down swimmingly.
My bear called me a coward. Or maybe it was me calling myself a coward.
“Are you okay?” Kian had only climbed up one step, but when our gazes met, his was filled with concern.
“What? Why do you ask?”
