"And I want to see you again," he continued.
"Really?" A smile stretched across my face, wider and wider. Then I remembered one very important thing.
"What is it?" he asked, his face concerned.
"Um, well, I'm in Houston and you're here in Dallas. It's kinda hard to go out on dates when we're three and half hours from each other."
"Who said anything about dating?"
I glowered at him and poked him in the chest. "You're not funny."
"I wasn't trying to be," he grumbled.
When I lifted my finger to poke him again, he grabbed my hand. "What I meant is that I don't want to just date you, Candy." He paused and I could see that he was choosing his words carefully. "I want to spend time with you, days and nights, not just a few stolen hours. If I have to come to you, I'll do it. When you can come to me, you do it. We'll figure it out."
Speechless, I continued to stare up at him.
"No comment?" he asked.
Slowly, I shook my head. We were moving at warp speed and my brain hadn't caught up with everything he said. Not completely. I was still stuck on the part about how he wanted to spend days and nights with me. I'd only spent a handful of hours with him, but I wanted more. I wanted everything he could give me.
He started to lean forward to kiss me, but I lifted my hand and placed my fingers over his lips. "Wait. I do have something to say."
He lifted an eyebrow.
"Blake, I-" I took a deep breath. "I'm worried we might be moving too fast."
He reached up and moved my hand off his mouth. "I'm not."
"Why not? You know something I don't?"
Blake smirked. "Actually, yeah."
I leaned away from him, my back against the wall. "What exactly is that?"
"I'm a wolf, sugar. We just know. Once we've felt our other half, caught their scent, we don't want anyone else."
I didn't know what I expected, but it definitely wasn't that.
He chuckled when he saw the expression on my face. "You look surprised."
I blinked rapidly. "That's because I am. Are you saying that I'm your-" I wasn't sure I could say the word. "Your mate?"
Blake's grin widened. "Well, if you want to be literal about it, then yeah."
Forget warp speed, I'd fallen into a wormhole and I was in an alternate universe.
Blake cupped my face, tilting it up so he could see my eyes. "Hey, calm down. I'm not going to drag you back to my house and chain you to the bed." He paused. "Though that visual is kind of appealing."
I sighed and rolled my eyes, which made him laugh.
"Candela, we don't have to rush into anything. I'm just telling you where I stand. This means something to me."
"It was just one night," I murmured.
He smiled again. "Yeah, but sometimes all it takes is one night or one person to change everything."
A melting sensation began in my chest and spread throughout my body. My bones dissolved completely when Blake's mouth met mine.
