“They did.”
“And you have such a big ego you think you could have done more than anyone else? That only you could save someone. Did you have special training?”
“No. In fact, I wasn’t much of a swimmer.” I wiped at the tears rolling down his cheeks. “Why are you crying?”
“Because I am grateful it wasn’t you too.”
I couldn’t leave him. It might be to his benefit if I did, but my wolf was chantingmate. My heart agreed. He knew what I was like. He was my fated. Could I maybe trust for once that things could be good? Trust Fate? The Goddess?
Step away from grief?
Chapter Fourteen
Jude
All during the day, Ripley found ways to touch me. Little ways. A brush of the hand on my back. A graze of his fingers along my forearm. As we were reading books from my home library shelves, he didn’t sit on the chair by the fire. Instead, he sat next to me, his thigh pressed against mine.
I didn’t get more than five pages read the whole afternoon.
Not with his scent enveloping me and the fire inside me hotter and raging more than the one in the fireplace ever had and probably ever would.
There were no promises made.
No guarantee that he would stay after the snow melted away.
But we had this moment. I forced myself to be okay with having him here—now.
His stomach gurgled, and his eyes looked up from his book. From what I could tell, he had gotten lessthan a dozen pages read as well. “You didn’t hear that?”
“I didn’t?” I giggled. “Sounded like an upset frog in there.” Without thinking twice, I reached over and patted his abdomen but withdrew it quickly. “I was thinking sloppy joes and potato wedges for dinner. Does that sound okay?”
Ripley grunted. “Would you let me help this time?”
Cooking next to him? How could I say no? “Of course. Let me get some buns into the oven.”
My face heated realizing how easily I would allow this alpha to put a bun in my oven and all that entailed, but I walked quickly to the kitchen. If I was caught with this blazing blush, I would blame it on the fire or the warm cabin.
Once the dough was resting, I told Ripley that I was going to do some laundry. He threw some of his own in with mine, and that simple act would be cherishedin my heart.
That night, we sat at the table and shared a simple meal and then had coffee with some of the almond cake from the other night.
Rip leaned back, patting his belly. “That was delicious. Again. My clothes come out of the are going to be snug on me.”
“Should we go on a run?” I asked.
“In this snow?”
“Yeah. We can dig our way out of the back door and into the forest out back. The snow won’t be as deep through there. I…my wolf would very much like to meet yours.”
He chuckled. “And mine would very much like to meet yours as well. He…he would like to meet his mate.”
I gasped and stepped back from him, dumbfounded by his reveal. I’d known since he got here that he was my fated mate, but to hear him say it, confirmed everything. “How long have you known?” I asked as tears welled in my eyes.
“Since arriving? Since you served me the first of many delicious meals? Since your scent hit me straightin the gut and my wolf howled, begging me to embrace you?”
Blowing out a breath, I let the tears fall freely. “Why didn’t you say something?”
Ripley took a step toward me. “Because I was stubborn. Because I was too caught up in my guilt and misery to admit that my mate was standing in front of me.”
