“How long have you known?” I hold my phone up between us, as if that gives any indication of what I’m talking about, but he doesn’t reply immediately, instead keeping that same smirk locked in place.
“Colten,” I warn, irritation bleeding into the word.
“Not long,” he finally says.
“That’s not an answer,” I snap.
“No, it’s not the answer you want.”
I huff. It’s possible my irritation is misplaced, but I can’t help how annoyed I am. He’s one of my closest friends, basically family after everything we’ve survived together. How could he not tell me this huge piece of information that changes our lives?
A perfect match.
Colten stands slowly, stretching his shoulders out after sitting behind the computer for a long period of time. “Wouldyou have believed me?” he asks, taking measured steps toward me. “If I sat you down this morning after you’d been attacked, while you were feeling vulnerable and scared, and I told you that the matchmaker had found we were perfectly compatible?” He continues forward into my space until I have no choice but to back up into the wall behind me.
Colten surrounds me, his body and warmth wrapping around me like it was always supposed to. “What about last night when you were upset you and Nico weren’t better suited? Was that a good time to tell you that you were always meant to be mine?”
His fingers wrap around my jaw, forcing me to look up into his eyes, where more emotion than I’ve ever seen from him stares back at me. “Tell me when I could have told you, Wildcat.”
I open my mouth to respond but quickly snap it shut again, because he’s right. The last few days have been rough for me, and if Colten had flat out told me we were matched, I would have told him he was crazy.
The only way I was going to believe it was to hear it straight from the matchmaking service.
“I want to go home,” I say, my voice shaking beneath the weight of the words.
“No,” he growls.
“Colten—”
“I said no, Lexi. Someone tried to take you this morning, and the only person I trust with your safety is me.”
“You can’t keep me here against my will.”
He chuckles, pressing his body into mine until there’s not a breath of space between us. “Watch me.”
My chest tightens at how utterly menacing he sounds, completely at odds with the gentle giant I grew up with.
“Colten,” I say softly. “It’s better that we aren’t living together while we navigate this next stage in our…relationship. Lines aregoing to get crossed, and I don’t want either of us to be put into a position we’re not ready for.”
“Under normal circumstances, I might be more inclined to agree, but when you were just attacked in the middle of the night by an unknown threat? I’m not taking any chances, even if that means moving up the timeline.”
“Oh god, Cruz is going to lose his shit.” My heart clenches at the thought. Is my brother going to see this as some kind of betrayal? His sister and his best friend?
Colten chuckles, his breath whispering across my cheeks. “Cruz has been trying to talk me into making a move for years, Wildcat. He’s going to be thrilled.”
I open my mouth to argue, to tell him there’s no way Cruz would be okay with this, but Colten isn’t a liar. It’s part of the reason my family trusts him implicitly.
“I’ve spent a lot of years knowing you were perfect for me, but I understand that you need some time to come to the same conclusion, and I’ll do my very best to make that happen, even while living in close quarters. But I want to make something very clear to you, Lexi.” He brackets my throat gently with his tattooed fingers. “Now that you’re mine, there’s nothing I won’t do to keep you.”
My breath catches in my throat, a shiver of need moving through my body. Perhaps a sane woman would be afraid, but not me. No, I’m turned on as hell.
He smirks and pushes himself off the wall, and as much as I hate to admit it, I miss his warmth immediately.
Without a backward glance, he moves back to his desk and starts working away as if he hasn’t just admitted to having feelings for me for years.
NINETEEN
COLTEN
