Ember got up and crossed the room, and he went entirely still. She sat beside him, and still he did not move.
“What if I don’t want to tell the guy no, but I also don’t know if I can commit the rest of my life, but I want to find out if we could work?”
Aaron’s eyes held deep warmth and disbelief. “Is that what you want?”
“Is it like Lucy described, for you? The visceral knowing thing?”
He was still for what must have been years. Then, slowly, slowly he nodded.
“But you weren’t going to tell me.”
He shook his head.
“Because you didn’t want to pressure me?”
“Partly.”
Finally they were getting somewhere. She needed more, but he didn’t elaborate. Aaron wasn’t sure how to tell her everything or wasn’t sure he wanted to; instead, she’d focus on what she already knew.
She said, “If we try and it doesn’t work, or if I flub it somehow, which is likely—”
He growled. This one was not approving.
“I’m not being falsely humble. I’m trying to make you aware going in. I tend to be challenging, to quote every man I’ve ever dated.”
“Then you’ve dated morons.”
She took a few seconds to bask in that, but she needed an answer to the question she hadn’t finished asking. “If we part ways, months from now, what are your chances for one day meeting someone else?”
His hesitation was her answer. One convenient characteristic of Aaron: he didn’t conceal well, much less lie.
“If I walk away now,” she said, “are you more likely to be able to move on? Or is it already too late for that?”
The questions seemed too heavy for him. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes. Which, again, supplied her answer. But she wanted to hear it from him.
“Aaron.” She slid closer to him and rested her hand on his arm. “I need to know, if we’re going to try this. Not so I can beat myself up for being here, because I would’ve come for Quinn no matter what. I just need to understand.”
He covered her hand with his, so broad it hid hers completely. “I know you’ve got a life. I know you’re not interested in living Spartan on a private dirt road on the outskirts of the tiniest town in Tennessee.”
“Don’t tell me what I’m not interested in. Tell me about you.”
“Me,” he said. His chin tucked into his chest. “I’m a wolf, and you’re… Well, you’re Ember.”
He’d been about to say something else. She set her other hand on top of his, and he lifted his head.
“You get a choice,” he said. “You can’t be with me for my sake.”
“No. That would be insulting.”
His mouth curved, but he quickly sobered. “If it works, it has to work for both of us. And I want it to. But there are a few things I need to…to get straight in my head.”
“Well, while you’re figuring it out, why don’t we give ourselves a chance to make this thing work?”
The warmth grew in his eyes. He cupped the side of her face in his hand and ran his thumb over her cheekbone. She mirrored the gesture, and then she pushed her fingers up his temple into his hair. They both leaned in, and this time he didn’t turn away. Her lips met his, and yes, of course, the kiss was exactly Aaron, tender and slow and sweet. Then his lips shifted, and she chased them with her own, tempting him to continue. His groan came with a deep rumble from his chest, and he pulled her closer, matched her intensity. Every nerve in her body stood at attention. This…man. Whoa.
Principled he might be. Awkward he was not.
Soon, though, he gentled the kiss, cradled her against his chest, and dropped sweet kisses on the side of her mouth, her cheek, her jaw. She had never felt so cherished before, and somehow that was even better, stirred more heat in her than she was used to. She rested her head on his chest, her hands sliding from his back to rest over his pounding heart.
