"Maybe you're the one who's mine."
"Of course I am." He dragged his finger over my clit again, one more time, and my hips bucked. "Why didn't you tell me about fated mates before?"
"Do we have to do this right now?" My body was still arching, fighting for more, and he was only giving me enough to keep me moving for him.
"If you want to come, we do."
"You're the worst."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"I thought you'd leave."
He pressed down hard on my clit. "Why the fuck would you think that?"
I saw stars, but didn't come."You were always so possessive. I thought if you knew I probably belonged to someone else because of fate, that you'd leave. Fae are told over and over as kids that we belong to whoever fate pairs us with. We don't date. We definitely don't live with and fall in love with shapeshifters. My family tried to get me to end things with you over and over at the beginning, but I couldn't. I'd never been so happy."
"You never thought we might be mates?"
"You never asked me for a bargain. Soulmates always meet that way. They never start as friends."
"You thought we couldn't be fatedbecauseyou loved me?"
"Yeah." I held his gaze, though his fingers had stopped moving and the need coursing through me was all-consuming. "Being withyou wasan easy decision, Niall. If it was my call, I would've chosen you over fate in a heartbeat. But I can't control my magic. Look at me. Look atus."
"I do, Livvy. I fucking love what I see."
"Well, I don't know how long we could've kept going the way we were. I don't know what will happen to either of us if I decide to forget about fate and agree to your ultimatum, either."
Niall studied my face. "Why didn't you ask me to bargain with you the first day we met? Or the first time we fucked?"
"Because I knew it would cost me you. And it did, didn't it? All of those times you came to my house and sat in your truck,and youdidn'tcome to my door. You knew you could make me believe you. You knew that I loved you more than anything."
"I didn't stay outside because of fate."
"Don't lie to me, Niall. You're just as terrified as I am that we're not fated. You're just as terrified that I belong to someone else. That's why you're not willing to bargain with me, and it's why you know I can't agree to seal the mate bond without it."
Niall closed his eyes.
His jaw tensed for a long moment.
I'd gone too long without moving, but before my magic could make me uncomfortable again, Niall dragged his finger slowly over my clit, and I lost it.
I came with a desperate cry, wanting more.Needingmore.
He didn't pull his hand away.
He knew that one orgasm was never enough to exhaust my magic.
"We can't seal a bond if I'm the only one who's risking anything," I panted, breathing heavily. "And I would be riskingeverything."
I'd only just started believing that he hadn't chosen Larson's life over mine—I wasn't ready to make that decision.
So I slipped his hand out of my shorts, and I squeezed it lightly. "Keep the paintings. No strings attached. We both know they're yours, anyway. I still have the fifth anniversary one at the house, and you can return my favorite bra some other time."
It was an offer, and a reminder that whatever we were wasn't over. Not completely.
We just... weren't ready.
