He let his hand drop back to his side. “You think I can stay mad atyou?”
“Not staying mad at me and forgiving me are two separatethings.”
His jaw tensed. And then, in a voice that scattered goose bumps over my skin, he said, “I forgiveyou.”
My heart was pounding so hard the fabric of my red dress vibrated. The tether too, probably. For a second, I considered tugging it to pull August toward me, but what if . . . what if itdidn’twork?
Or what if he didn’t want me like thatanymore?
My arms started shaking, so I clutched my elbows. “I’d understand if you say no, but would you give me a secondchance?”
He didn’t answer me for so long that I wondered if I’d spoken too quietly, but then he took a tentative step toward me and crooked my chin up on his finger. “Only if you promise not to let anyone, and I meananyone—not Evelyn, not Liam—come between us again, because I’m not interested in our Alpha’s rules or societal propriety. It’syouandme. No one else. And even though I could never hate you, if you break my heartagain—”
“When I break yours, it breaks mine,” I whispered in a tenuous voice. I hadn’t realized I’d started crying until his thumbs swiped my cheeks. And here I thought I’d exhausted my tear ducts earlier, but apparently they were bottomless. “I’m so sorry,August.”
He pressed his mouth to mine and stroked away my apology with his tongue. And then his hands trailed down my arms, loosening them, before lacing around mywaist.
His scent would be all over me, but I no longer cared. Besides, I was pretty confident that Tamara’s pregnancy would make Liam think twice before jumping into a duelnow.
I pushed up on my tiptoes and gripped the back of August’s neck to deepen the kiss and to erase any remaining space between our bodies. His mouth slid off mine but didn’t leave my body. It traveled across my jaw and down my neck, traced the slope of my shoulder, tracking wet heat over my sensitiveskin.
I shivered. Shuddered.Shook.
When he lifted his head to look at me, I thumbed the back of his neck. “As far as birthday presents go, that kiss might’ve beat the palm tree. Which is a feat, considering how much I love that palmtree.”
He smiled quietly, his fingertips sketching unhurried circles at the base of my spine. “Ness, I have to ask, what made you change yourmind?”
I worried the inside of my cheek. “I didn’t want you going somewhere the link didn’t work thinking I wasn’t attracted to you.” I dragged my hand through my straightened hair. “I’m really jealous of Ingrid. Of pretty much every girl you’vedated.”
“You have nothing to be jealousabout.”
“Are you kidding? They’re all still hung up on you. And they’re all older, and way more experienced,and—”
He kissed me before saying, “And none of them areyou.”
“Areyousure it’s not just the link that makes you wantme?”
He pulled away, the tendons in his neck pinching beneath my fingertips. “When you went off toTennessee with Liam, I considered boarding a plane and coming after you, but Mom told me the best way to scare a girl off was to do just that, so I stayed here and sulked and imagined the worst things. And then when you came back and said you hadn’t missed me”—he grimaced—“it felt like I’d taken a bullet to theheart.”
“I’m sorry,” I saidagain.
“I’m just sorry we lost all this time, sweetheart.” He nudged my nose with his before kissing me so tenderly it made my toes curl. After a deliciously long while, he said, “I have a confession of myown.”
“Youdo?”
“I went to speak with Evelyn thisweek.”
Iblanched.
“I told her about my intentions towardyou.”
I stared at him in mute horror. “Yourintentions?”
“I told her that when I returned from my trip, I would ask you out. On a properdate.”
“Did she threaten to murderyou?”
His lips quirked. “No. She thanked me for my honesty and then she left the room.” His mouth straightened into a contemplative expression. “I didn’t mean to upset her; I only meant to show her that I was serious about you. I hope that, in time, she’ll acceptme.”
