“I just want to be good enough for you. So you’ll stay.” His voice came out hoarse and I felt goosebumps rising from my skin.
Good enough? Is he blind? Couldn’t he see how perfect he is, except for his temper?
“How long do you want me to stay?”
“Do I have a say in this? I’m not going to force…”
I cut him off before he could finish his statement. “I’m not asking about me. I’m asking you. How long do you want me to stay?”
“Forever. If it’s not too much to ask.” He swallowed hard. His eyes were looking deep into my soul right now, and my own eyes started to water.
The words got caught in my throat. This was what I wanted to hear, and now that he had said it, I didn’t know what to say anymore.
“Nadia…” He cupped my hands in his. “I’m asking for a chance, to take a risk on me, and I mean that. I want you to be my Luna, this pack’s Luna.”
“But the two months? Is it voided? I don’t need to go after two months?”
He tugged at my hands, and my body came along with them before he let them go and wrapped his arms around me, hugging me tightly. “No. Don’t ask me to let you go after two months. If you want the money and the car, I can give you those. But I want a lifetime contract, Nadia.”
I closed my eyes and rested my palms against his chest, a smile curving on my lips as I nodded my head. Damn the car and the money. “A lifetime contract, I want that.”
“The Luna ceremony is not just a Luna ceremony. It is a union between us, a marriage. We don’t need to have it now. I can wait until you’re ready. I just need to understand why you don’t want to have one.”
I closed my eyes and stopped myself from answering. I would tell him tomorrow, not now. I didn’t want to open up about Andrea and my insecurities about her.
He pecked the crown of my head. “You had no idea how much I want to fuck the hell out of you, but I don’t want to disappoint you. I don’t know if I can top what I did the first time we did it.”
“I can pretend I don’t remember anything, so we can start from scratch…”
“You’re fucking amazing. Did you know that?”
Oh, Goddess, he knew how to make me melt. How could I top that?
“I thought I was nothing special until I found out I was mated to an Alpha. So maybe I’m amazing…” I sat up straight so I could see his face again.
“You are. And I know you’re extra special because you’re mated to me. I’m a hard case.”
“Hard case? No. You aren’t. I think you’re almost perfect, if not perfect.” I smiled at him, but I saw sadness cross his eyes, but it was gone in seconds. Or I might just have imagined it.
“Can I ask you something?”
“Ask away…” He said in a low voice, his hand brushing the loose strands of hair away from my forehead before his eyes fixed on mine.
“Do you think it’s possible for you to fall in love with me?” I wanted to ask him if he loved me, but I didn’t have the courage to ask him directly. So I had to go this way.
My heart was thudding loudly as I waited for his response. He wasn’t saying anything, and I felt the invisible lump in my throat getting bigger as if it would choke me soon.
And then, I saw it. A smile slowly crept across his face as his eyes beamed. “Do you love me, Nadia?”
Chapter 24
RILEY.
“Do you think it’spossible for you to fall in love with me?” Her voice was so soft, caressing my senses, but it took a few seconds before her words sank in.
Hunter growled and started prancing around my head. Nadia’s words woke him up from his slumber and he was urging me to confess what we felt for her.
I would. But I wanted to hear what she had to say.
