Page 50 of Defeated

I’m surprised she’s opening up to me. Surprised but relieved, especially when I’d thought I would wake up alone. “Yet you still wanted to leave it behind?”

She shrugs. I tuck her against my chest. Neither of us is particularly cold, and the morning isn’t a chill one, but I do it anyway, wanting her closer. “I was wrong to get my hopes up that I’d found somewhere I could start again.”

She could have that fresh start in Winter Lake with me. Mack would let her stay. There’s no doubt in my mind. The rest of my packmates would welcome her with open arms. She’d be safe, and I think she’d be happier with us—with me—than she would be anywhere else. I don’t know how I can be so certain of it. I just am.

I don’t want to force Zoe to do anything she doesn’t want to do. She deserves to make her own choices about what she wants and where she wants to live.

Asking her to come with me to Winter Lake now seems like the worst possible time. Even if I have her in my arms, and if I’m not mistaken, she’s burrowing closer as if she’s as unwilling for our one night to end as I am.

“What does this fresh start look like to you?” I ask her instead.

She lifts one shoulder in a shrug. “Never really gave it much thought.”

“Well, I’m guessing it’s a place free of assholes.”

Her eyes soften with amusement. “That would be a start.”

“Maybe somewhere quiet?”

“Quiet? Don’t be ridiculous, as if a place that I don’t get yanked from sleep by screaming loud traffic exists.” Her voice is dry and deeply sarcastic.

I like her sense of humor, and I don’t think she has much of an opportunity to let it out. “How about somewhere where you run because you want to, not only because someone is chasing you?”

Her smile fades. “You’re selling me a dream that doesn’t exist.” Before I can tell her it does, she shakes her head and looks away. “We should probably get up soon.”

We should.

Neither of us moves.

As expected, sleeping with Zoe was a mistake. One of the biggest I’ve ever made, and I don’t know how I can return to my normal, quiet life again. It wouldn’t be the same.

After a moment, her eyes return to mine. “You look serious.”

I nod, stroking the curve of her hip. “I am.”

“Regretting what we did last night?”

I lift my hand to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear, like I’d wanted to outside the restaurant last night. “I am, but not in the way you think.”

Although she peers up at me, her expression curious, she doesn’t ask.

My eyes flick to her lips. “If I were to give you a good morning kiss, am I liable to get shoved off the bed?”

The corners of her eyes crease with amusement. “Depends how bad a kiss it is.”

I’m smiling as I dip my head and touch my lips to hers.

It’s just a morning kiss, I tell myself. That’s all. Nothing that has to lead anywhere.

And I keep telling myself that as I deepen it, slanting my head for a longer, more potent kiss as Zoe slides her hands up over my back.

Then we’re moving closer together, my hand resting low on the small of her back, her right leg hooking over my hip.

I break the kiss to ask, “Zoe?”

Her expression is soft, and her eyes heated. “Yes.”

Reclaiming her lips, I draw her even closer and swallow her moan as she swallows my groan.

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