Page 102 of Love Bites Hard

“You love me,” I said.

His chest rumbled. “More than I can fucking take, baby.”

“I think I love you too.”

“Of course you do. You trust me with your life—and you don’t trust anyone like that. Not completely.”

My eyes stung.

He was right; I didn’t trust anyone with all of my thoughts or feelings. Definitely not all of my emotions. I’d always felt like I had to take care of myself, like no one else would ever be there for me. My parents had ensured that.

But that had changed, if just a little.

Because I trusted Porter.

I trusted him completely.

“You shouldn’t have figured that out,” I finally said, leaning against him a little bit more.

He dragged his palm lightly over my back. “I can read your emotions through the bond. It makes it pretty easy.”

“Cheater.”

He chuckled. “I’m mated to a brilliant, gorgeous siren. I need some kind of advantage.” He kissed the top of my head. “Ready to go?”

“Yeah. How far are we?”

“A few hours out of Mistwood. This is my cabin. My family’s. I lived here, after I abandoned the pack.”

I looked at the building with new eyes. Eventually, I wanted to come back and see the place where he’d hidden away for so long,but today obviously wasn’t the day. “You didn’t abandon them. You left, because they didn’t fight for your family.”

“I should’ve stayed,” he said, lifting me off his lap and setting me down next to him. “I should’ve worked through my shit, and stayed.”

“Leave the past in the past. You did the best you could with what you knew and understood at the time. And hey, if you stayed, you wouldn’t have me.”

He started the truck and pulled away from the cabin, onto a well-worn dirt road. “I would’ve met you at Hale’s place and figured out a way to woo you.”

I rolled my eyes. “I wouldn’t have been wooed, and he wouldn’t have let you meet me. Bane is his friend, and he hasn’t met any of our sisters.”

“Bane doesn’t interact with unmated females, and has enough women to protect. He’s not interested. I would’ve been curious, and Hale would’ve eventually given in.”

“The less dark version of you would’ve liked Clementine more,” I countered. “Everyone likes Clem more. She’s cute and sweet and happy.”

Porter snorted. “As soon as I saw you with your sisters, I knew I wasn’t going to mate with anyone but you. If one of them had introduced themselves as my mate, I would’ve refused, and done whatever it took to convince you to take me. I’ve never been attracted to anyone the way I am to you.”

“Liar.”

“Check my emotions. I have no need to lie.”

Though I wanted to be confident enough not to do exactly that, I couldn’t help but tap in again.

Sure enough, there wasn’t a shred of dishonesty.

He’d been attracted to me, and only me, from the beginning.

That was a bit of a turn on.

It would’ve been a huge one, if not for the events of the day. Err, night? Time felt screwed up.

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