Page 31 of Breathe Again

I was momentarily surprised by the tone in her voice. “Mom, he’s my mate,” I told her. “Yes, he’s staying over tonight.”

Cole mouthed, “Damn right.” Then he sucked my right nipple into his mouth and his tongue mercilessly flicked it. I nearly leapt off the bed as my back arched into him. I fought back a moan and tried to concentrate on what my mother was saying.

“Lizzy, I’m just worried about you. Everyone seems to forget what you were like after the last time he left here. I haven’t forgotten. It breaks my heart to think how much harder it will be when he leaves next week if you let yourself get close to him.”

“Mom, that wasn’t Cole’s fault. That was my own doing, and we were so young. It’s not the same this time. I don’t want you worrying about me. And no thanks to dinner. We’ll manage,” I said.

Cole palmed my left breast as he continued feasting on my right. I muted my phone and threw my head back.

“Oh God, that feels amazing, but it’s my mother. What are you thinking?”

He let go with a small pop and grinned up at me.

“I’m thinking I’m only getting started.” He moved to my left breast and bit down before sucking my nipple into his mouth. I moaned in appreciation.

“Lizzy? Are you still there?” I heard my mother’s voice through the phone and groaned in frustration as I unmuted her.

“I’m here.”

“Did you hear what I said?”

“No, can you repeat it?”

She sighed in disappointment. “Those painkillers must be stronger than I thought. I said, I’m on my way now. I need to see for myself you’re okay. I won’t lecture you about Cole anymore today. There’s enough for him too. Just be careful. I don’t want to see you hurt again,” she said, and I suddenly realized that my decisions hadn’t just hurt me, they’d affected everyone I cared about.

“Okay,” I said. “I’ll see you in a few minutes.”

My mood had shifted, and Cole knew it. He stopped the blissful torture on my body and lowered my shirt.

“We’ve been through a lot, Elizabeth, but the past needs to just stay in the past. You can’t let it beat you down. I’m here now. We may have had a really messed up path getting here, but we made it. I know it’s not going to be all sunshine and roses from now on just because we bonded, but you’re not alone anymore. You never will be again.”

I let out a little sob and hugged him. I hadn’t thought about how miserable and lonely I’d been without him all this time. I hadn’t even thought about how much I regretted my decisions of my youth, but he knew it all. Just like I knew the misery he had suffered too. He was an open book to me now, and I to him. That both terrified and elated me.

“Can you grab me a change of clothes out of the closet? Mom will freak out if she knows I’ve been laying around in my pajamas all day.”

He rose and headed for the closet.

Shit, I need a bra too,I thought. His shoulders shook, holding back laughter. I knew he heard my thoughts when he went to my underwear drawer after picking out a loose-fitting outfit that wouldn’t press against my injury.

He turned, holding up a sexy black lace bra and thong set in one hand and a leather corset in the other. My cheeks lit up like Rudolph’s nose on a foggy Christmas Eve and I wanted to curl up in the covers and die of embarrassment. He could never know how I’d not been able to be with a man since him. It wasn’t that I hadn’t tried, I just physically couldn’t. I didn’t want him to know how it had been so bad that I’d sought the help of a sex therapist and used erotic books, pornography, a stash of sex toys in a box hidden in the back of my closet, and even sexy and fantasy-based lingerie to try to get myself off. Nothing had ever worked. And although my body was very responsive to him and his graphic images he projected through our bond, I was still worried that I still wouldn’t be able to be normal, even with him.

He stared at me and I moved to cover my head with my blanket when he looked back at the closet and I knew he had heard what I was thinking, I wanted to die of embarrassment.

“Get dressed. Get rid of your mother as quickly as possible. I promise you, the only thing keeping you from getting off was me, and I will spend every day of the rest of your life proving that to you.”

My mouth hung open in shock and excitement. I was still laying there staring at him when the knock at the door sounded. He left the room and I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself. The entire room even reeked of sex and we’d barely gotten things started.

When I tried to stand, the room spun and my limbs felt heavy. I managed to get dressed but was too woozy to walk.

Cole, I need help,I admitted through our bond. It was so strange suddenly having that connection with him. In some ways I barely knew the man, and yet we were intimately connected on a level that took most mates decades to reach.

It should have been freaking me out. The bonding sign of telepathy for wolf shifters was one of the final stages. It signaled our bond was nearly complete. The last stage was pain and injury, meaning if I got hurt—or worse, died—so would he, and vice versa. I momentarily wondered if that was already the case for us and made a mental note to check that theory later.

He walked into the room and saw me struggling. I was only halfway dressed, and he quickly assisted with finishing it off, before carrying me into the living room where my mother sat and waited.

You know I can walk. I was just a little dizzy from the pills,I told him.

But I like carrying you,he insisted.

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