Page 88 of Love Bites Extra Hard

“And you two were never together?”

“Of course not. He was mourning, and I was basically in hiding. We only met a few times, at family parties for holidays.”

Talon let out a rough breath. “That’s good.”

“You said you didn’t care about my past,” I reminded him.

“I’d have a hard time convincing myself not to care if your past was our brother-in-law.”

He made a good point.

Even if he’d thrown in an “our” that didn’t quite apply. We weren’t a thing. Not officially.

I sat down on the edge of his mattress. “I barely know him, so there’s nothing to worry about.”

“Nothing?” He lifted an eyebrow.

“Nothing related to him. He’s going to come around. Probably fast, too. Stella is too lovable for him not to.”

Talon jerked his head in a nod, and stared at me.

His pants were buttoned, but his hands were still at the waistband, like he wasn’t sure where else to put them.

Was he nervous?

“We need to talk about us,” I said. “Unless you want to eat first.”

He let out a harsh breath. “Let’s talk now.”

I patted the bed, and he slowly crossed the room before taking a seat next to me. There wasn’t a lot of space between us, but it felt like a chasm. Things had been so simple and easy before.

“I know you had to make a difficult decision when we met,” I said. “I get it. I would’ve hated you if you had told me the truth from the beginning. But that doesn’t solve the problems here and now. I thought I could trust you, and now I feel like I can’t.”

The look in his eyes was intense. “We can get back there.”

“Can we?”

“Of course we can. I didn’t lie about anything. Yes, I let you think we weren’t fated, but everything else was genuine.”

“How am I supposed to believe that? You’ve ignored what you wanted as it applied to us from the very beginning. You didn’t tell me you couldn’t sleep without me—you just tried to sleep in the hallway. You?—”

He leaned toward me, and I cut myself off when we were only a breath away from each other.

“Everything I did is exactly what I would’ve done if you knew what we were to each other. If you knew we were fated and said you wanted casual, I wouldn’t have pushed for more. I would’veslept in the hallway. I would’ve settled for whatever you were willing to give me.”

“The other kings forced my sisters to share rooms with them,” I whispered.

“I’m not a fucking king. And I’m not them.” He slipped a hand into my hair and tilted my head back. I tilted with him, looking into those gorgeous, dark eyes. “I am exactly who I was before you knew that we were mates, Avery. I have never pretended to be anything else. You’re still mine. I’m still yours. It’s just more permanent than you wanted.”

“Iwantedit to be permanent,” I whispered, my eyes stinging a little. “While we were lying in bed, I wanted to be more than casual.”

His eyes blazed, but he didn’t say another word.

He just leaned in.

And kissed me.

His lips were soft, but demanding. Brutal, but gentle.

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