Page 26 of Love, A Curvy Girl's Guide

Ian reached out, his hand covering hers. “Haley,” he said softly.

She looked down at their hands, tears blurring her vision. “I feel like I have to keep everything together. If I don’t, who will? And it’s exhausting. Some days, I don’t even know how I’m still standing.”

Ian’s grip on her hand tightened, his warmth grounding her. “You don’t have to carry it all alone,” he said, his voice low and steady. “You’ve got me now, okay? Whatever happens, I will be there.”

Haley blinked back tears, her heart clenching. “Why do you care so much, Ian? I mean, we’ve been at each other’s throats and we’ve been intimate, but I don’t know if I even believe in this‘mates’business. I don’t want you to care about me because you have to.”

Ian’s gaze softened, and for a moment, he didn’t answer. When he finally spoke, his voice was quiet. “Haley, I have cared about you far too much for longer than you realize. Remember when Drake and Steven tripped you in middle school?”

Haley nodded. “It’s kind of hard to forget.”

“I was so mad at them I punched them both in the nose after school. I was suspended and wasn’t able to play on the JV football team that year. But I didn’t care. They hurt you and you meant everything to me.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Haley’s question was soft and hesitant.

“Because you couldn’t stand the sight of me. And I was a stupid kid. The guys would tease me, and I did everything I could to throw them off my scent. It’s silly now, but it seemedso important then. I panicked when the team came up with that silly bet at prom. I knew I wanted to go with you, but you would never have thought I was being serious. I convinced Casey to ask you because he knew my feelings for you. I can’t believe he still asked you to sleep with him.”

Haley giggled. “After he puked on my dress and got stupid drunk. It wasn’t going to happen.”

“Well, sadly that sounds better than my prom. I took Lisa Abbington and then glared at you and Casey all night. She finally insisted I take her home at eleven. You can’t even imagine how pissed I was when I caught a glimpse of you and Casey leaving the neighborhood so late at night. God knows I sat on my front porch fuming for hours when you weren’t home by two in the morning. I was imagining the worst.”

“Then you jumped on us when he came to drop me off the next morning and I flew off the handle,” Haley finished. “I thought you had set me up as a mean joke or something. Like I wasn’t worthy of going out with one of the football guys.”

Ian shook his head. “No, it was nothing like that. I didn’t want you going out with those over-sexed jockstraps.”

Haley grinned. “Unlike you?”

“Just like me,” he corrected with a laugh. “I was stupid. I’m sorry, Hales. I know the bond might’ve brought us together, but it’s not what’s keeping me here. That’s by choice. And if I had to choose a thousand times, I’d still pick you.”

Haley’s breath hitched, the sincerity in his words breaking through the walls she’d built around herself. She reached up, wiping a tear from her cheek. “You’re not making this any easier, you know. You’re nothing like the person I’d built you up to be.”

Ian smiled faintly. “Good. Easy is overrated.”

For the first time in what felt like forever, Haley felt the tension in her chest ease. She leaned her head against Ian’sshoulder, and almost purred when he pulled her into his lap and began to feather light kisses along the mating mark on her neck.

Desire spiked within her, and without thought she moaned softly, turning their night into something else altogether.

FIFTEEN

When Ian lightly licked her neck, Haley felt her body come alive. Their tender moment of open vulnerability had changed into a sensual dance as he continued to lick and kiss her skin. Haley squirmed in his lap, feeling his cock long and thick beneath her bottom.

Without waiting another moment she turned in his arms, straddling his lap and kissing him. Ian instantly kissed her back with a fierce desire that echoed her own. His hands went to the globes of her ass and he pulled her tighter against him.

With her legs splayed open, she could feel the ridge of him in all the right places. Unconsciously she rubbed against his dick, loving the stimulation that only fueled the fire between them.

One of his hands locked on her ass, while the other locked on the back of her head. In a move that shocked Haley, he stood with her in his arms. And somehow, all the while, he didn’t break the kiss. He turned, laid her down on the bed, and pulled back out of her arms.

Haley immediately frowned until he reached for the hem of her shirt to yank it over her head, and then pulled the cups of her bra down to expose her generous breasts. Taking one of them into his hands, he brought the tender flesh to his mouth wherehe licked and sucked on the nipple, teasing and tugging until its tip was diamond hard.

When Haley cried out, certain that she couldn’t take another moment of his torture, he simply moved to the other breast. She was still spread wide as he stood between her thighs, but all of his attention was on her breasts and not on her sex where she needed it most.

She bucked her hips in protest, but it only had Ian smiling against her flesh. “My mate is terribly impatient,” he murmured between kisses.

“My mate is driving me crazy,” Haley countered breathlessly.

Haley didn’t stop to consider that she’d referred to Ian as her mate. All she knew was that he had a hold over her that she didn’t understand. Her desire to mate with him, to become one with him, was overwhelming.

Her nails scratched his back. Thank heavens he was still in his T-shirt because otherwise she would have marked his back up.

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