Page 131 of The Wolf King's Mate

“Engaged,” he said. “It’s better than dating.”

“Okay. What would it mean for us?”

“I don’t know.”

Lovely.

His hand left my hair, and both of his palms landed on my shoulders. I bit back a groan when his thumbs pressed into the tight muscles there, massaging them slowly.

“We would need to get to know each other,” I said.

“Alright.”

“You’d have to tell me things. Not just things about the books you like to read. Deeper things. Your past. Your feelings.”

“And you would tell me those things, too.”

“Yes.”

He already knew some of mine, though. A lot more than I knew of his.

“We could have sex when we want to. Butnotin a bar.” The last word was breathy as he found a knot in my upper back and put pressure on it. “Ordering me to strip in a public bathroom isn’t cool.”

“I could’ve handled it better.” I could tell it was difficult for him to get the words out. “In my defense, I hadn’t slept much, and I wasn’t warned.”

“In my defense, my guards checked in with your brothers, and neither of them thought the tattoo thing was a big deal.”

“I like tattoos.”

“I can tell.”

“You could’ve contacted me with the mental link.”

“I didn’t want to, and I know it hurts you. Everyone knows we have to go through your brothers for it.”

“Notyou. I like talking to you, and it didn’t cause me pain the first time.”

“How would I know that? You never said anything.”

There was a beat of silence. “I guess I should’ve clarified.”

“You guess?”

“Don’t sass me.” He dragged a hand down my back and squeezed my ass lightly. Playfully. Then returned his hand back to my shoulders, resuming the massage. “I want you in my head. When I was running, I imagined it a few times. You, reaching out to me to tell me how your day was going just because you wanted to talk to me.”

My throat swelled again.

That was sweet.

Really sweet.

“I didn’t think you cared.”

“Of course I cared. I fucking hated being away from you for that long. Fantasized about the way your body feels against mine at night. The way you felt during heat. The way you fed me grilled cheese.”

“Technically, you fed it to yourself.”

“Enough with the technicalities, woman. You’re mine. I’m yours. I fed you. You fed me. We’re equals, even if my protectiveness drives you mad.”

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