Page 505 of Hate Mates

It’s hard with Luna. I want to know everything about her right now. Knowing her body is heaven, but I’m greedier than that. I want more with her. I can already feel it between us. Like this was supposed to happen.

“I’m sorry I’ve been emotional… My mom died a few months ago,” she says quietly, a minute later. She doesn’t cry, her voice is low and even but the pain is evident in her gaze. “I came here because we used to vacation here. I didn’t know what else to do. And…when I saw that sketch in your shop?—”

I tell her quickly, “That’syoursketch. I brought it home for you.”

She buries herself in my arms and I feel her smile into my chest. “You didn’t have to do that.” Again I kiss her on the crown of her head and hold her close.

“Yeah, I did.”

“I really miss her,” Luna sighs, her voice thick. “I miss her so much. It keeps surprising me. Every day I think I’ll be a little closer to normal, but I’m not.”

“You’re fine.” I kiss the top of her head and cuddle her a little harder. I should have done this the first time I met her, but we weren’t there yet. She had to keep me up all night first, I guess. “You’re fucking perfect.”

She jokes back, “You’re not bad yourself.” It makes me smile.

“I can do better than that.”

Luna laughs softly. “Can you? I don’t know if I believe that.” Her hand comes up to my chest and she absently draws over the dip in my throat. Her soft touch makes my toes curl and my lips pull up into an asymmetric smile.

“Give me some time, and I’ll show you.” A vision appears in my head of the rest of the summer, and then fall... “Are you staying the whole summer?”

“I was going to stay a month and then…” Luna shrugs, the movement shy and cute. “I don’t know what my plans were after that.”

“Stay here with me.”

“Here? In the condo?”

“Or in my place,” I suggest, because nothing sounds better than that in this moment. Getting to wake up with her every morning. Luna in the shower. Luna in the living room at the end of the day. Luna with the wind in her hair on the beach and a smile on her face. Luna feeling whatever she wants to feel with my arms around her. I know what it’s like to go through loss. Although I don’t know that now’s the time to tell her. I asked for a sign not long ago and then she came here. My sun-kissed nemesis might just be sent by my guardian angel. “I have room and I haven’t felt this in… I’ve never felt this way,” I admit to her

She stares up at me for a moment, but then buries her feelings. I practically watch it happen. “Isn’t it a one-bedroom?” she asks, sounding amused.

“Yeah, but I have a good-sized bed. Do you need more than that? I didn’t think you were too tall for a king-size mattress.”

“I’m not,” Luna laughs. “But…are you sure you want to invite me to live with you?” She tilts her head slightly in this cute little way to say, “Sometimes I throw crazy parties and keep the neighbors up all night.”

“If you lived with me, I’d be invited to the party, so I probably wouldn’t mind.”

“Oh my god.” Luna pushes herself up to look down at me, which gives me the chance to brush her hair away from her face and tuck it behind her ear. She’s so beautiful like this with the evening light on her face, looking all tired and happy and sated, which I take a lot of pride in.Imade her look that way. “Were you just jealous? Is that what you came to the beach all mad about? That we didn’t invite you?”

I bust out a genuine laugh at her accusation. I want to argue that I wasn’t mad, I was just tired, but that’s not in the spirit of this little game Luna’s playing. She actuallywasupset about something real, and I’m never going to blame her for that.

“Yes,” I say for the sake of playing along, and try my best to pout like I’m joking. It makes Luna laugh again. “I was really jealous. If I was going to be up all night anyway, it would have been nice to get to look at you.”

“I’ll remember that for next time,” she says, then drops her head to kiss the corner of my mouth. The feeling of her in my arms is just perfect.

It’s just too easy to turn my head and kiss her for real. Her lips are soft and puffy from how much we’ve already kissed, so I’m gentle with her. I don’t want to be too much, but I justhaveto kiss her. I want to feel those lips on mine. I want to feel her relaxing into the reality of us, even if it only lasts for a few more hours.

“Next time?” I ask, the second I come up for air. It’s longer than I’ve ever wanted to kiss anybody else before. I don’t think I’ll ever stop wanting it. “Does that mean you’ll be staying?”

“Somebody told me recently to give all the good things in life another try.” Luna smiles, her eyes tracing my face, then leans down for another soft kiss. “I could give your condo the summer. Maybe even longer.”

“I’ll take it,” I agree, and pull her down to spend the first evening of our new forever in my arms.

---