Page 65 of Bullied Pretend Mate
“No,” he says, holding up his hand. “Me first.”
Except he’s rasping, so I turn and fetch him a glass of water, watching as he chugs it down quickly, then holds out the glass to me, smiling as I get him more.
Everything he’s doing feels miraculous. It feels miraculous that he’s still here. That he’s okay.
That he’s alive.
“Maeve,” he says when he can finally speak again. “I meant what I said at the wedding. I love you. You’re my mate. I think, deep down, I’d always suspected we were fated, but thisjust confirms it for me. We’re meant to be together, and I’ll do anything to make that happen.” He swallows, raising his eyes to me and taking my hand in his. “Even if that means leaving Silverville.”
My body is so full of joy, I can barely stand it.
“Felix, I—”
He laughs. “Sorry, I’m not done.”
I’m laughing, too, and crying, and he reaches up, wincing a bit as he tucks an errant piece of hair behind my ear. I probably look like a mess—I haven’t thought about doing my hair or makeup, haven’t cared about what I’m wearing since the day I got Felix back here and made it clear to everyone that I would be taking care of him until he got better.
“I need to apologize for everything that happened,” Felix says, his voice getting smaller. “All this time, I didn’t realize how badly I was hurting you. At the time, it was almost like, since I knew the things I said weren’t true and that’s not how I really felt, it was okay. Back then, my parents made me feel like standing was everything. But that doesn’t matter, and it doesn’t excuse it. I’m sorry, Maeve. And I’ll spend every single day being there for you, waiting on you hand and foot, if that will come close to fixing the problems I created.”
Leave it to Felix, the most unserious man I’ve ever met, to apologize in the sweetest and most genuine way I’ve ever heard.
He opens his mouth to keep going, but I don’t need to hear it. I forgave him a long time ago. The moment he showed up for me on the mountain. The moment he launched himself at Tara and held on to her even as the two of them blazed, rolling, the blue flames growing higher into the air as Felix refused to let go.
It was just like that night on the ridge, when Tara herself erupted into flames.
As though he can read my mind, Felix forces himself up to sitting, wincing only a little bit, and asks, “What happened to her?”
“To Tara?”
“Yes,” he says, raising an eyebrow. “What happened to the psychotic bitch trying to kill everyone and burn the entire town down?”
I roll my eyes at him, then lean down, kissing him again, like it might soften the bad news I have to give him. “She…got away.”
“Got away?” Felix croaks, pulling back. “What are you talking about?”
“Well, we were hoping she died,” I say, swallowing down the pain of admitting this. “But when we couldn’t find her, we realized we didn’t know for sure. And Soren insisted we consider her missing rather than dead.”
“Sounds like Soren,” Felix groans, and I reach out, touching the tips of my fingers to his cheek.
“Does the kiss mean you forgive me?” he whispers, tipping his chin up to look at me.
“Yes.” It’s easy to say it, because it’s true. “And this kiss means I love you.”
When I lean down to kiss him again, his hands slide up my arms, pulling me into the bed with him. My first instinct is to straddle him, but then I remember the wincing.
“Are you okay?” I ask, glancing down at him. “It seemed like you were in pain.”
He tips his head up, knocking his chin against me and drawing me in for another kiss. “Yeah, and this is the best treatment I can think of.”
I sink into the kiss, settling into his lap until I feel him starting to grow against me, getting harder as I roll my hips against him.
Since that first time we were together, this is the longest we’ve gone without touching each other. The break between the wedding and now has felt like a year, rather than just a few weeks.
Felix and I melt into each other, and he starts to undress me, lifting my shirt up over my head. Everything feels like it’s moving slowly, sweetly, like syrup around us. Like the universe knows that after being apart for so long, this needs to last as long as possible.
He unclasps my bra, a groan ripping from the back of his throat when he sees my bare chest. Felix lowers his mouth to my nipples, his other hand gripping tightly to my hip, and I throw my head back with pleasure.
“Maeve,” he murmurs, his mouth hot on my skin as he bites and sucks and nips at me. “I would really like to be inside you right now.”
