Page 73 of The Alpha's Silent Mate

As I peer up at him, I can’t argue, because he’s right. He always seems to know what I’m thinking.

“I can’t suddenly stop, Shay.” I frown. “I just can’t.”

“I know it’s going to take time, but promise me you’ll try. Can you do that?” He gazes searchingly into my eyes.

After a moment, I nod. “I’ll try.”

“And no hiding in silence. If you hurt, talk to me.”

“That might not be easy, either.”

I thought that if I didn’t speak, I couldn’t make the same mistake that I made before. But most of it is because I didn’t want to admit what I’d done. Even now, the guilt is still there. “Sometimes it just seems safer to say nothing.”

“Baby, bad things happen even when you’re silent.”

I sigh. “I know that. I know it’s not logical. It just felt—”

“Like the only way you could protect everyone around you?”

“No,” I gently correct him. “It felt like it was the only way I could protectyou. And I wouldn’t have to tell you what I’d done. But I won’t hide anymore—or I’ll try not to.”

“Good,” he murmurs and lowers his head, kissing me softly on the lips.

“I wasn’t blaming myself then,” I say once he’s lifted his head.

He kisses me again. “No?”

I kiss him back, stroking my hand over his back. “No.”

“Well,” he says against my lips, “these kisses might be for another reason.”

“Reasons like what?” I breathe.

Although he lifts his head, he doesn’t speak for a long time. “Reasons like I’m having difficulty stopping myself from kissing the woman I love.” His lips curve in a smile before he dips his head and gives me another of those soft, achingly sweet kisses that are melting my brain. “You know how I feel about you, baby. I’ve never tried to hide it.”

“I think I—”

His next kiss cuts me off, and by the time he’s lifted his head, my mind is blank.

All I can do is blink up at him. “I can’t remember what I was saying.”

He grins down at me. “Good.”

When his next kiss lands on my jaw, and then my throat, my eyes flutter closed. “Shay?”

He kisses my shoulder. “Hmm?”

“I love you, too.”

“I know.”

“Even if you weren’t my mate, I would still love you.”

His kisses stop just above my breasts, and I peel my eyes open and meet his eyes. His expression is impossible to read. “What?”

“How do you do it?”

“Do what?”

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