Page 108 of In Control

“Is fine.”

She sinks back into the chair.

“You can stay at our place then,” Rosie offers, “and bring Newton with you.”

“I was rather hoping Sophia would come and stay at ours,” I say. “Permanently.”

“Oh!” Rosie gasps as Sophia mutters, “what?”

“I was hoping you’d be coming to live at our house permanently.”

“What?” Sophia repeats a second time.

“I think I’d better go and leave you to it,” Rosie mutters, kissing Sophia’s cheek with sudden excitement. “I’ll be out in the hall.”

She hurries out, gaze flitting around the pack before she closes the door.

Roman comes to sit on the side of my bed facing Sophia, and Gabe squeezes back into the chair with her. Liam stands by the side of the bed.

“We haven’t talked about this as a pack yet,” I confess, “but I have a strong inclination that my packmates want this as much as I do.”

“Want what?” Sophia asks. For such an intelligent woman, I think this is the first time I’ve seen her so easily confused.

“You,” Gabe says, nipping her shoulder. “For our pack.”

“But I’m–”

“Sexy, beautiful, intelligent, brave and sassy to boot.” Liam grins and she rolls her eyes.

“It’s true,” I insist.

“I’m a beta. A beta has no business belonging in a pack.”

“Says who?” Gabe lifts his head from her shoulder. “Because if you want to be a part of this pack, there’s nothing stopping you.”

“But if you need some time.” Roman cups his fingers under her chin and strokes her jaw. “We understand. You’ve been through hell, Sophia, and we’re here for you, whether you decide you want to be a part of this pack or not.”

“I … I’m not sure.” She stands up suddenly and both Gabe and Ro follow her. “It’s been a,” she screws up her face, “day. My head and my heart are all a mess. I need to get my thoughts straight … and I need to find my cat and …” She looks around us all, meeting my eye last of all. “I’m sorry but I think Rosie’s right. I’ll go stay there tonight and I’ll call you all in the morning.”

Gabe goes to argue, but Ro shoots him a look and he falls silent. She kisses each of the other’s cheeks and then leans down over the bed to kiss mine. As she does, I slide my hand into her hair and pull her towards my mouth, sighing when her warm lips hit mine and that jasmine perfume fills my nose. I kiss her gently with my eyes closed as if there’s no one else in the room. Just the two of us.

I want her to know I’m serious. My offer is serious. How I feel about her is serious.

She kisses me back, but then she’s pulling away, and I hope to god all my previous fuck-ups haven’t blown this for us.

26

Sophia

Rosie givesme the side-eye all the way home and up the stairs to her loft room, tucking us into her bed with her laptop and a movie.

When the film ends two hours later and another of her alphas has dropped by with drinks and snacks or just to check we’re OK, she shuts the laptop and swivels round in the bed to face me.

“Are you going to tell me what’s going on? I mean, you don’t have to if you’re feeling all shaky from today. I can’t imagine how–”

“I don’t want to think about it, Rosie. I want to put it out of my mind and forget it ever happened.”

“That doesn’t sound very healthy, Sophia. You know there’s a reason they send teams of shrinks along to disaster zones. You should be talking about this stuff.” She curls my hair behind my ear. “You know Sophia. You’re so open about some things – about sex and sexuality. When we first became friends, you had me blushing every other minute – you were so upfront about everything.” She strokes my cheek and holds my gaze. “But there are other things you keep so close to your heart. Your feelings, your emotions, the way you feel. You have this hard, confident shell, but you’re allowed to reveal what’s lurking beneath. You know that, right?”

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