Page 6 of Monster Mate

Her shoulders relaxed. “You would?”

“I would give you anything you wanted.” Even if all you wanted was my absence. Even if it would kill me to give it to you.

“So…you’re not trying to say you love me or anything, right?”

His queen had been hurt many times. He could see it in her dark eyes, hear it in her questions. She didn’t believe in love. And apparently, every time she’d considered it possible, she’d been let down and proven wrong. “No,” he said quietly. “Even for my people, love takes time. It has to be built, along with trust. I’d have to get to know you to truly love you. All my mating instinct does is give me an overwhelming, overpowering desire to get to know you. To learn everything about you.”

He didn’t intend to put the lascivious emphasis on everything. But he did.

Her narrowed eyes told him she’d caught that emphasis. Damn it. “And you’d just let me go if I said I had no interest in getting to know you?”

“Yes,” he answered with zero hesitation. He’d rather die alone and miserable than cause her any additional grief in her life.

And finally, her tiny fists dropped and she didn’t look ready to fight him. “Well…for some reason…I almost believe you.”

Those words alone were like sunlight shining into the darkest corners of his heart. “That almost seems like a good start to me.”

CHAPTER 5

Roxie was feeling pretty damn dumb for believing a guy—a monster—she’d just pepper sprayed. But there was something about Riordan that made her trust him. Just a little, though. Enough that she wasn’t going to try to break his leg and escape.

Not anymore, anyway.

She gestured to his face. “Sorry about the…um…spray.”

He chuckled and scrubbed a meaty forearm over his face. “I’m glad you did it. It pleases me to know you can defend yourself. That spray would work on almost any human or monster you encounter.”

She blinked at him. “But not on you?”

He smiled ruefully. “No, not on me. But it was very unpleasant if that makes you feel better.”

It did, weirdly enough. She sniffed and kicked at a pebble with the toe of her ugly, non-slip work shoes. “So…how does the whole ‘getting to know your fated mate’ thing work where you’re from?”

His eyes darkened and she would’ve sworn she saw flames—actual flames—dancing in them. She imagined that meant they’d already be fucking if he had his way.

Her gaze drifted of its own volition over his broad chest and ridiculous number of visible abs (Twelve. There were twelve of them. It was gratuitous, really.) and her gut tightened.

His way didn’t sound too bad at the moment, actually.

“I’ve read it’s customary for humans to go on dates,” he said. “That’s why I came here tonight. Would you consider going on a date with me?”

She should say no. Her last relationship had been a train wreck of epic proportions. She was still trying to claw her way out of the wreckage of that. The last thing she needed was a date with a monster who thought she was his mate.

But she really, really wanted to say yes. The way he looked at her, like she was something priceless, was intoxicating. A girl could get used to that kind of reverence. She’d certainly never seen it directed at her before.

Roxie didn’t want to toy with his emotions, though. She was nobody’s happily ever after. There was no point pretending like she was. “Look, I’d like to. I really would. But I’m afraid I’ve had some bad luck in the dating department, and I’m just not looking for a relationship right now.”

He nodded solemnly. “I understand. You’ve been hurt. I would never pressure you into a relationship. What about friendship?”

Since her only friends were her dog and her roommate, she wasn’t exactly sure how to answer that question. Since when did any hot man who looked at her like she was a pristinely iced doughnut offer to just be friends? “You’d be OK with that? Just being friends? Getting to know each other with no expectation of anything…else happening?”

She’d said else in place of dirty, sweaty sex, because she figured that would’ve been a mixed message. It’d run through her mind, though. She wasn’t proud of it. But it’d been there, nonetheless.

Riordan looked confused by the question. “Why would I not? My desire to get to know you is not transactional.”

The solid wall of ice around her feminist heart melted a smidge right then and there. She let out a deep breath. “In that case…I guess…you can never have too many friends.”

His smile was so, so pretty. Kind of scary with those sharp canines and everything. But straight, white, and stunning, too. He bowed again. “It would be my honor to be your friend, my queen.”

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