Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 77293 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77293 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
“Avery,” he said hoarsely. “I want everything to do with you. But I didn’t deserve to be near you today—not after the way I treated you last night. To be honest, I thought you probably wanted nothing to do with me.”
“What?” I twisted around in his arms so that I was looking up into his face. “Seriously? You’ve been avoiding me because you thought I was angry at you?”
“Why wouldn’t you be?” he rumbled, looking down at me. “Look at what I did to you.” His long fingers brushed my forehead and the side of my neck. “I hurt you, mi Corazon. I forced my Mark on you.”
“Look, things did get a little rough and crazy last night,” I said, frowning. “But I know your Drake…” I trailed off. “Hey—is this right now about your Drake? Your ‘longing’ for me?” I demanded. “Because if it is—”
“He’s asleep,” Saint said quickly. “Though he cares for you deeply, I am speaking for myself now. I have been longing to hold you…to touch you…all day.”
I wasn’t sure what to say to that. Taking a deep breath, I tried to steady myself—to keep hold of my heart. Did he really mean it? He wanted me for himself—not just his Drake? Goddess, this was turning out to be an extremely complicated three-way relationship! Which I supposed wasn’t surprising, considering one of the people in the relationship was a cursed, obsessively jealous Drake.
“Look,” I said, hoping he couldn’t hear how hard my heart was pounding. “Let’s sit on the bed and talk about this for a minute, okay? I think we need to lay some ground rules here.”
“Ground rules?” Saint asked, as we settled on the side of his bed, side by side.
“For being together,” I told him. “For being boyfriends.”
“Is that what we are to each other now? Because you feel like so much more to me,” Saint murmured, putting an arm around me. Goddess, was he trying to melt me? But I had to stay firm—I couldn’t take another day like the one I’d had today. If he wanted to be together in our room at night, we also had to be together during the day.
“Yes, that’s what we are,” I said firmly. “So you need to act like my boyfriend and not just in this room at night—out in public where everyone can see us. Is that a problem for you?”
“I’m wearing your Mark, aren’t I?” he demanded. “Tell me how to be what you want and I’ll try, Avery. How do I act like your boyfriend?”
I thought of all the ways I saw my Coven mates acting with each other every day—the easy affection between them, the sweet, loving touches and glances. I wanted that—I’d wanted it for so long that the longing had almost worn a hole in my heart. But I still wondered how Saint would feel about giving it to me.
“If you want to be a good boyfriend, you have to sit with me at mealtimes—not at the far end of the table, beside me,” I emphasized. “And talk to me—people in a relationship talk to each other. And hold my hand and put your arm around me and let me put my arm around you. And…” I sighed. “Look, if you want to know all the ways of being a good boyfriend, all you have to do is look at Megan and Griffin, or Ari and Kaitlyn, or Emma and Bran and Lachlan. It’s not hard—there are examples all around you here!”
“I’ll try…” Saint sounded hesitant.
I frowned at him in the dimness.
“You don’t want to do this, do you? Are you nervous about PDA in public?”
“It’s not that I don’t want to touch you, mi Corazon,” he said earnestly. “It’s just…that I am not used to it. To touching and being touched, I mean.” His voice dropped, becoming low and rough. “Do you know that the hug you gave me the other night was the first time anyone has willingly touched me in years?”
“What?” I stared at him, uncomprehending. “But…how can that be?”
Saint shook his head.
“Think of it—I’ve been cursed since my birth and an outcast ever since my Drake slaughtered the females who had been gathered to try and tame him. Even Jalli—who is so sweet and affectionate—is careful around me. Not because she thinks I will hurt her—she knows I never would. But because she fears my Drake—everyone fears my Drake.”
I wished that I could tell him that I didn’t fear his cursed Drake, but that would have been a lie. I felt able to be closer to it than most people probably did because I knew that it really, really liked me. But at the same time, did I want to be around when it came out completely and Saint was nowhere to be found?
No. No, I did not.