17
KAT
Aren is running his hand through my hair as I rest my head on his chest.
We’ve been in bed for a while. It’s the middle of the day, and, as Alpha, I can’t imagine that he doesn’t have some responsibility waiting for him.
“I feel you questioning yourself,” he says softly, his left arm tightening around me as if to keep me with him.
“I’m confused,” I quietly voice a feeling I’ve been having with increasing regularity.
The part of me that is terrified of being hurt is asking myself what I’m doing with a man who hurt me so badly.
What if he does it again?
And what about my life in the city? I worked so hard to graduate at the top of my class. I landed my dream first job at the city’s top accountancy firm. A job that increasingly looks like I will lose because I should be in the city preparing to start it.
Aren moves us so I’m on my back and he’s braced on his elbow to peer down at me.
“About?”
“You. Me. My life. My future. All of it.”
“A chance, Kitty cat. Give me a chance to prove I’m worthy of your love and you,” he says in a voice as quiet as mine. “You won’t regret it.”
“And you intend to do that with sex?”
His fingers are gentle as they brush the hair from my face.
He shakes his head. “By showing you I’m capable of change. That I learn from my mistakes. That I can be what you need me to be.”
“And what do I need you to be?”
“A partner. A friend. Someone who respects you and who you can respect.”
“And you think you can be all those things?”
His head dips, and he presses a gentle kiss on my lips, smiling faintly when my stomach growls. “I do. I’ll get you food.”
It’s been a while since I last ate. Between helping my family pack and seeing them off with a plan to visit them once this thing with Cristofer is over, I skipped out on breakfast. “I can do it.”
It was hard saying goodbye to them. My eyes burned as I hugged my parents, and I didn’t want to let my sister go. But my attention has been split since they arrived, and the sooner we deal with Cristofer, the sooner I can go to Nebraska to meet the rest of my pack.
He nudges me back onto the bed when I move to stand. “Stay here. I won’t be long.”
He gets to his feet, grinning at me when he catches me staring at his ass when he crosses the room to grab a pair of pants he steps into. He doesn’t bother with a shirt. From his glance my way as he heads for the door, I figure he wants to give me something else to look at.
“You have a big head, Aren Kasen,” I call after him.
“Anything else you think is big?” He waggles his eyebrows suggestively.
I smile sweetly at him. “Your ego.”
Laughing, he opens the door. “Wait there, Kitty cat. I’ll be back soon.”
When he leaves, I stay in bed for a little longer, then I get up, wrap myself in a sheet, and pad across the room to the big glass window that overlooks the tall pine trees in the distance.
There are probably a million other beautiful sights that would blow this one out of the water, but for some reason, this is a view I don't think I will ever grow tired of.
