The heat in them was unmistakable.
I sat down in my chair.
He looked back at the stove. “Do you usually not wear bras, or are you doing it for my benefit?”
My face flushed.
Maybe my boobs were more noticeable than I’d realized.
“I only wear them when it’s not socially acceptable not to,” I said.
“It was socially unacceptable not to wear a bra in my cabin?”
“No. That was different.”
“Different how?”
“Different like I was temporarily living with my brother’s best friend who hated me.”
Bo growled in disagreement.
“I didn’t wear them all the time there,” I added quickly, before he could argue.
He argued anyway. “I didn’t hate you.”
“It felt like you did.”
“I wasn’t trying to make you feel that way.”
“But you still did.” I leaned back against my chair. “It’s in the past, though. We need to move on. I think we should use the vows to make our bond official before we leave the house. Just in case.”
His shoulders stiffened. “You just went from telling me I made you think I hated you to asking me to be your fucking husband.”
“Officially,” I said. “Unofficially, you already are.”
“Right. I forgot.” The sarcasm in his voice was only slightly thicker than the tension in the room.
I was going to lean into the sarcasm. That seemed safer and easier than acknowledging the tension. “I can buy you a ring if that would help you remember.”
“I’d forget it was there and lose a finger the next time I shifted.”
“Well, youdefinitelywouldn’t forget you had a mate if you lost a finger because of me.”
Considering he was a grizzly, his fingers would get thicker when he changed forms. I assumed the jewelry for his piercings had been sized to avoid a similar problem, or maybe he just didn’t grow that much down there when he shifted. Female shifters never had a problem with ear piercings, after all.
Bo snorted.
I rested my forearms on the table. “So, the bond?”
There was a short pause before he said, “We can make the vows before we go.”
“You hesitated.”
“No.”
“Yes.” I leaned forward. “Why did you hesitate?”
“You don’t trust me. Seems fucked up to make vows with someone you don’t trust.”
