I frowned.
He wasn’t wrong. In some ways, Ididn’treally trust him.
“I trust you to keep me safe,” I finally said.
“That’s a low bar for someone you’re going to spend your life with.”
“I don’t know how you expect me to change that.”
“I don’t either.”
“Then maybe we shouldn’t seal the bond.” I leaned back in my seat. “The alpha probably won’t come after me today, anyway. He’s probably still pissed.”
“We need to seal it to keep you safe.”
“But you just said?—”
“I know what I said, Madi,” Bo growled. He turned to face me, setting a plate down on the counter roughly and sliding it over. “I want you to trust me. You don’t. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t solidify our bond to keep you out of the alpha’s hands. I was just talking.”
He was trying.
That’s what he was saying.
He was trying to tell me how he felt. Which was a lot better than not saying anything, even if we were shitty communicators.
“I was just talking too,” I said. “I know you don’t hate me, and I don’t think you should care how often I was wearing a bra at your cabin. I barely thought about what I had on while we were there. I was too busy screwing you to care. I wasn’t dressing for your benefit, or to hurt you.”
His body relaxed slightly. “I overreacted.”
“The tension seems pretty high right now. That makes overreaction to be expected.”
He let out a slow breath. “I don’t want you to sleep in your own bed.”
“Why not?”
“I like having you close.”
The simple, blunt admission made me warm.
“I don’t know if we’re ready for that,” I said anyway.
“Why would we need to be ready for it? We’re mates.”
“We’re barely friends, Ambrose.”
“Barely?” The food was forgotten completely as he leaned over the island. “I haven’t spent that much time playing Call of Duty with anyone inyears, Madi. I haven’t talked to anyone about my family, either. Or let them stay in my house. Or cooked for them. Say whatever you want about how shitty I was in the past,but don’t insult me by saying we aren’t friends after the week we spent together. The sex was supposed to be meaningless, but the friendship was real.”
My chest squeezed.
My throat did too.
“I didn’t think you wanted it to be real.”
“Of course I wanted it to be real. I had a better time with you last week than I’ve had since I moved out of Cub Lake.” He gestured in the direction of the cabin. “We had a lot of sex, but we had a lot more fun. Didn’t we?”
Something in his eyes looked almost… sad.
I hated that look.
