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I pulled her close, captured her chin, and turned her to face me. My lips grazed hers. “We’ll take care of them.”

“Will Flynn?—”

“He’ll let us know.” I kissed her again, smoothing my tongue over her quivering bottom lip.

“Feck, ye two needa get a room or save it fer the wedding,” Jasper snarked as he gave me a pointed look in the sunshade mirror.

Emma grinned at me, a blush spreading over her skin. “Oh, we intend to.”

“Wedding, aye?” Jasper asked, wagging his eyebrows.

“Not so fast,” she said. “Not sure how that works with shifters, and I’m not ready to do anything official. He hasn’t even met my mother.” She groaned. “Shit.”

“What is it?” Olivia asked.

“My mother. That’s probably the first phone call I need to make when we get back to Six-Mile.” She scrunched her nose and turned thoughtful. “I’m not really sure where my cell phone is at this point, so I might borrow yours, Logan.”

“Sure.” My smile spread across my face.

Emma didn’t know how this fated-mated shit worked, and that was fine by me.She didn’t understand that we would be connected in ways we could never change or neverwantto change.

Even rejected fated mates eventually gave in to the pull that lasted until death. At this point in our bonding, marriage would just be an excuse to throw a party.

As the tires ate away the road, Emma’s head nodded until she relaxed against me, the drive lulling her to sleep. Every bump and pothole startled her awake with a gasp, sometimes a whimper, and she gripped my knee as though expecting to have to defend from an attack, and I vowed once more to always keep her safe.

The gravel crunched beneath the tires as we rolled down the Six-Mile driveway, and I rubbed my hand over Emma’s back to wake her slowly.

When she lifted her head, she wiped her chin. “Oh, sorry,” she said. “I think I might have drooled on you a little.”

“A little spit goes a long way,” I said, winking at her.

Olivia snickered. “He’s not wrong.”

At that, Jasper groaned. “If ye do yer job right, man, ye don’t need it.”

“Not true,” I countered. “More wet never hurt anybody.”

“Besides,” Olivia said, elbowing Jasper in the side hard as the vehicle rolled to a stop in the circle drive in front of the manor. She shut off the engine. “You neveronce complained aboutextraspit. In fact, I think you prefer it.”

Jasper rubbed his side and feigned surprise. “Are those sweet promises coming out of yer sexy lips now?”

They exited the vehicle, but I wasn’t in a hurry for Emma to leave her spot by my side, and she’d grown quiet.

I hugged her to me. “You okay?”

“Fine,” she said.

“You meannotfine.”

She twisted around, and her gaze landed on my face before darting away. “I mean, I guess we’ve got plans tonight, huh?”

“Only if you’re ready.”

She remained silent.

If she asked for my honesty, I would admit that I expected to make love to her for hours tonight, but I braced for her rejection. Or her caution. Our relationship hadn’t been the standard human one. Shifter mating bonds condensed the timeline for everything romantic. However, since Emma was raised only as a human, I was more than aware it wasn’t necessarily something she could process easily or quickly.

Finally, she asked, “Can I get back to you on that? I could use a shower and maybe a nap and maybe a drink.” Her mouth twisted in a wry little grin. “And decide if I want to move in with you or go back to Willow Creek to check on Mom or Shannon or Riley.”