Page 25 of Bearly in Love

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 in years , 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.

“It was the most fun I’ve had in a long time too,” I admitted. “And yeah, I liked the parts where we were being friends just as much as I liked the sex. Maybe more.”

His gaze softened. “I don’t know how to be in a relationship. I barely know anything about women in general. My mom wasn’t exactly a great teacher.”

“That much is pretty obvious. Your teenage self even thought that fucking other women while I could hear would help you get over me. I’m sure all it did was make you imagine fucking me .”

“That’s accurate.”

“For the record, if you ever try that again, I will literally claw your balls off your body. Maybe I’ll rip your piercings out afterward, too.”

“Is that a promise?”

“Yeah, but don’t get all kinky about it,” I warned.

Bo laughed—a rumbly, full-body laugh.

It was ridiculously attractive, and made me warm.

“I fucking love you, Mads.”

“You can’t say shit like that,” I said, though my heartbeat picked up and my face heated.

“Why not?” He leaned closer. “Do you like hearing it?”

“You don’t mean it.”

“Sure I do.”

“You admitted last night that you have no idea whether or not what you feel for me is love,” I argued.

“The way I feel about you is more intense than anything else I’ve ever felt. It has to be love, doesn’t it?” he countered.

“No! It could be…” I searched for something to say.

Anything at all would’ve worked, but I couldn’t come up with a damn thing.

“Something else,” I finally said.

“Like what?” Bo called my bluff.

“I don’t know. Hatred?”

“I definitely don’t hate you, Madi.”

“Well it can’t be love.” I let out a puff of air.

“Why can’t it?”

“I don’t know. It just can’t.”

“What would be different if it was love?”

Bo’s eyes were gleaming. The look was almost wicked.

He had me, and he knew it.

“You wouldn’t have been able to let the skulk take me back to the alpha,” I said.

“You think if I loved you, I would’ve gotten us both killed rather than let them take you to his mansion for eighteen hours?”

“Yes.” I was aware it sounded ridiculous.

“Bullshit.”

“Excuse me?” I raised my eyebrows.

“You heard me, Mads. Bullshit. If I loved you, you can be damn sure that I’d let someone take you away from me before I’d let them kill you. Come up with a better argument, or admit I’m right.”

“Fine. You… didn’t ask how I felt about sharing a bed last night.”

“I offered to sleep on the couch.”

“You didn’t ask how I felt about a lot of things, actually.”

His eyes narrowed. “I tried to make you comfortable, constantly.”

“That’s not the same as asking how I feel about something. Like you following me into my apartment yesterday. Or moving out of it. Or moving in here. Or living together. Or?—”

“I get it. I’m shitty at asking how you feel.”

“You are.” Finally, he was letting me put some distance between us.

“That doesn’t mean I don’t care how you feel. Or that I don’t love you,” Bo said.

Dammit.

“How do you feel about me loving you, Madi?” he added.

I’d hosed myself.

Was there anything sexier than a man asking a question like that? Especially while he leaned over the countertop, staring at you like he was hungry and you were the only meal he wanted to eat?

“Terrified.” The quiet answer slipped out before I could stop it.

There was a moment’s pause before he admitted, “Me too.”

“I can’t imagine you being afraid of anything, Ambrose.”

“That doesn’t mean I’m not.”

“I guess.”

“You know what else I feel about loving you?” he asked.

“I don’t think I want to, no.”

His lips curved upward. “Excited.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

“You can’t be excited about love.”

“Why not?”

“Because it’s terrifying!” I gestured between us. “We know nothing about love, Bo.”

“We can figure it out.”

“Says who?”

“Says us.”

“Not me.

“Fine, I’m saying it. We can figure it out, Madi. We can figure out what love means for us. But I do love you.”

“You think you do,” I protested weakly.

“Yes, I think I do. And I don’t want to hear good to know this time.”

“It’s not good to know. I have no idea what to do about it if you love me.”

He laughed. “There’s nothing to do about it.”

“Sure there is.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know. Like… sex?”

“Well, you’re great at sex. You know I’m on board if that’s what you want to do about it.”

I rolled my eyes. “I’m not screwing you while you’re in love with me and I’m not sure how I feel.”

“Why not?”

“Because it would mean something to you!”

“So?”

“What do you mean, so?” I tossed a hand toward him.

“If you love me, it changes things between us. I don’t want to be the person who doesn’t care as much.

I don’t want to be a bitch, or a bad mate, or…

” I cut myself off when he started walking around the island. Coming toward me. “What are you doing?”

He lifted me up off the chair, taking my seat and setting me back down on his lap. “Alright. Go on.”

“Why am I sitting on you?”

“Because you needed it.”

“I didn’t.”

He lifted an eyebrow.

I smacked him on the arm. Not as lightly as I probably should’ve.

He grinned.

“I can feel how hard you are,” I complained.

“You like me hard.”

“Don’t make this about sex.”

“You’re the one who brought it up in the first place.”

“That was obviously a bad call, but that’s still not what we’re talking about. I?—”

“You feel like I’ll resent you if we’re screwing when I know I’m in love with you and you don’t know how you feel about me,” he said. “Did you notice that I paid attention to your feelings there?”

I glared at him. “You’re just supposed to ask.”

“Alright. What are your feelings?”

I huffed. “I’m feeling like it would be a bad idea to have sex when you know where you stand and I don’t. Which is why I want my own room. If we keep sharing a bed, we’re going to end up screwing. We’re too attracted to each other not to.”

“And we’re mates,” he added.

“Halfway to being mates, but yes.”

“Why do you feel like that?”

“Because I talked to Emily about it,” I admitted grudgingly.

“You talked to Emily about not fucking me?”

“Yes.”

“Stop talking to Emily, then.”

“Bo!” I snapped.

He gave me a small grin. “I’m kidding. But for the record, Emily should stay out of our relationship.”

“We barely have a relationship at all.”

His eyes narrowed. “What did I say about minimizing our bond?”

Right.

He didn’t like that.

Hence the growling about us being friends.

“Fine. Pretend I didn’t say anything. She has a point, though. Sex can influence feelings. If I don’t have the same feelings for you that you have for me, sex would mean something different for both of us. That doesn’t seem fair.”

“If we weren’t both aware of it, maybe it wouldn’t be. But if we can both accept that we feel differently about it, why would it matter?”

I stared at him.

Maybe I didn’t have an answer to that.

“I’m okay with you not being in love with me, Mads. If I stop being okay with that, we can stop having sex. Unless that happens, I don’t see what it would hurt for me to care more than you do. Even if we’re screwing.”

“I guess that makes sense,” I admitted.

“I don’t want you to feel guilty for not being on the same page I am. I’m the one who was obsessed with you for years. I’m the one who lost control and bit you. I don’t expect us to feel the exact same things right now.”

That was good.

At least, I thought so.

Hoped so.

“But what does it mean for us?” I asked. “Where do we go from there?”

Bo shrugged. “I think we just live our lives, and try to enjoy them.”

“That sounds reasonable.”

He chuckled. “Sounds nice to me.”

“Well yeah. You’ve been hiding out in a cabin alone for five years.”

“The alternative was hunting you down and making you mine for five years.” He squeezed my hip lightly. “We still need groceries.”

“Do we?”

“Yup. I need to feed you, too. A couple of eggs isn’t enough.”

“I’m perfectly capable of feeding myself.”

“Sure you are.” He lowered his lips to my shoulder and kissed me lightly. Like he couldn’t help himself.

My hands lifted to his chest. “Artie and Emily are going to be back here soon.”

“Yeah.”

“We don’t have much time.”

“Nope.” He nipped my skin lightly.

My body warmed further. His erection throbbed against my center.

“We should seal the bond now.”

“Are you sure?” Bo lifted his gaze to mine, and I nodded.

“I don’t want to risk the alpha trying to claim me again.”

“He won’t.”

“He’s going to come back for me,” I warned. “If not to make me his, then to kill me. My dad was planning on doing it for him if I turned him down.”

He growled. “I’d like to see him try.”

“I wouldn’t.”

Bo took my face in his hands, tipping my head back so he could meet my eyes. “You’re mine, and I’m yours, Madi. Aeternum.”

Forever.

“That’s a really long time,” I whispered. “Are you sure?”

“Positive.”

I let out a soft breath. “I guess if I have to spend forever with someone, I could do worse than you.”

He snorted. “Damn straight.”

My lips curved. “Aeternum, Ambrose.”

The magic’s affect was soft. It felt like a gentle brush. Like someone put the final piece of a puzzle in its place, completing the picture and making everything whole.

Bo kissed me lightly.

It felt like the most natural thing in the world to slip my hands into his hair and pull him closer, deepening the kiss.

His tongue met mine, and the world felt right.

The soft, slow kiss picked up speed as our mouths fought.

Excitement mixed with comfort.

This was what I loved about being with Bo—the rush. The intensity. The fun .

He lifted me for a moment, sitting me back down over his erection at a better angle. When I moaned into his mouth, his chest rumbled against mine.

His hands slid beneath my shirt. The hot, rough calluses dragged over my bare abdomen and up to my breasts. My hips rocked when he tweaked one of my nipples, and he growled at me for the motion.

I broke the kiss long enough to tug his shirt over his head. He did the same with mine, and our bare chests met as he pulled me back into the kiss. I tugged his hair, and he played with my tits.

When I pulled away again to take a deep breath, his mouth moved to my throat. Down my neck. To my shoulder. His teeth sank into my skin again, lighter than they had the first time. I came immediately, with a cry of pleasure.

The slickness between my thighs was unreal.

The world spun around me in a blissful way nothing else could measure up to.

No one and nothing had ever been able to make me feel the way Bo had. Now, they definitely never would.

He recaptured my mouth, working my leggings down with one hand while he lifted me up again with the other.

“These things are ridiculously hard to get off,” he said against my lips.

I laughed.

“How attached are you to them?”

“I don’t want to replace them.”

With a growl, Bo lifted me onto the countertop and tore them the rest of the way down my legs.

By the time the fabric hit the floor, he’d ripped a condom out of the box from the drugstore (I’d left it on the countertop, wrapped in the store’s bag).

He rolled it over his length and filled me with his cock, kissing me again while he did.

I moaned into his mouth.

He pulled me to the edge of the countertop, changing the angle as he drove into me.

It wasn’t long before I was coming again. At the same time as my mate.

Bo pulled out partway, and his fingers brushed the place our bodies connected. He dragged them over his cock, and over my sensitive, swollen skin.

A moment later, I was sucking in a shocked breath as his fingertip met my back entrance lightly.

Bo’s hot gaze met mine. “You good, Madi?”

“Yep,” I managed to say.

“Tell me if you need a minute or want me to stop. Or just smack me.”

“Yeah, I’m just going to smack you while we’re fu—fuck,” I hissed the curse, arching against him harder as he slid the tip of his finger inside me.

“Good fuck?” he growled against my mouth.

“Very,” I choked out.

Bo pulled out and thrust into me, and my lips parted slightly, my head tipping back with pleasure.

When he bottomed out inside me, he slid his finger in deeper.

I felt full.

So insanely full.

But he definitely wasn’t done with me.

When he thrust in again, I lost control with a scream of pleasure. He filled me completely, dragging my pleasure on and on as he came with me.

“You okay?” he asked, the intensity in his eyes telling me he was just getting started.

“Great.” Catching my breath completely was no longer a possibility. “Are you okay?”

He chuckled, the sound low and rumbly and sexy. “Mads, I’ve never been this good in my life.”

“Oh. Good.”

I needed to stop saying good, but I had bigger things to worry about.

Harder ones, too.

“You ready?” Bo asked.

I nodded, and he refocused on my body.

He made sure I’d never felt so good either.