Page 98 of Fourth Base with the Alpha

“The way I feel about you is very real, Isabella.”

“And how do you feel about me?”

“I’m falling in love with you. Shit, I’ve fallen already.Jag älskar dig.”

“What does that mean?”

“I love you, Isabella.”

Her hand lifts to my jaw and her fingers brush against the bristles of my beard.

“Same,” she says. “Te amo1. I’ve fallen in love with you too.” With a dramatic sigh she rests her forehead against my shoulder. “It’s such a cliché. Falling for your fake-boyfriend. Maria is rolling her eyes so hard somewhere right now.”

“I think she’d be pleased for us.”

She peeks up at me. “She would be. She’d like you very much. She’d say you were the perfect match for me. Steady, solid, strong.” She giggles. “And magic in bed. Like …” She fans her face.

“You’re not too bad yourself, Cupcake.”

She joins our hands together, staring down at our linked fingers.

“About the money …”

“It’s yours, Isabella. Whatever happens between us, it’s yours. Use it to pay off those debts … and whatever the hell else you want.”

“I can’t accept it. It’s too much.”

“What would Maria say?”

Her gaze falls to the bedspread and she picks at her cookie. “To not be such a noble asshole and accept it,” she says finally.

“Well then.” I snatch the cookie from her hand and threaten to pop the remaining piece in my mouth.

“Hey,” she protests, lunging for me. She attempts to grab it back but fails when I hold it out of her reach. She scrabbles up my body and we wrestle on the bed until eventually I have her pinned down on the mattress, the cookie forgotten.

“Isabella, I love you,” I tell her, gazing into those warm, chocolate eyes of hers.

Her smile is radiant. Her hair is a tangle around her face, her cheeks flushed from the remains of her heat and lovebites and bruises litter her body. She looks more beautiful than ever. I want to remember her like this, remember her like this forever.

“I love you too.”

I kiss her and she coils her arms around my neck dragging me closer.

Her heat may be over, but we’re still crazy for each other, and I want her just as badly as I did in the throes of my rut.

Fuck, I want her forever.

“You asked me to bite you,” I whisper so quietly I don’t know if she’ll hear. Her scent fills my nose and my heart pounds.

“I know I did.”

“You remember.”

“Yes … I’m sorry if–”

“You didn’t want it really?”

“I …”