Page 62 of Trust No Alpha

I chewed my lower lip and peered at him with my eyelids half-closed. “Why do you call me sweetheart?”

“Because I care. It just came out and seemed to fit.”

“No one’s ever called me that.”

Thorne frowned. “You are important to me, Kris. Very much. It’s a term of affection.”

“Affection.” I repeated the word, liking it, but it wasn’t enough. I wanted more. So much more. “How much affection?”

Thorne sighed. “A lot. Perhaps more than you’re ready for. Especially from someone like me.”

“Someone like you?” I kept repeating his words back to him, but I couldn’t help it.

“A dangerous Alpha.”

Trust no Alpha.Father had drilled that message into my mind. But maybe there were some Alphas, even ones termed dangerous, who might be trusted. A little, at least.

“I don’t think you’re quite as dangerous as people think. Or maybe even as much as you think. You certainly don’t seem dangerous to me.”

“But I haven’t told you the whole story.”

“No, you haven’t.”

Thorne turned away. “Maybe some other time, all right?”

“All right.”

But I stood without moving in the center of his bedroom. When he looked over his shoulder at me, he asked, “What?”

“I still can’t sleep.”

“Do you know why?”

I gave a firm nod.

“Tell me.”

“I think I got too used to you being there. Beside me, I mean. You know, when I slept.” My face heated because there were so many other things he’d done that I had loved. That I wanted again. But I couldn’t bring myself to hunt the words to state that. My tongue would fumble, I just knew it.

Thorn walked to his bed and sat, not looking at me. He slid under the blankets. Then he raised his covers and looked up at me. “Come on.”

“In your bed?”

“Yes.”

“Just to sleep?”

He looked me up and down, his eyes dancing. “For now.”

I started forward.

“Wait,” he said.

“What?”

“Turn off the light.”

I reached for the switch. Darkness poured around us but I could still see his shadow on the bed, and the covers lifted up in invitation.