Page 79 of Believe it or Knot

I’m breathless. Literally, breathless. My lungs have stalled out at the honesty in his voice, the pleading. He wants me. They want me. I never thought it would actually happen. That they would decide I am the girl for them, that they would want to keep me.

I’d decided to enjoy the time I had with them, while I could, while I held their attention. He smirks at me. “Breath, Sor,” he murmurs, shifting closer, pressing his forehead to mine.

I do, my lungs working off his command as my hand drifts up to his strong jaw. “You’re sure?” I ask, needing to give him an out. Just in case it really is the endorphins from explosive sex.

A soft chuckle puffs over my lips, and he laces his hand through my wet hair. “Yes, Sorrel. I wouldn’t have asked if I wasn’t sure.”

He probably wouldn’t have. I don’t know Gray all that well. How could I when we only met a few weeks ago? But I do know that no one forces him to do something he doesn’t want to do. If he’s asking me to be a part of his pack, he’s been thinking about it for a while. He means it. They mean it.

I want this so bad. But a part of me still can’t believe it.

“Believe it, sweet thing,” he murmurs against my mouth, because I apparently said that out loud.

“But why would you want me?” I ask, hating how vulnerable the question makes me. Hating that I can’t just take this good thing that the universe is giving me and run with it.

He pulls back to glare at me. I ignore it and keep talking. “I mean it, Gray. Why would you want me when you can have anyone in the freaking world? You’ve dated models and actresses, famous chefs. Your omega is the most famous person on the planet, and you want to have a fry cook in the same pack as him?”

“Hey,” he all but barks. “You aren’t just a fry cook, Sorrel. You’re a business owner. You’ve kept that restaurant going despite the nearly insurmountable odds. You’re a survivor, a fighter. And you’ve done all that while being kind, not letting your trials harden you. We would be honored to have you in our pack.”

Honored.

He can’t really mean that.

I’m not anything special.

“What if you change your mind?” I ask, voice small.

The glare on his face softens, and he sighs, before reaching back to flip off the water. My stomach drops when he doesn’t say anything else, just bundles me out of the shower and into a fluffy towel.

I’ve ruined it—just like I knew I would—by doubting him. Of course, they don’t really like me. Or maybe they do, but me pointing out my flaws, being insecure about it? That has to be a turn off.

It is a turn off.

We’re silent as Gray squeezes my hair with a towel. I try to take over for him, but he growls at me wordlessly and I let him finish drying me off. When I try to do the same to him, he slaps my hands away with another growl.

By the time he’s bundled me into a robe and put enough wavy hair products in my hair to style all the Bellisima Lingerie models before a runway, I’m staring at the floor, fighting back tears.

I don’t really understand what’s happening here. He seems angry at me, and he hasn’t said anything more about me joining their pack, so I have to assume he’s changed his mind, but if that’s the case, why is he taking care of me?

Is this something he does with every woman he has sex with?

I wouldn’t put it past him. Although he seems standoffish and tough, he’s actually very caring. I’ve seen it with Liam.

We’re silent as he takes my hand and leads me into my bedroom, where he pulls on his navy boxer briefs and nothing else, and then helps me into one of the matching silk pajama sets they bought me.

So he’s not going to kick me out right now. If he was, he would put me into street clothes, right? He’s not going to send me out into the world in silk light gray shorts that show off the bottom of my ass cheek, right?

“Maybe.” He jerks when I speak, like he wasn’t expecting me to. Like he thought I’d stay silent through all of this. I lick my lips and look away from him. “Maybe I should just go… go home.”

“No,” he says simply.

“No?” I repeat back, not able to follow what is happening here.

“No, sweet thing, you’re going to stay right here.”

“But you don’t-”

He cuts off whatever I was going to say with a quick kiss to my lips, then laces his fingers through mine, pulling me out of the room and down the hall to… Gulp… Liam’s nest. He doesn’t hesitate to push open the door. The low murmur of Liam and Rafe’s voices drift to me from inside the room and longing hits hard and fast.

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