Page 111 of Love Bites

“No, you didn’t.”

“What do you say we sneak off to our room and bribe one of the kitchen workers to bring us something to eat? I can teach you, or we can watch a movie…” he trailed off, flashing me a grin.

“Hey, you guys are coming to the pool movie night, right?” Zora called over her shoulder.

“I forgot that was tonight,” I admitted.

“We can do dinner and the pool,” Damian said easily.

He was clearly backing down from what he wanted, to keep the peace. And not to keep the peace with my sisters—to keep the peace withme.

But we were mates.

Despite all of my very pointed intentions, real mates. Not just fuck buddies.

And if I’d been the one who didn’t want to socialize that night, Damian would’ve taken my side without question.

It was time for me to start doing the same.

“We’re going to stay in and do some work tonight,” I called back.

“Is that the code word for sex now?” Clementine teased. It was a little half-hearted, but I knew she was just sad about Izzy leaving. Though I didn’t want to leave her to deal with that alone, she had Avery and Zora. Damian only had me.

And though he wasn’t struggling with Izzy’s departure, he still deserved to have someone there for him.

Besides all of that…

Well, I wanted to hang out with him.

I wanted to spend time with him.

And we needed to have a conversation about the serious things I’d been avoiding talking about.

So yeah, it was a “work” night.

“I’ll admit to nothing. Have fun at dinner!” I yelled to them, as they disappeared around the corner.

Damian led me down the hallway that would take us to our elevator, and we slipped inside together.

“You didn’t want to hang out with your sisters?” he asked, pulling my chest to his as he leaned up against the elevator’s back wall.

“I wanted to hang out with you,” I said simply.

His immediate reaction was surprise—and then a slow grin that stretched across his face, lighting up his eyes in a way that told me I’d made the right choice.

He kissed me slowly, and sweetly.

The elevator dinged too soon, and he released my mouth long enough to call out, “Wait for the next one.”

Laughter broke out behind me, but when Damian recaptured my mouth, I ignored it.

Some things were just that good.

twenty-three

BLAIR

Damian senta message asking for food as we headed into our room.

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