Page 89 of Love Bites Hard

“I don’t think it’s the same. The way Blair is with Hale isn’t the way we all are together. They’re like… best friends.”

“That’s a more accurate way to describe a healthy mated pair. Two people, against the world.”

“It sounds nice, but I don’t know how to make it happen.”

“You don’t have tomakeit happen. You just have toletit happen.”

“Well I don’t know how to do that, either.”

He chuckled. “I’ll handle it.”

“I don’t like letting you have all the control, remember?”

“I remember. But this isn’t about control. It’s about fun. Talking. Shared experiences.”

That did sound like friendship.

I supposed I did all of those things with my sisters, too.

“You and I have talked a little,” I said.

“We’re getting there with that,” he agreed.

“And we’ve done a few things together. Like… screwing next to the lake. And in front of your pack.”

“Don’t forget the sex war. And snuggling every night, over the past two weeks.”

“Right.”

“We have breakfast every morning, too.”

“And you braid my hair.”

“Mmhm.”

“So we don’t havenothing,” I decided.

“We have a solid mate bond. We just need to work on it a little harder.”

“And you want to do that?” I checked.

“More than anything.” He kissed my head again. “But first, I want to screw you again.”

I sighed dramatically. “You act like we haven’t had sex in weeks.”

He snorted, and I couldn’t stop myself from laughing as he thrusted into me with a grin.

Maybe we had alotmore than nothing, but we’d both been too stubborn to admit it.

nineteen

PORTER

We barely slept at all,but both of us were grinning as we made our way down the hall to breakfast, our fingers intertwined and our shoulders pressed together.

Izzy’s smile faded slightly when we stepped into the cafeteria and received a large number of shocked stares, so I leaned over and murmured, “They’re staring because you’re covered in glitter, not because you’re holding my hand.”

“Maybe they’re staring becauseyou’recovered in glitter,” she whispered back, her grin returning. She’d tried to scrub the sparkles off both of us, but they hadn’t budged. I had far less than her, though all the time we spent naked together had ensured that I did, in fact, sparkle.

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