Page 128 of Alpha's Impostor Bride

“Thought we could have dinner together.” She yawns.

“I’ll put everything in your icebox. We can have it tomorrow.”

“Fridge,” she laughs sleepily. “You’re so silly, Cedric. Road box, icebox. Just call things by their names.” She sits up on the bed when I begin heading out of the room. “Wait, where are you going?”

“To put away the food.”

“But you’re coming back, right?”

I study her. She looks nervous, almost uncertain, a hint of vulnerability behind her eyes.

When I don’t answer, she pats the bed. “Just stay.”

I give her a long look. “Are you certain?”

She flops back down on the bed. “I don’t want to sleep alone, Cedric. Not tonight.”

“Alright.” Tugging off my shirt, I climb into bed with her. Without wasting a second, Leanna curls up against my chest. Her small frame presses into me, and my arm tightens around her waist. When she looks up at me, I smell something sweet and fragrant. “Have you been drinking?”

“Just a little.” She beams at me. “Just enough.”

“Enough for what?”

She shrugs. Her fingers start ghosting over my chest, and I feel my cock stir. My hand comes to cover hers, and there is a warning edge to my voice when I breathe her name. But she simply pulls her hand free and continues.

“Leanna, how much did you drink?”

She shrugs once again, clearly unwilling to answer. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Leanna drink before. I didn’t see any alcohol on the table. She must have drunk straight from the bottle and tossed it.

“I missed you,” she finally murmurs. “I missed sleeping next to you the most.”

Her finger is drawing circles on my chest and it’s getting incredibly hard to control myself. “Leanna.” I grab her hand, stopping her. “You are going down a dangerous road.”

Her brow furrows. “Why? You’re my mate.”

As soon as she says that, she pulls her hand away and shifts her body so that she is now suddenly straddling me, her hands planted palms down on my chest. My cock hardens instantly.

My hands settle on her small waist. “You’re drunk.”

“I’m not that drunk,” she protests.

“You wouldn’t be doing this if you weren’t.”

She blinks at me. “Why not?” She leans forward, her arms now resting on my chest, her face ridiculously close to mine. “I missed you, Cedric. I missed the way you held me at night. Do you know how hard it was to sleep without you? Even now, after eight years have passed, I find myself reaching for you in the dark.”

I go still under her. “What do you want, Leanna?” I ask quietly, my hands tightening on her waist. “I won’t do anything till you tell me.”

She sighs. “Since when did you get so careful? You always used to take what you wanted before.”

My heart tightens. “When I realized that I could risk losing you.”

Her fingers trace my cheek and then my nose. “I want my mate back. Things are fine between us now, so why are you still—”

I curl my hand around her wrist. “Living without you was worse than losing you. I will do whatever it takes, become whomever you need me to, if it means keeping you by my side.”

This time, Leanna’s eyes tighten. “I don’t want you to be anybody but yourself. I want my mate. Stop walking on eggshells around me. If I don’t like something, I’ll tell you.”

I can sense her frustration. “If I take you, Leanna, my wolf will mark you. You should be prepared for that.”

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