Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 45326 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 227(@200wpm)___ 181(@250wpm)___ 151(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45326 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 227(@200wpm)___ 181(@250wpm)___ 151(@300wpm)
We turned the corner as I finished, feeling strangely competitive about the whole thing. Like I didn’t want to let Matt have the last say. I had a good life now, dang it. I wanted to make him a little jealous. Sue me.
Austin stopped and turned me before threading a piece of loose hair behind my ear.
“I guarantee they don’t have a love like ours, Jacinta Ironheart,” he said softly, his breath fluttering my eyelashes. “Our love has been building all our lives, waiting for the day we found each other. I know his fiancée situation is very fresh, and it’s bringing up a lot of old animosity, but soon it’ll fade into the background and you’ll realize you care less now than you ever have.”
“I know that. I do.”
“And in the meantime, I will of course help populate your social media with pictures to drive home the point that you are mine. No one else, certainly not your ex, can hope to find a connection as deep and meaningful as what we share. If you want, I’ll help make your ex feel insignificant in comparison.”
My heart surged, and my hands tightened around his neck, dragging his lips down to me. I held on tight, wishing we were alone. I needed to do something for him, to show him what he meant to me. To appreciate him. A date, maybe. A perfect date, like he’d once taken me on, but this time it would be all the things he loved.
He broke the kiss, holding his lips inches from mine, and growled, “And about him controlling you…don’t think for one moment that was your fault. He took advantage of you when you were too young to push back. Maybe when you didn’t know you should push back. Or could. But the woman I met, before the magic, was no pushover. She’s even less so now. You’ve learned your lesson, Jess, and now you’re with a man who would never take advantage of your kind soul and easygoing nature. You’re safe with me. Be the person you want to be, unapologetically, and only allow those who appreciate you into your life.”
I ran my thumb across the bare skin of his neck. “You always build me up.”
“We support each other to achieve our best selves.”
I nodded, kissing him again. “You’re a rare sort of perfect, Austin Steele. I’m the luckiest woman alive.”
He smiled. “I’m only perfect for you. To everyone else, I’m a nightmare.”
Austin
Austin looked down at the woman of his dreams, hating the hurt she felt at rehashing her past. Because that’s all this was. He’d done something similar with his old girlfriend Destiny—theirs had been a love gone wrong, twisted and vile, but it had been love all the same. Losing it had made him reflect on the person he’d been and the person he wanted to be.
She’d get past this quickly, he had no doubt. He liked the idea of collecting pictures, though. Of sharing their life with friends and family. He’d nailed down his forever, and he wanted his family and her son to share in that.
“Isn’t it perfect?” Edgar asked down the way.
“Ohhhhhh noooooo,” Jasper said from the same location.
“Jessie,” Ulric called in an urgent tone. “You should come see this.”
She kissed him again before tearing herself away, turning and hurrying after the others. Whatever Edgar had done promised to be cringe-worthy, Austin had no doubt. He watched her go, taking in her shapely butt.
“Best pic yet.” Nessa waggled her phone at him. She’d hung back too. “What do you think about the whole ex situation, Mr. Protective Alpha?”
He started forward slowly, wanting Jess to get a chance to do damage control before he stepped into whatever mess Edgar had concocted. Too much of their crazy was bad for the senses.
“We all have them,” he replied. “Sometimes it’s not fun dealing with them.”
“This is true. But you do intend to help her?”
“Of course.”
“Of course.” She tossed up her hands like she should’ve known his answer. “You’d do anything for her.”
“Yes.”
“Like maybe…stop thinking like a shifter and think like a Jane for a moment?”
He frowned down at her. “How so?”
“You’re mated, right?”
He didn’t answer, waiting for her to get to the point.
She nodded like he’d given a verbal answer. “But have you had the fancy shifter mating ritual dinner thingy? I mean, sure, she stayed in your house for a while, but you didn’t have a big celebration.”
“We haven’t had time.”
“Living together? You don’t. Not really. Sharing of assets? How can you when you don’t live together?”
“We have the winery—”
“That’s not done yet.”
“—and we’ll have some big builds coming up—“
“You’re still talking about the distant future. Look, alpha—may I call you Austin just this once?” She put her hand on his forearm, her comical approach easing the sting of her words. He knew that was on purpose. “Austin, you’ve claimed each other. That’s a big deal in shifter land. It’s sacrosanct. But in Jane land, and mage land, and most other lands, my girl’s got nothing to show for what she has with you. She’s got nothing to brag about. I mean, sure, soon she’ll have pictures, and you’re a looker, so that’ll go far, but to non-shifters, you’re just her boyfriend. A boyfriend she loves very much, but as everyone knows, boyfriends come and boyfriends go.”