“What if I don’t want to be your mate? What if I just enjoyed our one-night stand and don’t want to belong to you? I don’t want to belong to anyone. Why do you think I lied about being a Beta?”
“Ah, she admits it. Finally.”
“Just because you’re a great lay doesn’t mean I want to spend my life with you.”
“Ditto.”
“Well, there we go then. There is nothing that says we must become lifelong mates. This is good that this happened. As I understand it, there is only one true mate for our kind. Now, I know who that is. So, if I want to stay single, I just have to keep my distance from you.”
“Is that really what you want?”
“Yes.”
Her heart was beating out of her chest. This felt like breaking things off with someone she loved deeply and had spent a lifetime with already. How could she feel such a strong emotion about someone she’d only just met and not even had enough time to learn much more about than he was a bad driver and liked rare steak? All she knew beyond that was that he was the fucking best sex she’d ever had. That was hardly enough to base a relationship on, was it?
“All right,” he told her.
She could tell he wanted to say more. Perhaps, he was experiencing his own confusion or was no more ready for this than she had been. Whatever the reason, it didn’t matter. She just wanted him as far away from her as possible, so she could think . . . think and stop leaking her sultry desire down her thighs.
“Thank you,” she managed.
He nodded and retrieved his clothes from where they were scattered across the floor, putting them on as he made a call on his cell. She pulled the robe back around her and turned to look out the window, her body screaming at her not to let him go and her brain doing its best to shut the noise out and maintain control.
“Hey. It’s me. Can I come over and crash on your couch for a few hours? You can take me back by the house before we go into the office, so I can shower and change,” he said to the person on the other end. After a brief silence, during which she assumed the person was responding, he added, “Great. What apartment number?” Another short silence and finally, “Okay. I’ll be right there.”
With that, he finished putting on his shoes and walked toward the door. It was only when he reached it that he turned back to her.
“Thanks for last night. Good luck to you.”
He opened her door and disappeared down the hallway as it closed behind him. She realized she had been holding her breath, and finally, let it go. Her body seemed to calm a bit after that but not completely. She could still feel a tug toward him. Was she going to stay this way? How long before she’d return to normal? She really needed to talk to her mother, but a quick review of her phone showed there was still no response to her earlier message. Instead, there were another half-dozen messages from the Alpha Meets Omega app.
Jaycee looked at them and considered why she had signed up for the site. She had wanted to find a partner, someone to love and who would love her back. She found her ideal mate right off the bat, but he was only ideal in some cosmic wolf fate sense. For all she knew, they had nothing in common. A part of her wanted to find out, but she was terrified of it all going badly and ending up with a man like her father just because that was how it was supposed to be. If nothing else, she could now date freely, without fear of this happening again.
Still, was that a good thing?CHAPTER EIGHTThad
“Are you okay?” Barron asked as Thad came through his front door.
“Yeah. Just a crazy night. I’m sorry to barge in on you like this, but I didn’t feel like driving home.”
“I take it the date went well,” Barron said with a smile.
“I don’t know how to really answer that.”
Thad laughed and shook his head, spreading his hands out, palms flayed. Barron nodded and waved him to the sofa.
“I went ahead and folded it out. You got here quick. Let me get you some sheets.”
Unlike Jaycee’s apartment, Barron’s looked well lived in. It was not a studio like hers. It was a little larger, with a separate bedroom and an enclosed kitchen area. It seemed more functional than anything, a lone corner containing a fitness machine and hanging boxing bag. Barron stayed in shape, despite driving a car around for a living. Of course, most wolves did, so it wasn’t really a surprise.