Ava opened her mouth as Adrian fed her. He hadn’t left to throw her sister out of the pack and she hadn’t protested when he had sat her down and proceeded to feed her like she was a child.
It was a win-win as far as she was concerned.
They hadn’t spoken about anything yet but Ava wasn’t in a hurry. The longer it took for him to decide, the longer she had to convince him.
The food was no longer steaming hot as it had been when he’d come in but it was warm and delicious as it went down. Maybe it was because of Adrian was the one feeding her.
She tried and failed not to blush as her mind and body reminded her of how he had been feeding her almost similarly throughout the heat with the food almost always getting ditched when they became more interested in each other than the food.
She snuck looks at him, her lips moving quietly as she ate. She didn’t think she would ever get used to looking at him. Every time she looked at him, she lost her senses for a moment or two, he was so breathtakingly handsome.
His hair fell to his shoulders, somehow enhancing his masculinity instead of taking away from it. His lips pursued as though he was deep in thought while his green eyes held a glimmer of… she felt for the mate bond… amusement.
“You can stare at me openly if you want to. I am your mate after all so there is no need to sneak looks at me. Plus, I am breathtakingly handsome.” Adrian smirked.
Her cheeks were on fire. Goddess, he was so insufferable. How had he quoted her thoughts word for word? She could only get feelings from the bond.
“But I wasn’t–”
He began to laugh.
“Shut up, Adrian.”
Great, her ears were also on fire at this rate, Ava was sure that she closely resembled a tomato.
To her surprise, he stopped laughing looking at her with an intense look of adoration.
“It’s been so long since you told me that. I thought you might have gotten too mature for it.”
The tension in the air between them built as though she had said something vaguely erotic instead of just telling him to shut up.
Her gaze dropped to his lips unbidden and he caught her looking at him. His gaze smouldered as he stared at her as though he was undressing her in his mind but he didn’t touch her, he merely offered her a piece of toast to eat.
Ava realized what he was doing. He wanted her to make the first move. Almost all of the times they had been together, either to make out or have sex, he’d either instigated it or one or both of them weren’t in the right frame of mind.
If she wanted him, she had to take the first step. And she had no idea what she was supposed to do. Her mind was clear, her thoughts her own. She wasn’t the sex vixen she had been during the heat, making demands, riding Adrian with reckless abandon, jumping him and doing so many other things that she had trouble associating with herself.
She was just her regular self now. So she bit into the toast all the while feeling the sexual tension in the room ratchet up. Every brush of Adrian’s thumb against her lips, her cheek to wipe a smear or her fingers that were on the tray as well sent a pulse of desire through her.
By the time the tray emptied, she couldn’t take it anymore. She pushed the tray out of her lap and reached for him. He pulled her into his lap assisting her, a question in his eyes.
Locking gazes with Adrian, Ava tugged on the duvet that wrapped around her so awkwardly. She kept her eyes on him as she unwrapped herself like a present. A present to him.
Her breath came heavier because for some reason she couldn’t breathe properly.
She watched his eyes darken with passion but he did nothing. She settled properly into his lap and shivered at the feel of his hand on her waist. Looking at his emerald green eyes, she stroked his cheek with her hand.
Fighting the awkwardness she felt, she focused on how she felt for Adrian. Their relationship had undergone so many evolutions.
From childhood enemies to the sizzling attraction they had shared after discovering they were mates, to the frequent back-and-forth movement they had undergone till she had left years ago. Then they had progressed to allies and friends after their unexpected marking had made her Luna of the Pack and now they were lovers.
Not just lovers, true mates.
Ava let go of the guilt that she carried. Adrian was hers. She hadn’t stolen him from anyone. He was her mate and she refused to let an irrational feeling steal him from her.
Her lips hovered a breath away from his.
“Adrian,” She whispered, it was as though if she spoke any louder she would jinx it. Adrian hummed and pulled her closer by her waist, his eyes already shut waiting for her kiss, his hands rubbing her skin deliciously.
“I love you.”
Adrian’s eyes flew open in shock. It was the first time that she was confessing her feelings for him.
“I think I started loving you the day you told me to leave. As I stood outside your office and almost fell apart when I thought of a life without you in it. I tried to deny it for so long that I didn’t admit it even to myself. I couldn’t. It would break me.”
“I thought I would be a horrible person, a horrible sister for doing that. But now, I know that what we have is pure. We deserve this. We deserve a shot at happiness. And I refuse to be a coward. I want this. I want this more than I have ever wanted anything and I am ready to fight for us.”
Ava touched her forehead to his feeling the bond sing between them.
If someone had told her three years ago that she would be confessing her love to Adrian naked on his lap in his bedroom, with a breakfast tray on the floor and the scent of sex heavy in the air, she would have thought them mad.
“I love you, Adrian Gavin.”
“I love you too, Ava Gavin.”
Her lips found his and those were the last words they spoke for a long time.
Adrian was absent from work again. Alex sat in the seat opposite Adrian’s empty one as he worked on the reports. It meant his sister was still in heat. None of them went to see her because they knew it was only her mate who could reduce the pain for her but he had seen Gabby leaving Adrian’s office the other day with pink-tinged cheeks and Adrian’s scent on her skin.
Then he’d confronted her.