Page 33 of Knot Her Beta

I take in her face, color high in her cheeks and her irises gone dark.

“No,” I say with more firmness than I thought I possessed at the moment. “We can’t.”

Emily freezes, searching my expression, and for a second, I think she’s going to argue. But of course she doesn’t. Emily values consent and respect far too much to push after someone has refused.

Emily’s eyes drop to my cane on the floor, and her grip steadies me while she crouches and comes back up with it. She fits the handle back into my hand and doesn’t let go until my weight has settled.

Then her fingers open, and she steps back, cool air sweeping away the warmth generated by our combined body heat.

“I’m sorry,” she says. “I shouldn’t have assumed.”

“No, don’t be sorry. You didn’t misread anything.” I touch my tingling lips. “But I can’t start anything with you right now.”

The skin around her lips tightens, and she studies the cabin she helped build for me. “Is it the timing?”

A laugh that lacks any sign of amusement escapes me. “Yeah, it’s the timing.” I take a deep breath. “I’m leaving.”

Chapter Nine

Emily

“Leaving.”

The word lands between us like a stone dropped on the raw pine floor.

My lips still carry the warmth of him, the taste of him, and lower down, my body hums with the echo of what just happened. The hard evidence of his want nudges me through layers of wool and denim, the sound he made when I kissed him, the way his fingers twisted into my flannel like he was afraid I might pull away.

I didn’t pull away.

But he did when he touched the Mark Jared left on my neck. As if he'd only just remembered my bondmate, and something about it unsettled him, but Grady has never shown any discomfort where Jared is concerned.

“Does it bother you?” I ask. “That I also belong to Jared?”

The question catches him off guard. “What? No, of course not. I like Jared, too, though not in the same way.”

But the Mark definitely triggered his retreat. And he’s still retreating.

Grady backs up another half-step, his knuckles white around the handle of his cane. His breathing is still uneven, his chest rising and falling in shallow hitches. The flush that started at his throat when I kissed him has spread to his cheeks, staining them pink. Nothing about him suggests a man who wants to leave.

Which means there’s another problem. One that’s holding him back. And I can fix a problem.

“I’m not sorry I kissed you,” I say. “And I’m not going to apologize for wanting you.”

His breath hitches, and when his eyes find mine from behind his glasses, I see my reflection in his blown pupils.

“This isn’t a curiosity for me.” I take a step forward, the pine creaking under my boot. “So if you need more time, I can wait.”

He doesn’t move, but a fine tremor goes through his body.

“I want you, Grady.” I stop in front of him. “Not as a friend forever. Not as the guy who shows up for dinner and has me laughing and then goes home to someone else’s couch.”

A muscle jumps in his jaw, and his hand flexes on his cane.

“I want to be the one who cooks your meals,” I tell him, refusing to back down. “I want to rub your knee when it hurts, and be there when you draft your first book. I can’t offer you a pack yet, but give me time, and I’ll find a way.”

Grady’s mouth opens. Closes. Opens again.

Nothing comes out.