Page 32 of Crow Me A River

“I’m not wrong.” Vin braced his arms against the door, trapping her between them, his face inches from hers.

“You have to be.” Tears filled her eyes again, but she was too damn tired to fight them. “I just told you I’m not good for you.”

“And I’m telling you that you don’t get to decide that for me.” Vin searched her eyes. “You think I give a shit how much money you have or how much stuff you own? You think I care that you don’t fit in with a bunch of fucking Crows who expect you to sit quietly and do what you’re told?”

“It’s more than that.”

“No, it isn’t.” Vin’s voice softened as he reached up, wiping away a tear with his thumb. “You keep looking at yourself through everybody else’s eyes, Misty. Maybe it’s time you looked through mine.”

Misty stared up at him, afraid to ask but needing to know. “And what do you see?”

“I don’t see a problem.” His eyes never left hers. “I see a woman who refuses to let anybody tell her who the fuck she’s supposed to be. I see my Mate.”

Her breath caught as she searched his face for any sign that he might not mean it, but there was nothing there except the same certainty she’d seen in him from the beginning. The same certainty that had scared the hell out of her because she’d never understood it. “What if I screw this up too?”

“Then we figure it out together,” Vin answered without hesitation. “But I can almost guarantee I will be the first to screw up. And if we both screw up, we will fix it...together.”

Something inside her cracked wide open. No one had ever said anything like that to her. There was no demand that she change, no warning about what was expected of her or list of rules she had to follow to earn her place. Just the two of them figuring shit out together, and God help her, she wanted that more than she’d ever wanted anything.

“You make it sound so easy.”

“Probably won’t be.” Vin’s mouth tipped into the small grin she’d come to love. “You’re stubborn as hell.”

“So are you.”

“Guess we’re screwed.” He winked with a slow grin.

Misty laughed even as more tears slipped free. She probably looked like a complete mess, but for once she didn’t care. Somehow Vin had her crying and laughing at the same time, and maybe that alone should have told her how deep she’d already fallen for the man.

“My Jaguar may have figured out you were my Mate before I did, but that isn’t why I want you to stay.” Vin’s grin disappeared, and the look in his eyes had her laughter fading with it.

“Then why?”

“Because I love you.”

For a second, Misty could only stare at him.

“You love me?” she whispered, hating how uncertain she sounded.

“Yeah, I do.”

There was no hesitation. No condition attached to it. He simply loved her, and the realization hit Misty so hard she almost started crying all over again. She’d spent so much time waiting for Vin to figure out she wasn’t good enough for him that she’d nearly walked away before giving him the chance to decide for himself.

“I love you too.” Saying the words out loud should have terrified her. Instead, they felt like the easiest truth she’d ever spoken. “I think I have for a while. I was just too damn scared to admit it.”

The emotion that crossed Vin’s face made her chest tighten, and when he pulled her against him, Misty went willingly. She held him just as tightly, burying her face against his chest as everything she’d been fighting finally seemed to fall away. He wanted her stubbornness, her opinions and apparently all the baggage that came with her.

When his mouth found hers, she kissed him with every feeling she’d been too afraid to admit. She loved this man. Loved the way he made her laugh, the way he listened even when she was being difficult and the way he looked at her as if there wasn’t a damn thing wrong with who she was. Her heart had known long before her head had been willing to catch up, and now that she’d finally admitted it, the fear that had been pushing her to run didn’t seem nearly as powerful.

When Vin pulled back, she kept her arms wrapped around his neck, not ready to put any distance between them. “So, I guess this means I’m staying.”

“Damn straight.” He kissed her on the forehead. “And even if you weren’t, I’d follow you to hell and back. Never doubt that.”

For the first time that she could remember, Misty put her full trust in someone, and it felt damn good. She’d always heard that once Shifters found their Mate, things moved fast and furious. She’d never understood that until now. There was one more thing she wanted from him. Looking up at Vin, she smiled.

“So that’s all there is to it? We just speak our feelings, and we’re mated?” Misty asked, then watched the heat build in his gaze.

Vin frowned. “You really don’t know?”