to work, trying to clear my head and then hours passed and—”
“Cam.” She gripped his forearms. “Hey, c’mon now. Breathe.”
He didn’t realize his lungs had been running on empty. “J.D. … I’m sorry for not telling you sooner. I wanted to work out a solution first. I couldn’t just leave you, but I couldn’t ignore my obligations back home either.” His grandmother’s life literally depended on it. “And I thought you could come with me, but I couldn’t take you away from everything you’ve known.”
Her mouth opened. “So that’s it? You got stuck in some kind of analysis paralysis loop and just kind of … short-circuited?”
Huh. It was a funny way to put it, but he couldn’t have described it better himself. “I suppose so. But it all seemed hopeless. I mean, what are we supposed to do? Your friends … they’re all mated and happy, and I just want that for us too.”
“Oh, baby.” She wrapped her arms around him and lay her cheek on his chest. “I wish you said something sooner. But …” Taking a deep breath, she lifted her head and looked him square in the eyes. “Cam, this whole thing between us … I know we’re fated mates and the universe or God or whatever says we’re meant to be together forever, but really, we’re still just two different people, trying to figure out how we fit together. We can’t compare ourselves to Damon and Anna Victoria or Gabriel and Temperance. You’re you and I’m me and we’re us. There aren’t any rules to mating, are there? One that says one of us has to give everything up for the other? I mean, it’s not like we’re getting married tomorrow. You were the one who wanted to take things slow, right?”
She had a point there. “But what do we do then?”
“Well … we don’t have to decide now, right? When you do have to go back?”
“My contract with the rangers expires at the end of the year, so January at the latest.”
“All right.” She chewed at her lip. “Well, the long-distance thing will suck, but people do it all the time. We can plan for it, and maybe we can come up with some compromise. I mean, your family business back in Europe isn’t something you need to be there all the time for, right? Like, do you guys have a turnip farm or nesting doll factory or something?”
“Er … nothing like that.” He was tempted to tell her, but the rest of the details about his family was something he would have to ease her into. “Are you saying you’re willing to make this work? With me leaving, that is?”
“Well, duh. You’re my mate.” Smiling up at him, she wrapped her arms around his neck. “And you’ve got a full head of hair, complete teeth, and I wanna bone you again.”
He threw his head back and laughed, the weight suddenly lifting from his chest and shoulders. “Well … if you insist.” He bent down to hook his hands under her knees, then lifted her up, backing her toward the desk.
“Cam, I—oops!” When he planted her on top of the desk, her back hit the vase of flowers, sending it crashing down.
“Fucking flowers,” he growled.
She rolled her eyes. “I told you, it was probably a wrong delivery.”
Occam's Razor demanded that he accept the simplest possible explanation for the existing data. However, the primal, animal part of him demanded to know who would dare send their mate gifts. Then hunt them down and let them know it was inappropriate. Preferably using his teeth and claws.
“Cam …” she said in a warning tone.
“Fine,” he grumbled.
“You’re so cute when you’re jealous,” she chuckled.
“Jealousy is an illogical reaction. I do not get jealous.”
“Right.” She patted him on the shoulder and kissed his nose. “Now, as much as I do wanna play hide the cannoli with you again, I’ve got a garage full of employees with shifter senses. I’ll never hear the end of it if they hear us doing it in here. Not to mention, I don’t think I can keep my lady juices flowing with my dad looking down at us.” She nodded at the portrait hanging on the wall behind the desk.
“I suppose we should stop desecrating offices.” Sorry about that, sir, he silently said to the smiling man in the picture. He could see the resemblance, and now he knew where she got her stubborn chin and stunning eyes from. “I like the rest of the