stared at it for a long moment before pressing call.
It rang twice before she picked up.
“Elena Hart,” she said, her voice clipped. Businesslike.
I swallowed the knot in my throat. “Hi. It’s Derek.”
A beat of silence. “I know.”
Right. Dumb start.
+25 BONUS
“I just wanted to confirm. I’ll be picking Aiden up from the schoolhouse on Friday, right after his classes let out.”
“That’s fine.”
“I’ll have his car seat installed and snacks packed. Joe’s finalizing the itinerary. The site is secure.”
“Okay.
God, she sounded so distant. Like I’d dreamed everything that happened between us. Like she hadn’t moaned my fame under the moonlight. Like she hadn’t pressed her body against mine and then bolted like I’d lit her on fire.
“Right,” I said, fumbling for my next words. “Well. I just wanted to make sure-”
“Wait.”
Her voice was softer this time. I froze.
“I wanted to say… I’m sorry,” she said quietly. “For the way I ran off that night. I should have stayed. Talked to you. You didn’t deserve to be left like that.”
1 sat straighter, the phone clutched tight to my ear. “It’s okay.”
“It’s not,” she replied. “You…. deserved an explanation. And I owed myself the space to give one.”
“Elena-” I cleared my throat. “We can talk now, if you want to.”
There was a pause on the other end. I could almost picture Her–biting her lip, weighing the risk.
“It doesn’t mean anything.” she said suddenly.
“What?”
H
“That I slept with you. It doesn’t mean I’ve forgiven you. Or that I’m choosing you. It was a moment. A very emotional, very intense moment, but it doesn’t mean I’m yours again.”
I winced. “Understood. Loud and clear. I… I’m sorry. For proposing like that afterward. That was stupid. And unromantic.”
“Kind of like the first time you proposed?” Her voice had an edge of dry amusement. “Because that was even
Η
worse.”
1 groaned. “Yes. That too.”
“Do you even possess a romantic bone in your body, Derek King?”
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Chapter 177
A laupli escaped me–low and reluctant. “I might, Deep, dp down. Somewhere in my left pinky toe.
Not reassuring,” she muttered, but I could hear the faintnile in her tone.
+25 BONUS
“Would you…” I hesitated. “Would you be interested in my rying to see if I do? Proving that I could do it?”
Silence stretched.
My heart thudded le a war drum. Why had I said that? She was going to hang up. I’d pushed too far.
Then, finally:
“I’m willing to let you try to prove that you’ve changed.”
The words landed like a bolt of lightning straight to the chest.
“Yeah?” I said, almost breathless.
“But you need to slow down. I mean it. No more proposals, no sudden declarations, no sweeping assumptions. We take this slow. Once bitten, twice shy–and I’ve been bitten more than once.”
“I can do slow,” I said, voice rough. “I want to do slow. If that’s what you need.”
“Good,” she said. “Because if you screw this up, there won’t be a third time.”
We hung up not long after that. The call was brief. Tense. Awkward. But it ended with something I hadn’t felt in a long time.
Hope.
I set the phone down and sat in stunned silence.
She was going to let me court her.
Not as her mate. Not as the father of her child. Not as the Alpha of Silverclaw.
Just as a man trying to become someone worthy of a second chance.
A slow, real chance.
A crooked smile tugged at my lips.
And I was going to make damn sure I didn’t waste it
