Chapter 8

Tessa

When the knockcomes at my front door, I already know it's Ash. He's been by every day for the last week. The time changes depending on his work schedule, but he still shows up every single day.

The first day, he brought me breakfast before he went to work. It was my favorite order from the diner in town. He had tried to ask me questions as I ate my chocolate chip and banana pancakes, but I had only given him vague, brief answers.

The next day, he had shown up in the afternoon with flowers and a bottle of wine. I had thanked him and then closed the door in his face and gotten back to work.

The third day, he brought groceries and offered to cook us dinner. I had to hide my smile at that. It was cute to see him come up with a plan to get into my apartment and spend more time with me. I had relented and he had made some of the best chicken I'd ever had.

We spent that night talking and he had left, promising to be back the next night. And he was. With popcorn and other snacks. We ended up having a movie night, and at some point, I fell asleep. I woke up sprawled on top of him. I had been nervous about how he would react, but he ended up having to leave in a rush to get to work, so I didn't dwell on it.

That brings us to yesterday when he came over with breakfast again. We had eaten and he had asked me about the book I was working on. By the time he left, I realized that seeing Ash has become the bright spot in my days and that some of my anger towards him had faded. Okay, most of it was gone.

I try to steel myself as I answer the door, but as soon as Ash smiles at me, my heart flips over in my chest. I can't deny how I feel about him anymore. I was hurt and mad when I found out what he did, but after learning more about him and his childhood, I kind of got it. He was trying to protect himself, and when I found out the truth, I ended up pushing him away and doing the same thing. No one wants to get their heart broken after all.

Still, part of me wants to make him pay a little bit for all that he put me through. I mean, now that he's claimed me, he won't want to leave, but I still think that he should grovel for not making me his mate for months.

"Hey," I greet him as I open the door.

"Hey, I got us lunch," he says, and I smile, taking the deli bag from him.

"Thanks."

"I don't have a ton of time before I have to get to work," he says apologetically. "There was a line at the deli, and it took me longer than I expected."

"No worries. I need to get back to work soon anyway."

"Are you finishing up the book today?" He asks me as we take a seat at the table.

"Hopefully. I have two more chapters to do and then I need to do a read through so if it's not done today, then it will be tomorrow."

"That's exciting," he says with a smile, and I nod.

"And a bit of a relief. This one was hard to get out for some reason."

The truth is that I know why this one was hard to finish. It's tough to write a romance book when your heart is broken.

He nods, unwrapping his sandwich, and I do the same. We both dig in, and I ask him how work has been. We always start out this way, with superficial small talk. I know he's been working up the nerve to ask me where we stand, but he hasn't gotten around to it.

Ash finishes his food first, and I nudge my bag of chips toward him.

"Thanks."

He seems more somber or distracted today, and I frown as I study him. There are dark circles under his eyes, and I want to ask him if he's been getting enough sleep, but before I can, he speaks up.

"I wanted to talk to you… about us," he starts.

I pause, wondering what to say to him now. I thought I still had time to figure things out before we had this talk, but I guess not.

"What about us?" I ask hesitantly.

"How long before you move in with me? I can pay to break your lease here," he says, and I almost get whiplash.

That was not at all where I thought he was going with this. I thought that he was going to ask me how I felt about him and us being together. I thought that maybe he would ask me out on a date or try to make things more official in some way.

"Sorry?" I ask, and he looks around my apartment.

"When are you going to move in with me? So that we can be together," he repeats, and I drop my sandwich down onto the wrapper and cross my arms over my chest.

"Who said that I was going to move in with you?"

"Why wouldn't you? We're mates, and my place is bigger. You won't have to pay rent."

I know he's being logical, but that doesn't make me feel any better about this.

"We're not together," I snap, and he frowns.

"You're wearing my mark. I claimed you. I know we need to work through things, but we're together."

"No, we're not. Those ‘things' that we're working through are if we should be together or not," I point out, and he narrows his eyes at me.

"Are you seeing someone else?" He asks, his voice low and filled with warning.

"No."

"Do you want to be with me?" He demands, and I pause.

Yes is the answer, but I'm stubborn.

"How long are you going to make me wait for an answer, Tessa?" He asks, and the words are out before I can stop them or think it through.

"Ninety-seven days."

"Why that long?" He growls, and I glare right back at him.

"That's how long you made me wait before you told me we were fated mates or tried to claim me."

He pushes to his feet, sending his chair flying back until it smacks against the wall.

"I told you why," he starts, and I shake my head, pushing to my feet, too.

"Not really. You gave me brief details, but you're still not opening up to me. You want us to be together, but it feels like you're still keeping me at arm's length."

He looks away from me, and I know that he knows I'm right.

"I don't have time for this. I need to get to work," he mumbles, stalking towards the door.

I watch him leave, debating between saying something to him and letting him go. Part of me wants to call out to him, apologize for what I said, and give him a chance to open up to me when we're not glaring at each other. The other part wants him to do the work without me telling him what to do.

Him coming by my apartment and getting to know me better is a good start, but it's not enough. If we want to be together, we need to trust each other. He needs to let down his guard and tell me more about his past, and I need to forgive him for rejecting me for months. We're both so stubborn, though.

I just wonder which one of us is going to go first.