Locke Down

Chapter 24

Locke's POV

I'm wide awake. I continue to glance over at her every few minutes as she lies asleep next to me. Thoughts of what happened just hours prior keep running through my head and I can't help but over think it.

I mean for fucks sake did I even last five minutes?

I suppress a groan as I cover my face with a pillow. All I want is for her to be happy and I don't even know at this point if I pleased her. My experience with women has been pretty much limited to drunken kisses and never any further than that. I wanted her again within minutes, but I didn't want to push it too far since it was a first for both of us.

To make matters worse, I was a nervous wreck before we even began. I had wanted to tell her how I felt before we even got to that point and I could kick myself for not saying something sooner. I need her to know how much I love her and was hoping to do it before we slept ever together so she didn't think that was the sole reason. But of course the moment I think about confusing it all is right before I'm about to put a condom on. Great. Just fucking perfect.

The pillow gets tugged from my hands and I blink a few times to see her leaning over me.

"Are you okay?" She asks concerned.

"Umm, yeah. Yeah, I'm good." I try to give her a reassuring smile as I brush back some hair that's fallen into her face.

"You sound like you're dying."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you."

Of course, now I woke her up. Can I get any worse?

"What's wrong." She says softly and curls up against my side with her head on my shoulder.

It feels so comfortable like this and I close my eyes for a moment, trying to think of what to even say.

"Locke?" Her voice is soothing.

There's so much I want to say and ask her but I'm not even sure where to begin. 

"I love you." I blurt out.

She doesn't say anything and I realize that was probably the worst possible way to tell her. I could have done so much better, started by taking her out to dinner or something romantic, but nope. The silence has my heart beating rapidly and I look over to see confusion with the hint of a smile on her face. I'm pretty sure at this point if I wasn't her mate there's no way in hell I'd have a chance with her.

"And that's what's wrong?" She says, trying to bite back a laugh at my incompetence in all things chivalrous.

"No! No, of course not." I shift my body so I'm also laying on my side facing her. "I just- dammit I'm really screwing this up. I jut really wanted to tell you before and now, well now it's-"

I'm cut off by her lips on mine. The kiss is passionate and filled with unspoken words that we both feel, but have yet to say.

"Stop overthinking. That's supposed to be my job." She grins after pulling away.

I pull her closer to me, kissing her over and over again as her hands roam my body. She tugs at the edge of my boxers and I groan in response.

"I love you too." She whispers against my lips.

I was never one to need reassurance from anyone. I was the king, I didn't need it. But the seconds those words left her lips I realized that I had been hanging on a moment, waiting for conformation that she was feeling the same.

It was all the confidence I needed to show her again how much I really did love her, and I had until morning to thoroughly prove to her exactly how I felt.