‘But baby, I fell in love with you long before the mating heat kicked in this bad. Do you know why I came to wish you happy birthday when you were fifteen?’ She shook her head, mute. ‘Because I adored everything about you as much then as I do now,’ he whispered, giving her words because she needed them, and because he’d made her cry. There was no excuse for that. ‘It wasn’t sexual – you were too young. It was just this tightness inside my chest. Every time you smiled, my world lit up. All I wanted to do was keep giving you reasons to smile. That day I realised you were my mate, the happiness almost killed me. So don’t you ever say I don’t love you or want you. I chose you, Tamsyn Mahaire. I chose you.’
Beat of Temptation (Wild Invitation Anthology), Nalini Singh
