“How can you be so sure?” she asked. “You barely know me.”

He dropped his hands from her face. “I do know you. You’re not crazy. I just… I wish there was something I could do to help.”

“Just listening is good.” The lettuce sat between Roxy’s hands, which were now flat on the counter. “And I wasn’t going to tell you, but I like you and I sort of had an epiphany while I was in my office earlier that I shouldn’t say no to something that might not be available to me in the future. Carpe diem and all that.”

He leaned on the counter. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying? I hate to sound full of myself, but is this about me?”

She finally looked at him. “Yes. Well, it’s about us.” She closed her eyes for a moment and took a breath, like she was steeling herself to say something difficult. “I am so attracted to you that just thinking about you makes parts of me ache. I love your company. You make me happy, as silly as that sounds considering we’ve only known each other a few days.”

Her cheeks went the most adorable shade of pink. “I have never said anything like that to a man. Ever. But if I’m going crazy, I want to enjoy all the sane days I have left. With you. If you’re willing. Or interested. Or not afraid to catch whatever crazy I have.”

A shot of hot, pure electricity zipped through Alex, filling him with the unquestionable sensation that this woman was absolutely, one hundred percent meant for him. His soul mate. It was that fast and that complete. He just knew. Shifter or not, she was his.

“It’s not silly and you’re not crazy.” He wiped his hands on his jeans, then threaded his fingers through her hair and kissed her. Hard.

She seemed to exhale into him. As if all the tension that had built up inside of her while she was spilling her heart was now gone, released by his response. Then she kissed him back.

For the next few moments, they were lost to that heated contact, their need for each other overriding all else. Until the pot on the stove boiled over and pulled them apart.

She turned the burner down, then looked at him, her chest rising and falling with the intensity of the kiss they’d just shared. Her eyes were full of light and happiness. “That was a yes, right?”

“That was a hell yes. But you have to know something about me.”

“What?”

“I’m sensing that you want—or expect—a temporary kind of arrangement. Something with an expiration date. That’s not happening. I’m not that kind of guy. Either we do this with the full understanding that it could be forever or we don’t do it at all.”

“But I could be in an institution next month.”

“Well, that sounds like a wild exaggeration, but as long as I know the address and what visiting hours are, I’m in.”

Her eyes narrowed. “You might be the crazy one.”

“I might be.” He crossed his arms. “But those are my terms. All or nothing.”

“I’m not divorced yet—”

“You will be.”

“So I was going to say, we can’t go public with this until that’s finalized.”

“I’m good with that. Does that mean you agree to what I said?”

“All or nothing, huh?”

He nodded.

She nodded tentatively. “But what if I get overwhelmed, or can’t handle being in another relationship so soon, or—”

“We’ll figure it out. We’ll slow down or back off or whatever, but if we’re meant to be, I don’t think either one of us will feel that way.”

“I haven’t had a reason to believe in soul mates, you know.”

He shrugged. “I know. But maybe I can change that.”

Her tentativeness gave way to a bright, beaming smile that matched the look in her eyes. “So yeah, I guess we’re doing this.” She pointed at him. “I’m big on honesty and being upfront and just putting everything out there. I don’t want to have to guess what you’re feeling or try to figure out if you’re happy or if you’re not or any of that. I had too much nonsense like that the first go-round. I’m not doing it again.”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way.” Which meant talking to Delaney just got moved up on Alex’s list of priorities.

All the way to number one.

Roxy floated through dinner. Alex had responded so much better to her heartfelt declaration that the thought she might be losing her marbles no longer put her in such a state of panic.

Granted, she hadn’t figured on him wanting a full-blown relationship, but he’d said all the right things and her reservations had disappeared. Plus, he seemed so willing to let her dictate the speed and intensity of the relationship. How could she not want that? She’d never been in the driver’s seat with Thomas. She couldn’t miss the chance to try it now, especially with a guy like Alex.

A smokin’ hot guy like Alex. It really was like he’d stepped off one of her book covers.

“You’re staring.”

“Hmm?” She realized he’d said something and she’d been miles away. Thinking about him, but still miles away.

“Do I have parsley in my teeth or something?”

“No, I was just…taking it all in.” She laughed, the giggly nervousness of desire and possibility and this new infatuation making it impossible not to.

He grinned. “It?”