I didn't know how long we sat like that.
Maybe minutes. Maybe hours.
Time stopped mattering the second he wrapped around me like that. Like he was trying to protect me from everything, even myself.
I felt his breath brush the side of my neck again.
Hot and steady.
His fingers still resting on my skin beneath the shirt, now drawing soft, slow circles that lit tiny sparks across my abdomen. I didn't mean to shift my legs… but I did. I didn't mean to press my thighs together… but I needed to.
The silence thickened. Grew heavy. Our breaths mingled.
And when I turned my head, just a little, his nose brushed mine.
Kael didn't speak. He just stared.
Those green eyes.
Sharp. Dull. Brilliant. Tired. Dangerous.
He looked like a man standing at the edge of himself, and I suddenly wanted to be the one who pulled him back.
"I should move," I whispered, but made no attempt to.
"Don't," he murmured. His lips didn't move much, but his breath warmed my cheek.
