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“That’s for lying. Now open for me.”
My chest heaved, but why try to pretend I didn’t want this? Why pretend I wasn’t happy he’d come to me for sex like he’d promised?
I complied, sliding my hands up to his shoulders and kissing him back. When he lifted his head, I leaned into him, nuzzling his sexy, bristly jaw. “Hey, there.”
He rumbled deep in his throat, a low, hungry sound that made my inner thighs tighten. “Hello.”
He framed my face with his hands, his gaze on my mouth. My lids lowered and I swayed into him, waiting for him to kiss me again. Instead, he frowned and tilted his head.
“You’ve been crying.”
How could he know that? I instinctively shook my head. “No, I wasn’t.”
He nipped my lower lip. “You’re lying again.”
My mouth firmed. “I don’t have to tell you my every thought.”
“When you’re unhappy, you do.”
I pushed against his chest. “Let me go.”
He released my face, but stayed close, his hands settling on my shoulders. “I’m staying right here until you tell me what’s wrong.”
My instinct was to curl up like an armadillo to protect my soft spots. It’s what I would’ve done last summer. What I’d been planning to do even a couple of hours earlier.
But how well had that worked for me? He was reaching out to me, asking what was wrong—why not meet him halfway? Maybe if I opened up, he would too.
“First,” I said, “tell me how you know.”
“That you were crying?”
“Yeah.”
“I’m not sure.” He dragged a hand over his head, mussing the dark, curly hair on top. “I’ve been picking up things about you. More than I used to.”
“Do you think it’s the blood bond?”
He frowned. “I don’t know. Maybe.”
So maybe the blood bond had created some kind of connection between us? I kind of liked that idea. “I didn’t think blood bonds did that.”
He shrugged, clearly done talking about it. “Now it’s your turn. Why were you crying?”
“I missed you, okay?”
“Eden.” He winced. “You know I—”
My stomach dropped. So much for opening up to him. I cut him off. “That’s okay. You don’t have to explain. I know how it is, all right?” I sighed. “But it’s not just that. Rio’s on a date, so I didn’t have anyone to hang out with tonight and I miss my mom and dad. Except for that one time at Olivia’s, I haven’t seen them for so long and…I miss them, all right?”
There went the stupid tears again. I blinked them away, but a few spilled down my cheeks. I was officially a girl who cried. Damn freaking hormones.
“Anyhow,” I said around the spiky rock in my throat, “that’s why I was crying.”
I tried to sidle past him, but that ended with my back against the bedroom wall. “Hey,” he murmured. “It’s okay.”
“It’s not okay,” I said, bristling. “I don’t have a way to get a message to them since you took my phone. I can’t even tell my mom that the baby’s kicking all the time now and…” I shook my head, squeezing my eyes shut.
“Shh.” I felt his “shush” against my lips, soft and warm. His thumbs came to my cheeks, brushing away the saltwater tracks. “Don’t cry.”
