“I know.”
“Then let that be enough.”
I rubbed at the inside of my wrist, thumb pressing into the spot where my pulse kept jumping.
“I just don’t want to be something he has to deal with.”
Rhys made a quiet sound. “You mean care about.”
“I had a plan. I was going to cover it. I wasn’t asking him to?—”
“I know,” Rhys cut in. “He did it anyway.”
“Exactly. It feels… off.”
“Of course it does. You’re used to shrinking things down, but you’re allowed to like being taken care of, Min vän. It doesn’t turn you into a problem.”
“Archibald.”
My shoulders loosened on instinct, my body recognizing him in a way that didn’t make sense considering how little I knew him.
It didn’t matter.
It never seemed to matter when he was near me.
Henry.
Turning, I lifted my chin. Our eyes connected. “H-hi.”
“Hello, Rabbit.”
Sunlight caught along the edge of his jaw, but it was his focus that held me—direct and unwavering, like nothing else in the quad had managed to earn it.
It stayed on me.
Me. Me. Me.
I had the sudden, overwhelming urge to close the distance between us, press my face into his chest, and make him touch me again just to see if it would quiet everything the same way it had yesterday.
What the hell was wrong with me?
Rhys let out a low breath beside me. “Wow.”
I ignored him.
“I, uhm, don’t usually see you out here,” I said.
“This is where you are.”
My mouth went a little dry.
Rhys made a quiet, delighted noise. “That was hot.”
“Rhys,” I ground out.
“What?” He shifted, stepping forward with a hand out. “Nice to meet you. I’m Rhys.”
“Mr. Lindström.” Henry’s gaze touched Rhys long enough to acknowledge him. “I know who you are.”
