If I’m allowed to touch him at all.
I glance back over my shoulder. Landon isn’t paying attention to us, deep in conversation with a staff member in a neon greenshirt. Lydia and Emmett are standing off to the side, his hands gripping her shoulders and forcing her to look at him.
Wesley exhales, lips parting like he might say something, but he just sweeps his eyes over me.
Finally, he murmurs, “You look…freaked out.”
I gape at him. The man was just thrown off an almost two-thousand-pound animal andIlook freaked out.
“You scared us,” I say, softer than I mean to.
A faint breath of a laugh leaves him, the corner of his mouth lifting slightly.
“Yeah,” he says faintly. “So I’ve heard.”
His gaze drifts, then slips back to me, softer around the edges now. His eyes bounce between mine, small flecks of gold sprinkled in his dark amber gaze.
“You’re so stupid,” I whisper.
Then his eyes drop to my mouth. So subtle, I almost miss it.Almost.
Something dangerous tugs in my chest.
This could be different,the voice whispers.Maybe this is who he really is.
But then Landon steps into my periphery, Emmett and Lydia right behind him. The shift in the air is immediate, but the spell doesn’t break—it only thins like a fog under harsh and unforgiving lighting.
“Damn,” Landon says, amusement threading his voice. “You look pretty good for a guy who almost met his maker.”
Wesley doesn’t look away from me. Doesn’t even blink.
“I’m not complaining,” he hums, eyes still locked on mine.
My heart stutters and the tent suddenly feels a thousand degrees warmer.
“How are you feeling?” Lydia asks.
“I’m fine,” he says, voice strained. “Just got the wind knocked outta me and maybe a couple of bruised ribs, I guess.”
Landon steps closer, studies him, then reaches out and gently pats Wesley’s cheek.
“I wouldn’t be complaining either, if I had a little prescription cocktail flowing through my veins.”
The wordprescriptionhits like cold water.
Of course.
That explains the looseness. The softness. The way his rough edges feel sanded down.
Wesley rolls his head toward Landon, slow and unbothered. “Don’t be jealous.”
Emmett snorts. “Enjoy it while it lasts, buddy. You’re gonna be an absolute nightmare when that wears off.”
Lydia and Landon murmur something I don’t quite catch. The moment widens, filling with other people, other voices. Wesley’s eyes flick back to me one last time before drifting shut again.
“I guess we’ll have to wait and see.”
And just like that—the moment is gone.
