Emotion shifts in his expression. “I am waiting,” he says.
For me.
The realisation forms clean and precise, cutting through whatever hesitation I’ve been clinging to.
I don’t look away. “Right,” I murmur, and my hand moves before I can overthink it.
This time, I don’t go for his horns. I already know what that does. Instead, I slide my fingers up along the side of his neck, brushing over the faintly luminous markings there.
They’re warmer than I expect.
Not just skin-warm. Something deeper. Like heat sits under the surface, steady and alive.
The reaction is immediate. Varek inhales a jagged breath. He tilts his head just slightly into the touch before he stills himself, like he didn’t mean to do it.
That… does something to me.
“Sensitive there too?” I ask, quieter now.
“Yes.” His voice has dropped. It’s rougher and less controlled.
I trace the edge of one marking, watching the faint shift under my fingers. “That’s… unfair,” I mutter.
His brow furrows slightly. “Unfair?”
“You’ve got all these—” I gesture vaguely with my hand, still touching him. “—features.”
“They are normal.”
“Not to me, they’re not.”
His gaze turns heated, his curiosity threading through some of the tension. “You find them… appealing.”
Not a question.
I huff out a breath. “Don’t make it weird.”
“I’m stating a fact.”
“You’re enjoying this way too much.”
“I’m enjoying your touch,” he says honestly.
He goes still. Then his hand—large, careful—shifts slightly against my side. He doesn’t grab. Doesn’t pull. Just… rests there,like he’s testing the boundary now that we’re aware and face to face.
Once more, he’s waiting. Always waiting. The restraint in it is almost worse than anything else.
I glance down at where his hand touches me, then back up at him. “You can touch me,” I say. The words come out quieter than I expect.
Varek’s entire focus locks in. “You are certain?”
I nod once. “Yeah.”
That’s all it takes. His hand moves. It’s once again slow and careful. Like he’s handling something breakable, even though we both know I’m not.
His fingers slide slightly higher along my side, spanning the width of my ribs without pressing hard enough to hurt. The contact is warm and solid. Grounding in a way that sends a strange, steady heat through my chest.
I didn’t expect that. Didn’t expect it to feel… good. Not just physically but something else, something quieter.
