Her fingers circle my wrist lightly, thumb brushing over my pulse.Such a small touch.Such a human touch, yet it feels more intimate than anything I have done in my life.
“Does this hurt?”she asks.
“No.”
“What does it feel like?”
My laugh is broken.“Like trying not to fall to my knees.”
Her eyes widen, and I expect her to pull away, but she doesn’t.Instead, her thumb moves again, deliberately this time, and my breath leaves me.
“Don’t say things like that unless you mean them,” she whispers.
“I mean everything with you.”The words come out too honest.Too much.
She releases my wrist and steps back.Cold rushes where her hand was, and I let her go, even though I want to grab her and pull her back.She looks at me like I am a locked door and she is deciding whether she wants what waits inside badly enough to find the key.
“I don’t know what to do with this,” she says.
“You don’t have to do anything tonight.”
“But you want me to.”
“Yes.”Her eyes sharpen, and I hold up my hands.“I want.That’s not the same as demand.”
Some of the tension leaves her mouth.“What do you want?”she asks.
Careful.This is a dangerous question.A thousand answers claw at my throat.I want you safe.I want you furious.I want you in my bed, under my hands, above me, around me, laughing, sleeping, screaming my name for reasons that have nothing to do with fear.I want my mark on you.I want you to choose me.I want everything.
Instead, I give her the truth she can carry.“I want you to choose without fear.”
Her expression softens.Only a fraction, but it’s enough to ruin me.
“And if I choose slowly?”
“Then I wait.”
“If I choose touch and not everything?”
“Then I take only what you give.”
“If I choose you and panic tomorrow?”
“Then we stop tomorrow.”
Her throat moves.“If I choose you and change my mind?”
My beast howls, but I crush the sound before it leaves me.“Then I let you.”
She closes her eyes.For a second, she looks so tired I nearly step forward, but when her eyes open, there are tears in them, yet none fall.
“I hate that I believe you,” she says.
I breathe out slowly.“I am glad you do.”
“I’m still angry.”
“I know.”
