“Tell me what to do,” he says.
The words move through me like fire.Not an order but a surrender.I step closer until my body is almost against his.Almost.My hand remains between us, pressed to his chest.
“Touch my waist.”
His jaw clenches.“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
His hands lift slowly giving me time to change my mind, but I don’t.His palms settle at my waist, over my sweater, warm and impossibly careful.He doesn’t pull.Doesn’t grip.Just holds where I told him.
My body tenses and Knox notices instantly and his hands start to leave.
I catch his wrists.“No.Stay.”
He freezes.I breathe through the first wave.Through the panic that tries to mistake size for danger.Through memory’s ugly little whisper.He’s not them.I’m not taken.I chose this.
Knox waits.His thumbs don’t move.His fingers don’t tighten.He lets me have every second.Slowly, my body understands, and the tension eases.Heat rises beneath his hands.
Not fear.Want.
I look up at him.His face is wrecked.
“Are you okay?”I ask.
A broken laugh leaves him.“No.”
I smile before I can stop myself.It feels strange.Good strange.
“Can I touch you?”he asks.
“You are touching me.”
“More.”
My pulse leaps.There’s no hiding it.His eyes darken because he feels the change beneath his hands.
“Where?”I ask.
His gaze drops to my face.Not my body, my face.“Your cheek.”
My throat tightens.“Yes.”
One hand leaves my waist and rises slowly.His knuckles brush my cheek first, barely there, then his palm cups the side of my face.Warm and rough but careful.
My eyes close.Not from fear.From the relief of choosing and not regretting.Knox makes a sound like pain.
I open my eyes.“Too much?”
“For me?”His thumb trembles against my cheek.“Yes.”
I laugh softly.“You’re ridiculous.”
“Probably.”
His hand stays where it is, and I lean into it, just a little, and his breath stops.The power of that tiny movement flashes through me like a storm.I did that.I chose that.I leaned into a monster’s hand, and my body didn’t betray me.
Mine.
