"That's not an answer."
"It's the answer you're getting."
The corner of his mouth moves. He has caught me using his line. He is not going to mention it.
The cabin is very quiet.
We have just told each other something true about the people who raised us. I did not plan to do that. I have been in this man's presence since the warehouse, and I have told him more true things than I have told most people in a year.
I standup to clear my cup.
He stands at the same moment.
The kitchen is small. One path to the sink. He stops because of the wound. I stop because he stops.
We are very close.
I have been in rooms with dangerous men my whole adult life and never had to remind myself to breathe. I am reminding myself now.
He puts his cup down without taking his eyes off me.
I put my hand on his chest to push him back.
I do not push him back.
My hand stays. He covers it. Not hard. Not pinning. Just holding. The way a man holds something he does not want to drop.
"Nadia."
"Don't."
"Tell me to stop."
"Don't make this my problem."
"It already is."
"Cazzo,fuck." In Italian. Under my breath. The part of me that swears in Italian is the part that has stopped pretending.
"Tell me to stop."
"I'm not telling you to stop."
He kisses me.
Not polite. Not tentative. The kiss of a man who has been holding still for a long time and has decided he is done holding still. I kiss him back the same way.
His hand goes into my hair. The other one is still over mine on his chest, except now my hand is under his shirt, and the shirt is the problem.
We do not make it to the bedroom.
We make it to the wall.
He has me against it before I know I have moved. The wound does not slow him down. I should be worried about the wound. I am not worried about the wound.
His mouth goes to my throat.
The press of his lips. The drag of teeth that is not quite teeth. The hot wet of his mouth on the line of my collarbone, and the cool of the cabin air on the wet he leaves behind. He smells like the iron of his own blood, and the bar soap from my shower he used at some point this afternoon without asking, and something underneath all of those I do not have a name for.
