Page 127 of Ex Somnis

I lean away so I can glare at him. “Don’t laugh.”

“I’m not laughing.”

“Ridge.”

“Lenny.” His smile softens, then disappears entirely. “I’m your tether.”

“You are?”

“Yeah, and you are mine.” He brushes his lips against mine. “I spent years waiting for things to end. My career. My dreams. My life.”

I squeeze my eyes shut.

Don’t cry. Do not cry. You bit him thirty seconds ago. You cannot bite a man and then cry at him.

“And then you showed up.” A shaky breath leaves him. “And for the first time in a long time, I wanted more.”

My throat closes because I know what this is costing him. I heard him through the wall of sleep, not saying it to me but saying it anyway, and now he’s saying it to my face, and I don’t have anywhere to put it.

“Ridge.”

His hand slides into my hair, and my bottom lip wobbles. He softly presses a kiss to it right at the center of the wobble and says something against my mouth that might be my name.

“I thought this was a soul contract,” I whisper, slowly coming to terms with it all.

“No.” He tugs on my hair. “You don’t get to tell me this is some magical deal when we both know what it really is.” Another tug. “This is me. This is every broken piece of me choosing you. This is love.”

My heart feels like it’s trying to skip out of my chest.

“You can’t say things like that.”

“Apparently, I can.”

“No, because I might believe you.”

The tears spill over in defeat.

I lost.

Not the argument. Myself. The version of me that was still trying to keep a safe distance, still convinced this was chemistry, proximity, and dream logic.

“You are such an asshole.”

He chuckles, brushing his nose over the wet trails on my cheek. “I know. But I’m an asshole who loves you.”

“That is not making your case better.”

“I disagree.”

“Of course, you do.”

“I think it’s a very strong argument, actually.”

I let out a watery laugh. “I hate you.”

“No, you don’t.”

“Right now I do.”