Page 112 of Unravel Me

Jared is a natural blond, so his eyelashes are light as well, but he darkens them. I've always had long lashes that people admired, but I think his are even longer than mine. They give his face an almost haunting beauty, and whenever he lowers his eyelids and those long lashes nearly brush his cheeks, something wistful seems to surface in his expression, something tragic, heartbreakingly sad… and I know there's a real reason for that sadness.

Jared gives me a shy smile. I answer with the slightest lift of the corner of my mouth.

Dear Fate, he's so breathtaking, so completely dazzling, that sometimes I catch myself wondering if he's even real or if he's some idealized image created to show what perfection looks like.

Whenever I close my eyes, I see him exactly as he was that day in the forest, frightened like a startled doe, yet consumed by hunger.

The scent of his heat had drifted through the entire forest. It was a miracle that there weren't any loggers working nearby or tourists hiking along the trail.

I can still picture his face, those rosy, damp lips, the flush spreading across his cheeks as he lay beneath me while waves of desire shook his body, craving a pleasure he couldn't stop no matter how hard he tried.

It feels like another lifetime, as though we met years ago and now we're living in a different reality where I have to build everything with him starting from the very beginning.

Silvio and Renato are busy talking with Veyron about promoting our Timber & Construction company on his billboards.

Emilio is telling Tony about the dishes we had during the fireworks show yesterday, while Tony, of course, criticizes the chef who prepared them, whom he knows personally. He thinks the chef makes everything too greasy. Gianni sits quietly, as usual.

But I’m far from them, in a whole other world, deeply immersed in the sweet presence of my fated mate.

I can feel Jared's attention on me the entire time. Every now and then I catch him sneaking a quick glance my way, our forearms resting on the table only a short distance apart, and I notice that he's rolled his sleeves up. Then I wonder if I'm imagining it… or if Jared is actually inching his elbow a little closer to mine.

I'm not about to leave that unanswered. I slowly slide my own elbow toward him, and a moment later I feel the warmth of his skin brushing against mine.

Wow… damn. A sweet little shiver shoots straight through me, all the way down to my groin.

Touching Jared is nothing like touching any other omega I've ever been close to. Every tiny brush of contact feels like a small dose of ecstasy in a pill, a shot of pure bliss that floods my body.

Jared's eyes meet mine every few moments, and those brief exchanges are so intense it's impossible to put into words the electricity that flashes between us. We don't need to speak. Those glances alone say more than an entire conversation ever could.

We sit through breakfast listening to Silvio, Renato, Emilio, and Veyron carrying on their discussions, while Gianni stays focused on his plate, but neither of us is really present for any of it.

We're somewhere else entirely, engrossed in each other, while the voices around us fade into background noise.

Inside me, an overwhelming wave of happiness keeps churning and surging, yet somewhere at the edge of that joy, fear lingers, whispering that something bad is surely about to happen, that Fate is getting ready to throw one more obstacle into my path.

CHAPTER 24: JARED

Present Day

I wake up in the morning, and the first thing I do is check Alex’s messages.

He’s sent me a few videos of Tommy, and they feel like food for my soul. Tommy laughing on a swing, Tommy staring in fascination at the fish in an aquarium, and Tommy munching on cubes of grapefruit and making the most adorable little face every time the bitterness hits him. I spend half an hour just staring at my son, with a painful ache of longing in my chest.

I've been away from him for so long now, a full week.

And the worst part is that I’m not even doing what I’m supposed to be doing.

Eventually, I put my phone aside and bury my face in the pillow, emotions tearing at me from every direction.

Dammit!

I know I have no excuse left to stay in bed. My recovery ended yesterday. I'm back to full strength, and dragging this out any longer would start looking suspicious to everyone around me.

My subconscious is sabotaging me, desperately wanting to keep hiding under the blankets a little longer, but I still have to follow through on at least part of the plan I told Alex about. I wanted to do one more sweep of the area and make absolutely sure I wasn't going to run into my True Mate somewhere nearby.

The thought fills me with reluctance. Because the truth is, the only thing I want is for that person to turn out to be… Mauro.

And then there's the matter of the green entity in the forest. My conviction that it was Mauro is growing stronger every day, and not even in a conscious way. Probably it's wishful thinking. Or maybe it isn't?