Page 76 of Unravel Me

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Still swaying in a sleepy haze, I'm stirred from my nap by a soft knock at the door. A moment later, Mauro steps inside.

He pauses on the threshold, tall, broad-shouldered, painfully handsome, and the clean scent drifting from him reaches me immediately, sending a faint shiver through my body.

Being this attractive should be against the law. There has to be a statute against it, right?

Mauro’s carrying another tray of food, but instead of walking farther into the room, he freezes in place the moment he sees my nest.

A whole kaleidoscope of emotions flashes across his face, each one stronger than the last, yet I can see him holding himself back.

Alphas aren't supposed to comment on an omega's nest. It's considered deeply impolite unless the two of them share a genuinely intimate relationship.

I sit up inside the nest as Mauro finally walks over and settles on the edge of the bed. Looking me in the eyes, he holds the tray out to me.

As I take the tray from his hands, there's a brief moment when our fingers brush, and a pleasant little shiver runs through me, along with a sudden longing to… feel more of him.

It would be so ecstatic to lose myself in him, to get from him the same warm energy the green fae gave me in the cabin, one that enveloped me, soft, caring, almost divine.

The moment my thoughts drift back to those days, those sensations, Mauro's expression changes ever so slightly, as if… he's attentively listening to something very quiet.

His gaze drops to the hand resting on my knee, and unexpectedly, he brushes the back of it with his thumb. It sends pleasant shivers down my spine, and I lightly gasp.

Mauro pulls out his phone and starts typing.

"Jared, baby, I… can feel what you want."

Did he just call me a baby? Oh, wow.

The app continues to read,

"More than anything in the world, I want to give it to you, but I don't know if you'd see it as too forward, too bold."

I freeze, staring at him.

What the hell? Can he read my mind?

Or am I really that transparent?

His eyes are on me now in a way they’ve never been before, almost challenging, as if a decision is growing inside him, some kind of determination. And then something inside me responds, and what I want finally breaks free.

A whisper slips from my lips.

"Back in the forest… that fae gave me something precious. Something I'd never had before. Tenderness."

For fuck’s sake, what am I doing?

TMI alert! Talking to a guy I'm into about my previous lover is… unhinged.

But Mauro suddenly squeezes his eyes shut as if a wave of emotion has struck him. His fingers move rapidly across the screen.

"Jared, do you know who that fae is? If you want to know, I'll tell you. Right now! I can’t torture you like this anymore!"

My heart starts racing.

Do I want to know?

Desperately! Although, I also feel a slight sense of fear, as if something is going to change completely once these words are spoken, as if some delicate status quo is about to fall apart and turn into something new. But what?