Page 48 of Enchanted

We both froze. Me, at the feel of him. Rami, because of the line he’d crossed.

The moment passed in a blink and Rami hastily pulled his hand back. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine,” I said automatically. “Don’t worry about it.”

We ate our salads in silence. I wanted to reassure Rami further, but I couldn’t think of the right words to say.

I couldn’t think of anything apart from the lingering heat on my lip.

Chapter 13

Rami

Twenty-four hours later, I was still kicking myself for touching Ethan.

I’d known the second I did it that I’d crossed a line. But somewhere amid all the banter, the line had become blurred. For me, at least. Or maybe it had never been clear in the first place. How could it be when Ethan was my mate? The other half of my soul?

It wasn’t a surprise that I’d lost control for a second. Especially not with the easy way Ethan met me comment for comment. His sense of humour was so similar to my own. With each morsel of knowledge he dropped during the shoot, I became more and more aware of how right we’d be together.

But Ethan wasn’t single. He needed the lines to exist. Clearly.

And I had to respect that.

I spent the rest of the shoot on my best behaviour. Ethan seemed more distant as well. From how often he touched his lip, I knew he was thinking about it too. About the line I’d crossed.

I thought about it all night as I hovered above his home. Noah and Jeremiah were in the skies too, holding a half-mile-wide perimeter around Ethan’s home. Back at the compound, Nate was working his tech magic to try and track Damien down. Sebastian was right; he was an elusive motherfucker.

We weren’t taking any chances. Ethan had been guarded since the instant I’d realised the danger Damien presented. I had no idea what he wanted with my mate, but whatever it was, he wasn’t going to get it.

I was fucking grateful that Ethan had agreed to three more shoots. Guarding him at the compound was far easier. Sure, it was a logistical nightmare making sure Gloria didn’t discover his visits, but everyone was working together to make it happen.

We couldn’t maintain it forever though, which didn’t leave me with a lot of options. I couldn’t come clean about my true nature and ask Ethan to be my mate when he was in love with someone else. And I couldn’t keep him safe inside his current home.

Right now, I was just taking things a day at a time.

My phone was in my hand all night as I waited on tenterhooks for a message from Sam telling me Ethan had cancelled. That I’d made him so uncomfortable that he didn’t want to work with me again.

Thankfully, my phone remained quiet.

My muscles were rigid as I stood by my car, waiting for him to appear. Just like yesterday, I held my breath until Ethan stepped over the wards.

A flood of tension left me and I didn’t have to force a smile to my face. “Good morning.”

Ethan’s face fell, tugging my heart down with it. “Morning.”

“Is everything okay?” I asked. “Are you comfortable with me driving you?”

He blinked in surprise. “Oh, yes. Of course. I just realised that, if you’re here, it means Sam’s having a bad day again, which sucks.”

I smiled, both in relief, and at how empathetic Ethan was. “He’s fine today, but Ez figured it was best he didn’t push himself too hard, so I offered to collect you instead.”

“Well, thank you,” Ethan said. I opened the door for him and he blushed. God, who knew freckles could be so cute? “A gentleman, I see.”

I cursed internally. Had I not done this every time?

Head in the game, Rami.

It was on the tip of my tongue to make a quip about how ungentlemanly I could be, but that was exactly the kind of line I shouldn’t be crossing. Forget lines. I needed four-foot-thick steel walls in place to stop myself fucking this up.