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“Rose,” I whispered while setting the scone down. “Don’t hide from me, okay? Please.”
“I can’t tell you.”
I frowned. “Why not?”
“Because it’s about Arnaud. It’s stupid.”
“Nothing is stupid. Just tell me what happened.”
Hesitance. Fear. Apprehension.
The things she felt were the things I felt. I dared to reach for her, placing my hand on her chest just above her cleavage. She was wearing her usual tank top and jeans. Part of me pictured the fact that she wasn’t wearing panties underneath, but I ignored the way it made me feel.
That wasn’t my focus.
Shewas my focus right now.
With my hand over her heart, she seemed to breathe easier. Color returned to her features and smoothed the worry lines, encouraging a small smile. Those yellow-hazel eyes reflected a golden field of wheat swaying in the breeze. With her now, it was the morning after the carnival, the time in the early hours when all the rides were shut down and nobody was awake.
It was quiet. It was still. It was perfect.
“Your ancestor was pointing behind me and shouting something,” she explained carefully. “I got the sense he wanted me to turn around, but I was afraid to see what it was.”
“And you got all that because…” I glanced over my shoulder toward the kitchen. “Is it the medallion, Rose? You had a terrible reaction to it when you saw me wearing it.” My brows folded. “You had a terrible reactionto me.”
She grabbed my hand, pressing it harder to her chest. “No, I didn’t mean to. I’m sorry, Matty. I didn’t knowwhyI felt that way, only that I did.”
“It’s just confusing.”
“You looked like him.” She blinked rapidly as tears flooded her eyes. Her lower lip quivered as she quickly added, “I mean, he looked like you. I thought it wasyoupointing and yelling at me like that. It…”
She shook her head, turning away from me, silently sobbing as she had trained herself to do. I cupped her face and forced her to look at me, urging her to remain still. “Don’t hide your tears from me, little boxer.Neverhide them from me. Let it out.”
A wail slipped from her throat. She clamped her lips shut and tried to contain it, growling with the effort. Fear invaded her expression. And then pain, terror, fury. The silence around us shattered with the cry she released, the sound tearing right through my soul.
Years of pain tumbled into me from that sound, a reverberation of the horror we had faced together. She fell forward and planted her face into my lap. It would have been funny had it not been for the wracking sobs that exploded next, a testament to how much she had been holding in.
She circled my waist and burrowed into my stomach. The sobs became muffled but didn’t slow or ease the intensity. Each new one that broke from her released another round, the very nature of every sob shattering her until she was nothing but a dazzling jar of stardust.
Limp, sweaty, and still sniffling, she lifted her head from my stomach and looked around, eyes rolling with disbelief. She spotted the pastries and whimpered as though it was the first plate of food she had seen in days. I scooted back, pulled the plate between us, and steadied her, keeping her upright as I lifted a napkin from the plate.
She winced when I held it to her face.
I frowned. “Little wolf, you need to clean up first.”
She started to grumble her opposition but gave in to my touch as I wiped the tears from her cheeks. With the napkin held over her nose, I encouraged her to blow. She resisted at first, embarrassment glowing in her eyes until I told her she couldn’t have any more pastries until she blew her nose.
After that, she obeyed just about every command.
I grabbed a hand towel from the bedside table, splashed it with water, and then brought it back, easing it over the sensitive flesh irritated by her crying fit. The sniffles were mostly gone now. What remained was a cherry nose, red-rimmed eyes, and pouty lips that needed to be bruised with a kiss.
The urge to bow toward her overwhelmed me before I could think. She welcomed the kiss, sighing weakly into it as she clung to my shoulders. If I had thought for a second that she would deny me, it wasn’t a thought that existed any more. She wanted me.
She wantedthis.
Whatever the hell this was.
Her puffy eyes blinked up at me. “I’m a mess.”
