AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I feel Emilia softening me further, blunting the remainder of those sharp edges. I want to prove myself worthy of having her just as much as I did with Hadley, but where Hadley had my three best friends to comfort her and help pull her out of the darkness when she was struggling, I now want to be that for Emilia.
Iwant to be the one she turns to. The one who makes her feel better and eases her pain. I don’t care if Kai and Wilder are also in the picture—though they’re both acting like idiots right now, so I’ll take all the one-on-one time I can get with my Little Sparrow. So long as I’m there too, right beside her, her pillar to lean on when she’s weary.
As I finally press my lips flush to hers, I’m transported back to the first time I kissed her, when she launched herself into my arms and claimed me for herself. I’d been stunned at the time, unable to comprehend that the hellcat I’d spent most of the year dueling with was actually in my arms, her lips suctioned to mine.
Now, I savor every brush of her skin against mine. Drink in the soft sigh that slips between her lips when I part them; the warmth of her breath as it tickles my skin. My tongue slides into her mouth, gliding along hers in soft, languid strokes until she melts against me.
I feel her body finally begin to heat up as the tension bleeds out, and when I pull back, that emptiness has receded from her eyes. “There she is,” I say softly, stroking her cheek.
“Thank you.”
Smiling at her, I grasp the hem of her t-shirt in my hand and slowly inch it up. “Bath time,” I say by way of explanation.
A playful smile teases her lips, and it’s then that I know for sure that everything will be okay. “Sure. You just want to get me naked.”
“Mmm, I do like it when you’re naked.” I find myself returning her smile before helping her into the tub. Once she’s submerged beneath the layer of bubbles, I strip out of my damp clothes and toss them into a pile, before sliding in behind her.
She shifts until she gets comfortable, her back to my chest and her head resting on my shoulder.
We’re enveloped in a peaceful silence while I stroke one hand up and down her arm and wrap the other around her waist, holding her to me.
“Tell me about the program you started,” she says softly after a while. “The one you hired Kai for.”
I continue running my hand along her arm, reflecting on those early days.
“Those first few months after we finished high school, Nocturnal Enterprises was a mess. After we ousted everyone from the board and dismantled the mercenary side of the business, I knew we needed to do something good with what remained.”
“I wanted to help people like Hadley. I felt like I’d let her down, even though I knew there was nothing I could have done to prevent her from the childhood she had. Nevertheless, there are so many others out there, trapped in shitty situations, and I guess…”
I trail off, suddenly feeling too raw, too exposed. I’ve never confessed my guilt to anyone. I’ve barely even admitted it to myself.
“You thought that by helping them, it would make up for the fact you didn’t save your sister sooner,” Emilia correctly deduces. She always was too smart for her own good.
“I didn’t save my sister at all,” I amend. “But yeah, I guess so.”
She turns in my arms so she can see my face. “Except you did save her.” I open my mouth to protest, but she barrels over the top of me, her expression taking on a fiercedon’t even think about interrupting medemeanor.
“Maybe you didn’t get her out of there the first time, but when that asshole dragged her back there,youwent after her.Yougot her back.Yousaved her. But more than that, you saved her every day by simply being the brother she needed you to be. You were a complete asshole until you discovered she was your sister—and even for a little while after.” She gives a small smile to ease the blow of her words, even though we both know she’s right. “But as soon as you found out, you went into big brother protective mode, although I’m not actually sure which one of you is older.”
“I am. By about thirty seconds, but it still counts.”
“The point is, youwerethere for her. You couldn’t have prevented her from ever experiencing what she suffered, but you were all-in the second you learned the truth.” She smiles to herself. “It was watching you become the brother she needed you to be that drew me to you.”
“Is that so?” I purr, squeezing her tighter.
She nods. “Before then, I just thought you were another rich, arrogant asshole who thought he was better than everyone else.”
“I was.”
Her grin widens. “You were. I hated you.”
“You were terrified of me.”
She chuckles, teasingly batting me on the chest with the back of her hand. “I was not.”
I cock a brow. “Okay, fine,” she relents, rolling her eyes. “I might have been slightly scared of you, although can you blame me? You and the others were the formidablePrinces.I’d heard stories of how people who had crossed you had left school because you’d made their lives a living hell, and I just wanted to keep my head down and get through high school.”
Now it’s my turn to roll my eyes. “Half of those stories were exaggerated.”
