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Elijah hadn’t held me like this since I was eight years old. His hugs always made me feel special, like I was precious, and he was a protective blanket smelling of smoke and chocolate. I still felt special and protected, but Elijah's arms were no longer the arms of a teen. They were thick and corded. Strong.
I stiffened, not knowing where to put my hands.
Elijah may have smelled the same, but he definitely didn’t feel the same. Everywhere I touched felt inappropriate. I wrapped my arms around his back to return his embrace and could feel what I had admired earlier. When he drew me closer, I felt the corded muscles tighten under my palm. He was so broad that my hands only reached the muscles lining his spine, and they felt like handles— perfectly shaped to my palm. I raised my arms upward, caressing from his lower back to his shoulder blades, realizing that everywhere seemed perfectly shaped for my fingers.
I coughed, stepping back before I started to rub his butt next to see if it felt as juicy as that looked. What was wrong with me? I was petting the man.
“Thank you, I needed that. Now I owe you one.” I sighed.I had not needed that.It made me feel things I shouldn’t feel, but I wasn’t going to tell Elijah that.
“A hug?” he questioned.
“Yes, at a time of my choosing.” I smiled up at Elijah. "You didn’t give me an option for when your hug was redeemed, so this will also be a sneak hug and does not require permission.”
“A sneak hug?” Elijah’s lips tipped up at the corners. He tried to hide it by rubbing his cheek, but I saw it.
I loved his repressed smiles so much. I wanted to keep playing with him and see if I could coax a real one out.
“Yup! I’m sneaky.”
“Right,” he drew out mockingly.
“It’s true. I can easily sneak up on you. I stood here and watched you for a while before you noticed me….”
Fuuuck.Why did I say that? I was so excited that he was talking to me civilly for the first time in years, and my inability to think around this man had probably blown all our progress.
“You watched me?” Elijah lifted an eyebrow. He was genuinely fighting a smile, his cheeks taut with the effort to suppress it.
I was dying. My face was on fire, and I could feel the heat all the way to my ears. I was grateful for the darkness, hoping Elijah couldn’t tell. I couldn’t remember a moment when I was more embarrassed. And yet, I was somewhat mollified by Elijah’s smile. Making Ash smile used to be the absolute highlight of my day, and apparently, that hadn’t changed.
“Well, yeah. I was watching you, wondering how long it would take you to notice me. You being a trained soldier and all.” I smirked, trying my best to play it cool. “Not very good response time on your part.”
I looked over at the pile of split logs, rushing to change the subject.
“You decided to cut enough firewood to heat a small home all winter and yet can’t do anything with it since we’re on horseback without a carriage?”
I grinned at Elijah. He didn’t grin back, but I could tell he wanted to.
He scratched his cheek, nodding while pursing his lips. “So, you wandered off into the woods without a light. At night,” he threw back at me, his tone flat. “Alone.”
That was not too bright.
“There was light when I entered the woods. I didn’t realize how much darker the woods would be than the clearing,” I defended. Then I blushed some more once I realized how stupid that sounded.
“The woods being darker is rather shocking,” Elijah returned. “Let’s head back before we lose more of the light.” He raised his hand. Flames burst from his palm, an orb floating to light the grounds around us. “Oh, look. I found some light. Are you going to be okay to walk? I don’t want you falling again.”
“Har. Har,” I said and started to walk in the direction of the camp. “Wait!” I exclaimed, stopping my forward progress.
Elijah grabbed my elbow and searched my expression, alarmed. “What is it?” he demanded.
“You’re forgetting your wood.” I looked back the way we came to hide my grin. “We should go back for it.”
The Ash-hole actually walked back, grabbed three halves, and then preceded me back to camp, demanding, “Come on, smart ass.”
It was only on the walk back that I realized we hadn’t discussed anything I had intended to talk to Elijah about, but I didn’t bring it up. We had found a fragile peace, and I wanted to keep it that way.
Chapter21
Kaia
