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“I–” She gulped again. Only then did she realize she was trying to swallow back tears.
She got up and headed toward the window. Nazyn followed her, but kept a comfortable distance behind. He was a comforting presence, not an overwhelming one. He looked at her in the reflection of the glass.
Darcy’s eyes stung, but she refused to let the tears drop. Because Richard didn’t deserve them.
She was done crying.
But that didn’t stop the onslaught of emotions rising to the surface. She’d told herself the same thing, over and over again. It wasn’t her fault she fell in love with Richard and was blinded by her affection for the asshole. Hell, he’d tricked the entire world into thinking he was the shit.
No matter how many times she repeated that to herself, however, there was always…that lingering question mark. A mix of doubt, distrust, disappointment, and confusion.
At herself.
Nazyn, with his Deruzian gap with human emotions, had picked up on that. And he was trying to help her.
It warmed her heart. How she’d ever thought he was like Richard was beyond her; maybe the scars she’d thought she’d healed were still fresh underneath the emotional stitches she’d forced onto them.
They’d controlled her and made her doubt herself.
Darcy had many flaws, but she was a smart woman. How hadn’t she seen what an asshole Richard was? That same quick mind of hers reminded her of all the reasons sheshouldn’tbe disappointed in herself. Why she shouldn’t take the blame for the fact that someone who she thought was the love of her life had lied and manipulated her lack of experience.
And yet…she did. Or she had. One long year of doubt and second-guessing and wishing to go back in time and avoid meeting Richard in the first place.
She had cried and criticized herself long enough, not having any time to actuallylive.
She wasn’t the scared girl who had run from Richard’s fortress in the dead of night.
If nothing else, this past year had taught her she was resilient.
She didn’t give up when it came to her career–so why was she so ready to give up on herself?
No more.
“It’s not my faultanyof this happened,” she said, voice steady, as she locked eyes with herself in the window’s reflection. “Romantic love was a new concept for me, I didn’t know how it looked. How it should feel. I trusted the wrong person, yes, but he’s the one who took advantage of my naivety.”
Universe, it felt good to say it. Maybe if she kept speaking the truth, she would finally believe it deep, deep,deepdown.
“He’s an abomination of a male, regardless of his species,” Nazyn said with a growl.
“He is. But he’s my past and I won’t let him plague my future,” she said. “I’ve been so scared to live. I was so scared I ran away from the best kiss of my life.”
“Best?”
Darcy finally looked at Nazyn, a blush heating her face. She couldn’t say it again, so she nodded.
He understood that gesture fine, because his pupils instantly dilated, the obsidian black eating away at the ice in his elongated irises. He looked more alien than ever–and more enticing than Darcy had seen him. Which was saying a lot. The man truly was sex on legs, and he wasn’t even aware of it.
“As scientists,” he murmured. “It is our duty to test that hypothesis.”
Universe, geeky talk with Nazyn was even sexier than discussing normal things. How?How? Had he just been created to perfectly match her own wants and dreams?
Perhaps, because there was a pool of desire heating inside her.
“What do you say?” he asked, voice even lower and more seductive this time. But there was also a hint of uncertainty there. Like a part of him was waiting for her to say no.
“It is our duty, after all,” she said with a slow smile as she turned. “We owe it to science.”
And to themselves. Because the blazing tension between them was almost palpable–and it reached an inferno once Nazyn captured her lips again.
