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I’m not good enough. I will never amount to anything. The stars found me unworthy of love the day they stole my mate. I’m a fuck-up who hides behind jokes and smiles.
Shaking my head, I slam my eyes close to draw all my focus on evening out my breathing. Suddenly, the scent of the sea’s mist on a cold morning has my eyes opening. A glass of water is being held up towards my chest, which causes me to halt my feet to one spot.
“Here.” Cora’s sweet voice cuts through the insistent pounding in my ears. The rush of boiling blood raging in my skull begins to simmer at the sound of her lyrical voice.
Lifting my head, I meet her shining blue eyes, so full of wonder and possibilities. The tips of my fingers brush against hers as I take the water from her waiting hand, smiling to myself when I see her cheeks bloom to the softest pink.
“Thank you.” Bringing the cup to my lips, I chug it down in two swallows. I find her staring at my lips when I swipe my tongue over them to catch the lingering drops of water.
She clears her throat and opens her mouth to say something. Kye comes up behind her, messing her hair up on her head as she hurries to pat it back down.
“You did good, Cor. Blocked almost all of my advances.” He yawns before waving his hand up to me as he turns for the door. “It’s late. I’m going to go turn in and get some rest. You two should as well,” he says over his shoulder before disappearing from the room.
Leaving just me and her. And I gulp.
She’s still fixing her hair with her head turned to where Kye walked out. Huffing with frustration and mumbling creative curses under her breath as she keeps finding more strands sticking out.
But I’m lost in the curve of her mouth. The small pout of her bottom lip, and how she’s angrily biting it. It’s cute, but my cock thickening in my pants thinks otherwise. Watching her has almost made me forget that I was seconds away from breaking my fist against the floor.
She turns back to catch me staring, and then rolls her eyes. Wait a minute. What did I do to earn that reaction instead of that damn charming blush? I swear, this girl gives me whiplash, but that only excites me. It stirs something deep inside of me, making it feel alive when it has been stagnant all these years.
“Why do you keep looking at me like that?” If she thinks her question will unnerve me, she will have to do better.
“Because I’m fascinated by you.” That gives her pause with two raised brows. “And I think you might feel the same way about me.”
Taking one step closer, I watch a shiver work its way down her body and fail desperately at hiding the smirk that graces my lips.
“What I feel is concern.” She wipes a bead of sweat off her forehead with the back of her hand before gesturing a waving palm to me. “You are pushing yourself too hard, and I fear it’s going to hurt you. That’s all.”
Closing the distance, I fix a single blonde strand that she missed. “You worried about me, love?”
The thought of her worrying about me does something funny to my heart. It skips, only to trip over itself while feeling like it’s wrapped in a warm blanket. Something I haven’t felt since my mate was alive. Nothing can compare to a fated bond, but some love can grow so strong that it’s close. And what I’ve been feeling for Cora has me wanting to constantly find a way to be near her.
To have her eyes always on me.
A subtle nod is her answer, and I can’t help but grip her chin between my fingers until she has nowhere else to look but at me. “I need to hear you say it.”
“Yes,” she breathes out. “I’m worried about you.” She holds my gaze, never shying away as she surprises me by reaching up, rubbing her thumb over the lines creasing between my brows, smoothing them out. “You barely sleep, and the last time I saw you eat something was yesterday morning.” Those diamond blues bounce back and forth between my hazel ones.
“And I—” Her eyes drop down to my lips. Her fingers follow the movement to gently touch the scar there before her gaze springs back up. “And I feel such a strong pull to take care of you.”
To. Take. Care. Of. Me.
Five words that have my knees growing weak, threatening to buckle right before her. Aside from Draven’s family, I have been alone for so long. I learned at a young age how to provide for myself because if I didn’t, I would not have survived. I didn’t have the best childhood growing up, needing to shed the coat of being a boy to a male before the pitch of my voice deepened.
Hearing those words, it tugs at something deep inside me. Once again, sparking something to live inside me that has only felt stiff and murky. I want to wrap her in my arms and breathe her in, thanking the stars that maybe, just maybe they may have aligned our paths to collide. That although not fated, we are destined.
The pad of my thumb softly brushes over the porcelain skin on her cheek. “You promise?”
She leans her head into my touch, seeming to get lost in the feeling before realizing I spoke. “Huh?”
“You promise to take care of me?” I ask again, desperate to hear her answer.
“In every way I can.”
Suddenly, my chest tightens, and I feel like I can’t breathe if I don’t kiss her. Every nerve in my body is screaming to close the distance, brush my lips against hers and show her how badly I wish to take care of her, too.
Those delicate pink lips of hers part as if she wants the same.
