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“You ran from the fights.”
“I’m not used to violence. I’ve seen plenty of violent movies, but it’s different in real life. Way more real. I didn’t like it, but that doesn’t mean I’m afraid of you, or blood.”
He didn’t look like he believed me, and peered over his shoulder in the mirror as he tried to add another bandage beside the one that only half-covered his wound.
“Here.” I snagged the fabric from his fingers, slipping off the counter and setting the pile of clean ones where I’d been sitting. “My grandma got injured really easily in the last few years before she passed. I patched her up more times than I can count, so don’t worry. I know what I’m doing. Now, turn around.”
He gave me a look I couldn’t read, but finally turned his back to me. “You were close with your grandmother?”
“My grandparents raised me. They’re both gone, now. If Serae had asked if I wanted to leave Earth rather than just taking me, I probably would’ve said yes,” I admitted as I dampened his skin with one hand and then set the bandage against Ivaylo’s back with my dry hand.
The glow around him swelled as my fingers smoothed over it, making sure the edges were flush with his skin.
“There,” I said calmly, trying to ignore the way my heart pounded and my glow brightened alongside his. I definitely couldn’t acknowledge the slickness between my thighs, or the heat coursing through my middle.
I patched up a few more of his wounds, and he grew increasingly tense while our frenzy’s glow danced and swelled around us.
As I started patching the last one, Ivaylo said in a low voice, “We should consider what we’ll do if you never grow attracted to me.”
I went still. “What?”
“I want you, and youaremine, but I would never expect you to seal our bond if you are not physically attracted to me. The desire is inevitable, but I’m certain it feels wrong without being paired with attraction.”
I blinked a few times, my forehead wrinkling.
“There are still two months until the suns’ eclipse that could potentially erase our bond if we haven’t sealed it. We have that long to determine whether or not we can establish that attraction,” he added, his voice still low. Honestly, it sounded a bit uncomfortable.
If he seriously thought I didn’t like the way he looked, I didn’t blame him for being uncomfortable.
“Why don’t you think I’m attracted to you?” I asked.
“I am not blind to your feelings, Ezra.”
“Maybe you are.” My eyes focused on his lower back, right above the ass my gaze was constantly drawn to, and I smoothed the bandage over his cut.
“I don’t understand,” he growled at me, clearly growing frustrated.
“Why don’t you think I’m attracted to you?” I repeated, remaining where I was so I wouldn’t have to meet his eyes.
“You pull away when I’m near. You don’t acknowledge the desire the frenzy creates in you. You barely look at me.”
I had a feeling that last bit was the part he really had a problem with.
Me, barely looking at him.
“You’re a lot to look at,” I said quietly. “And when I let myself, I have a hard time looking away. Idolook at you—I just do it when you’re not paying attention.”
He was silent for a long moment.
“Most men on Earth don’t look like this. They’re not this tall, and they don’t have muscles like this.” I slowly dragged my fingers over the dips where the muscles on the backs of his shoulders connected, and he shuddered. “You’re so gorgeous, it overwhelms me. I feel like I can’t compare. I’ve never been perfectly skinny, or had an hourglass shape, and—”
Ivaylo cut me off, turning to face me. His back was to the mirror, and because I didn’t pull my hand away, it landed on his pec. “You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen, Ezra.”
My cheeks flushed, and I let my fingers move down to his abs, tracing the thick shape of his muscles. His eyes closed, and his head tilted toward me a little. Our frenzies glowed brighter than I’d ever seen them, and the slickness between my thighs was absolutely out of control.
I wanted him, in a way I’d never wanted anyone.
“I’ve never been attracted to anyone the way I am to you,” I admitted, still tracing his muscles.
