From how his toned arms cradle me to his intoxicating, sleepy voice, I’m hardly maintaining my composure.
Finally, after a couple of moments of quiet, I ask, “Is that where you’ve been the past few nights? Stuck in nightmares?”
He shrugs, his throat bobbing. I find myself leaning into his touch absentmindedly.
“Do you want to talk about them?”
“No. Talking about them will make me relive them, and I can’t. I don’t give a fuck how cowardly that sounds.”
I understand what he means. I lean out of his embrace and shake my head. “It’s okay, Kai. You don’t have to talk about the nightmares… But if you change your mind, I’m here. You can talk to me.”
He opens his eyes and drags his gaze down to meet mine. “I’ll keep that in mind. Thank you, sweetheart.”
I roll my eyes and glance away before meeting his gaze again.
He raises his brows. “Why did you give me that look?”
“I don’t know why you insist on continuing this charade when no one else is around.”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“Why did you just call me ‘sweetheart?’”
“Because the term suits you. Obviously.”
“You play too much.” I scoff. He smiles half-heartedly. His pain is unexpectedly affecting me. “Want to get out of here?”
“Eh, I intended on wallowing in my own self-pity tonight…” he drawls.
“How uncharacteristic of you. The Kai I know would never.”
He quirks an eyebrow and scoffs. “Maybe you don’t know me as well as you think you do.”
“No, I’m fairly certain I’ve figured you out. Now, let’s go before the sun rises. I want to show you something.” I rise from the love seat and walk toward the window.
He releases an obnoxious sigh and stands up. “What’s wrong with using the front door?”
Sleepy Kai is so broody.
I kind of love it.
“Our destination is this way.” I grab him, pulling his arms around my waist. “Time to play your favorite game again.”
His eyes widen, and he opens his mouth to protest, but I launch outside before he can.
He shrieks loud enough for the Golden Realm’s angels to hear and holds on to my waist for dear life. A laugh bubbles inside me, escaping for a second before I stifle it to concentrate on keeping us afloat. I soar upward, higher and higher, passing through swarms of clouds until we near the dome.
Holding on to my waist with a death grip, he screeches, a mixture of horror and exhilaration coating his features. Thank goodness my wings are strong; otherwise, we’d both fall.
Finally, we reach a small pocket of space surrounded by golden, pink, orange, and white clouds.
“Cleo… We’re pretty high up. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but there isn’t anywhere for us to land, and I swear, my hands are slipping as we speak. Wait… Was this your plan all along? Are you putting me out of misery? Am I about to fall to my second death? I—”
I slowly lower us a few feet above a fluffy pink cloud. “You can let go.”
“Figuratively or physically? Shit, is this another test?”
I stifle a laugh at that one.
