But the way he was looking at me now, the way he held me as though I was precious to him, suggested there was more to it. It felt like he genuinely cared.
"Why are you so protective of me?" I asked quietly.
He was quiet for a long moment as his eyes searched my face. "Because you deserve to be protected and you've been hurt enough. Ember, when I look at you, I don't see my assistant or my Hearthkeeper or any of the roles you've been forced to play. I see someone so amazing she takes my breath way. You're worth fighting for."
His confession made my heart feel like exploding.
My body melted against his and I realized how risky it was to be seen like this after everything people were already saying.
"Nate…"
He leaned down and kissed me gently, and I accepted it, but not cautiously enough.
It was chaste and brief, but not short enough.
I opened my eyes and glanced over his shoulder toward the square.
And my heart stopped.
A woman stood on the sidewalk across the street, staring directly at us.
I recognized her immediately as one of the nurses who worked in emergency at the hospital.
Her expression was one of open shock, her mouth slightly parted and her eyes wide.
She'd seen us kissing, and it sent a swarm of dread down into my gut.
"Nate," I whispered.
"What?" He pulled back slightly, following my gaze.
If people didn’t suspect things before, they would once they got this woman's earful and then some.
I felt lightheaded from the sudden surge of adrenaline and clung to his arm.
"I think I need to go home," I told him, and he nodded, turning back to me. But his face was pale too.
It didn’t matter that he felt things for me and that this was more than just a physical urge for both of us.
If the community didn't agree with it, we'd never hear the end of it, and the gossip and slander would continue, and now we were only making it worse.
10
NATE
I checked my watch for the third time in ten minutes, then forced myself to stop.
Ember would arrive when she arrived.
Pacing my living room and obsessively tracking the time wouldn't make her get here any faster.
I tried to make everything perfect for her—a warm fire, a bottle of wine chilling, and soft music playing.
I wasn't trying to be super romantic, but setting the mood never hurt.
Besides, after days of being tense and warding off gossip around the office, we both deserved some space to relax and not have to feel the pressure of everything leaning in on us.
The past few days had been brutal.
