My chest tightens. “You could have,” I say quietly. “If you’d hit your head on the side of the tub, sweetheart? Yeah, you damn well could’ve.”
He looks thrown, confused, searching my face for answers he doesn’t understand.
“Why are you saying stuff like that?” he asks. “Like you… almost lost me? We’re not even…we’re not a couple. We’ve only just met.”
I sit on the edge of the bed, brushing my thumb along his jaw so hehasto look at me.
“Eli,” I say, voice low and rough, “I have never felt about anyone the way I feel about you. Why do you think I flirt with you every time we’re in the same room?”
His brows pull together, and his voice comes out tiny.
“But… you flirt with everyone. You could find someone actually… worthy of you. Someone beautiful. Sexy. Confident. Someone who isn’t—”
“Stop.”
The word comes out sharper than I intend, because hearing him talk about himself like that?
Not fucking happening.
“Idoflirt with everyone,” I say, “because it means nothing. Noise. Habit. Whatever. I never truly put any thought into it.”
I lean closer, eyes locked on his.
“But you? You make it mean something, pretty boy,” I admit. “I’m always putting thought into what I say to you just to see you blush. It’s quickly becoming my favorite hobby.”
He swallows hard.
“You act like… like I’m special,” he murmurs, almost like he’s afraid to believe it.
“That’s because youare,” I smile, softer this time. “And it pisses me off that you don’t see it. That you think so little of yourself. That you think someone like me wouldn’t want someone like you.”
He looks overwhelmed…breath shaky, eyes too bright, body tired and trembling.
I feel him starting to shut down again. Not the medical kind, the emotional kind.
So I lift my hands, palms open, voice gentling.
“Okay,” I say softly. “I’ll slow down. I swear, sweetheart. I’m not trying to push you off a cliff.”
His eyes flick up to mine, uncertain but hopeful.
“But don’t doubt for a second,” I continue, brushing a strand of hair from his forehead, “that in the end? You and I will be a thing.”
Eli breathes out, not quite a laugh, not quite a sob, but something in between.
I grip his hands, and for the first time tonight, he doesn’t try pulling away. He just sinks deeper into the pillow, staring at me with so much hope and confusion swirling behind those eyes.
“Go to sleep, baby,” I say, standing and lifting his hand so I can kiss his palm before I let it go. “I’ll be back to check on you.”
This time, as I walk toward the door, the stubborn man doesn’t argue.
“Good boy,” I wink at him over my shoulder and chuckle when he yanks the blanket over his head.
It’s too dark to see, but Iknowhe’s blushing under those blankets.
I can practically feel the heat from over here.
Chapter Seven
