I shake my head and pull on my jeans, deciding to forget the goddamn underwear. I bounce on the spot, trying and failing to maintain my balance as I push my leg into the denim.
The shower cuts off abruptly, and I freeze, my eyes landing on the bathroom door right as it swings open and Killian walks out with a towel slung low on his hips.
Jesus, fuck.
My mouth goes dry as my eyes travel upwards from his bare feet, taking in his body in the daylight.
Water droplets roll along the divots of his abs, and I follow their path before they disappear behind the towel. He uses his other arm to dry off his hair with another, smaller towel so he hasn’t noticed me yet and I watch as the defined muscles of his stomach contract with themovement. His nipples are pebbled from the cold, and something about the sight of hard nipples on a man does something to me.
Killian turns more toward me slightly and my eyes keep going, moving from his hardened nipples to his chest before they snag on something I didn’t notice last night.
I can’t hold back the gasp that escapes me when I finally realise what it is I’m looking at.
Right there, hanging on a thin chain around his neck and resting just above the daisy tattoo over his heart, is his wedding ring.
My eyes shoot to his, the burn of tears instant.
Was he wearing that last night?
“I’ve been wearing it for four years.” His gruff voice startles me, and I realise I said that out loud.
“W-why?” I whisper, afraid of my voice giving away the emotion I’m barely holding onto.
Killian drops the towel he was using to dry his hair and steps toward me. “Because you are my wife, Daisy. Why else?”
My attention flicks between his face and the gold band. “But I left.”
“What’s your point?”
I open my mouth before quickly closing it again, words evading me as my heart batters against my ribcage.
Killian continues taking slow steps toward me as I stand frozen in the middle of his bedroom, clutching my shirt against my naked chest.
“You left, but you’re still my wife. And I am still your husband. It doesn’t matter how far you run from me, Daisy. That’ll never change. The vows we took? They mean something to me.”
My chin trembles as he cups my jaw in his hand, the heat from his shower radiating off him. I look up into his eyes, soaking in the hurt. I eat his pain as he watches me closely, his chest rising and falling with heavy breaths.
“Tell me why you left, Daisy.”
I close my eyes, resigned as I drop my head. I want to tell him more than I want my next breath. To just speak the words into existence and finally rid myself of the weight I’ve been carrying for so long.
But I’m terrified.
I’m afraid that the moment I speak my truth – our truth – Killian will no longer look at me the same.
I take a step back, causing his hand to drop from my face. “I can’t,” I say on a broken whisper.
“Why?” he asks, his eyes so broken as he looks at me. “Why do you keep doing this? Why do you keep running?”
“I’m not running.” I lie.
“No? So, what do you call what you were doing just now?” He points at the jeans that are unbuttoned around my waist and the shirt I’m holding against my chest.
Running.
Getting as far away from you as possible before I do something stupid.
Panic crawls up my chest, wrapping its fingers around my throat and squeezing. “I-I can’t do this right now.”
