I issue her a promise.
I will never, ever again be the person responsible for hurting you.
CHAPTER 13
AVERY
My feet,cocooned in my fluffiest socks, pad over the scratched wood floor and into the kitchen. Ruby gets up from where she was sleeping in the living room and leans against my thigh, asking for an early dinner.
“Might as well,” I say to her, giving her a belly rub and filling her bowl.
While she eats, I prepare a pot of coffee. It’s mid-afternoon, but the snow outside leaves me wanting something warm to drink.
The coffee brews, Ruby eats, and I lean against the kitchen sink, staring mindlessly at the world beyond the window. Like a television with just one channel, the only thing playing in my brain right now is Gabriel.
A part of me is shocked at what happened between us. A larger part of me is more shocked that I’m shocked at all.
What does it mean?
Should it mean something?
Should it mean nothing?
I’d been the one to knock down the metaphorical dam.I want you. This. Us.
What about?—
“Overthinking.”
I turn. Gabriel stands in the entrance to the kitchen, leaning against the wall. His hair is mussed from our post-coital nap, his eyes not yet fully open. “You’re overthinking.”
“I don’t know how not to.” The coffee gives a final whir, and I busy myself pouring two cups. “I hope you feel like afternoon coffee. I want something to warm my core. Kind of chilly in here.” I shudder to prove my point.
“I’d love a cup,” he says, his tone warm and sated. His gaze is on me, and I feel it deep down, bypassing my skin and diving straight into my heart. “What were you thinking about? Your shoulder blades were pinched together.”
“What do you think I was thinking about?” We both know what had my shoulders drawn, but are we ready to name it?
He reaches past me, grabbing the coffees and carrying them to the couch. He sets them on the coffee table, then starts toward the fireplace. The logs are in place, but I'm clueless as to how to build or start a fire, so I haven’t touched it.
Gabriel palms the mantel. “Do you want me to get this started?”
“Yes, please.” I settle on the couch, tucking my legs under me. “You’re good at that,” I comment, as Gabriel rearranges the logs and drops a lit match from a box on the mantel.
He turns around and gives me this look, part pleasure at my compliment and part flirtation. “I can put out fires, and start them.”
I say nothing of his euphemism, but I can’t control the smirk appearing on my lips. The fire pops, the flames beginning their ascent up the split wood. He backs away, retrieving his coffee cup and handing me mine before settling beside me.
“Do you want to talk about…” He points toward the bedroom. “Or should we pretend it didn’t happen?” His voice is strained,and I wonder if he knows he’s frowning. “Call it a mistake? A moment of passion?”
I study the droop of his shoulders as he prepares himself to hear me backpedal. “Why are you giving me an out?”
“In case you need it. In case you want it,” he adds.
“I don’t need or want it.” I sip from my coffee, then admit, “I don’t know how to label us sleeping together. I only know how not to label it.”
He nods slowly. “I can accept that.”
Ruby comes to sit between our legs. She props her head on the couch and gives me her ‘I need to go outside’ look.
