And it had to stop.
“This may sting,” he said, reaching for the edge of her robe.
“O-Okay.”
At last, a crack in her wall, but the fact that she was walling him off in the first place did not sit well with him. Then again...that anything about her bothered him was also unfortunate, and it was this that had his lips tightening even as he proceeded with his duty.
Zacharie carefully peeled back the fabric as he slowly exposed the bandaged wound beneath. The gauze was spotted with dried blood but not soaked through. It was a good sign, indicating healing.
His fingers brushed her skin as he worked, but his movements stilled the moment he noticed her flinching, a tiny, involuntary shiver that ran through her whole body, her breath catching audibly in the quiet room.
“Did I hurt you?”
She shook her head, her gaze still avoiding his. “It’s f-fine.”
And so he continued to peel away the old bandage.
Ah.
The wound beneath was angry but clean, the stitches holding. His medical training took over, antiseptic, fresh gauze, tape, but some other part of him remained hyperaware of everything else that made Mira...her.
Even though this was all about his duty, he could not deny how delicate and warm the curve of her waist was beneath his palm. Or how the uneven rhythm of her breathing had an effect on hisownbreathing, and how goosebumps rose on her skin wherever his fingers grazed, trailing in the wake of his touch like he was leaving marks on her.
As he pressed the new bandage into place, he noticed the way her hands fisted in the silk sheets, noticed the way her heartbeat fluttered against his hand.
She still wasn’t looking at him. Had not looked at him once since he sat down. Her gaze fixed on her own hands, twisted in the sheets, her jaw tight, a flush spreading down her neck and disappearing beneath the collar of her robe.
Yesterday, she had stared at him constantly. Had blushed and stammered and looked at him like he was something between a predator and a puzzle she desperately wanted to solve.
Today, she wouldn’t meet his eyes....even as her body burned up beneath his hands.
“Mira.”
He said her name deliberately. Low. A command wrapped in silk.
But she still didn’t look up.
“Mira,” he repeated, and this time he let his thumb brush the edge of the fresh bandage, let the touch linger. “Look at me.”
Her breathing stuttered even as she shook her head. “I can’t.”
“Why not?”
She swallowed hard, the movement traveling down her throat.
“I just...can’t.”
Zacharie knew he should let it go. Just finish the bandage and leave her to rest and stop pushing for something she clearly didn’t want to give.
Instead, he found himself leaning closer.
“Why can’t you look at me?”
“I just...can’t.”
“But when we were in the car yesterday, you couldn’t stop—”
“T-That was then!”
