When he pulled away, he was smiling. “But you, Caleb, are not.”
“I’m not?” I repeated in a high-pitched voice.
“No.” Adriel rubbed his thumb across my cheek. “You are a lot of things, but predictable isn’t one of them. And that intrigues me about you. It pulls me in.” He paused. “And at times, it frightens me.”
“Why?” I almost laughed. “What doyouhave to be scared of? I can’t do anything to you.” I lifted my arms to prove how uselessly they dangled in the air.
“Not physically,” he said. He lifted his finger and pressed to his temple. “But here.” Then he placed his finger on my collarbone and trailed down to where my heart beat inside my ribs. “And here.”
My mind was hazy with too many emotions swirling at once. My heartbeat fluttered beneath his touch.
“Adriel,” I murmured.
“You know,” he began. “I said you couldn’t do anything to me physically. But that wasn’t entirely correct, either. You couldn’t fight me off, no. That’s a given.” He leaned in closer to my ear. “But that night we were intimate… You did things to me no one else has ever done.”
My frame shook in a full-body tremble, and a jolt of pleasure ran down my spine.
Was this conversation really happening? Or was I in a lust-fuelled dream?
Adriel’s hands rested on my hips, holding me in place. I tried not to shiver from excitement and confusion and blossoming arousal, but I couldn’t help it.
This is not a dream.
Suddenly, Adriel let go and backed off. Disappointment flooded me.
“That is the reason why,” he said.
I’d forgotten the question already. “Why what?” I demanded.
“Why I’ve been acting so strange.” He glanced to the wall with a flash of guilt in his eyes. “So uncomfortable, and frankly rude.”
“Why you’ve been pushing me away,” I confirmed.
Adriel nodded. “Yes.”
“So you don’t hate me,” I said, “and you actuallylikebeing with me.”
“Yes,” Adriel said slowly, like he was admitting it to himself.
I laughed, but it wasn’t a happy one. It was desperate and tired. “Then - why? I still don’t get it. All you do is give me mixed signals, Adriel. It’s driving me crazy. You like me, but you push me away. You fuck me, then you don’t talk to me for days.”
Adriel winced. His voice was genuinely pained. “I’m sorry. I never meant to hurt you.”
The dam of emotions shattered. “Thenwhydid you do it?”
Adriel whirled towards me with an expression I’d never seen in his eyes before and cried, “Because I amafraid.”
