I could practically hear her rolling her eyes, and I grabbed her chin, making sure her eyes met mine.
“So, what do you want? Cuddles or space?”
I could see her jaw clenching as her eyes blinked several times, a tell I recognized as her attempt at fighting back tears.
“What’s wrong? Why are you crying?”
Her nose wrinkled and she glared. “I’m not.”
I raised a brow, calling her bullshit.
“I just…” she sighed, rubbing her forehead, “I’m just overly emotional from my period. I’m fine.”
I smirked and shook my head at her, my hand moving to the back of her head, gently pulling her face down to meet mine. She moved without hesitation, her body sagging against me as our lips met in a gentle kiss.
I pulled back, just enough that I could speak against her lips, “No you’re not, baby. You don’t want to talk about it right now, that’s okay. But you do have to answer my first question. Cuddles or am I sleeping on the couch?”
She let out the softest whimper, her forehead resting against mine as she drew in a breath.
“Cuddles.”
I smiled and pressed my mouth to hers, my heart relieved and dick way too excited, clearly not reading the room, when she wrapped her arms around my neck and deepened the kiss.Fuck. It didn’t help that her body heat was soaking straight through my sweats.
I let her kiss me, let her have all the control as her tongue licked the seam of lips. I opened willingly, my hand on her hip pressing firmly into her side.Fuck. I love her so much. I want her so much.
The rational side of my brain overruled my dick.
I slowed the kiss down, feeling her heavy breath panting over my mouth. I didn’t want to stop. I wanted her to take whatshe wanted from me, but we hadn’t spoken at all about intimacy other than she wasn’t ready for sex, and I wasn’t going to cross any boundaries that come morning she might regret.
“I love you,” I said against her lips, giving her one last kiss before dragging my hand from her hair and back down to her other hip.
She hummed and with a small smile I stood up, gently dropping her back to the bed.
“Get comfortable, I’ll be right back.”
I quickly used the bathroom and then turned off all the lights before slipping under the covers next to her. Before I could roll her over, she crawled to the middle until our bodies met. She swung her leg over my hip and curled up against my side, her arm hugging my chest. I turned my head, sighing as I took a breath of her scent. She smelled like my soap, and I smiled to myself.
I held her body closer to me with both my arms and gave her a kiss on her head. My chest was tight with emotions. Love, affection, concern, worry.
Everything felt right when she was in my arms, like some missing piece of me had finally returned. Like nothing bad could ever happen, like all that mattered was her. Us. The warmth we shared.
All those questions evaporated, all the unknowns irrelevant. Everything could wait until the morning so long as I had her here in my arms, so long as she was safe.
Twenty-Two
July 12, Sunday
Enoch
I spun around, smiling as I took in Shiloh’s form standing in the entrance to the living space. Her hair was sticking up in the back, but she looked beautiful anyway, still wearing my clothes. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes with a yawn stretching her face.
“Morning, baby.”
She blinked up at me, eyes wandering around the room as she stepped into the kitchen where I was making breakfast.
“Morning,” she mumbled, leaning against the island beside me. “I didn’t mean to sleep so late.”
“That’s okay. Jae ran to the store this morning and dropped you off some supplies,” I said with a nod towards the grocery bag on the counter.
