Orelia raced around the cabin and threw open the front door. “Say it,” she said, standing on the threshold.
Vade stood perfectly still. “Say what?”
She stepped inside and shut the door. “Say you care for me.”
His face was riddled with confliction. She remembered enough from last night to know they argued in the washroom as she’d tried to get him to admit she was more than just an obligation to him.
“Say it, Vade. Say you care for me, even a little bit,” she demanded.
He ran a hand through his hair. “You are my responsibility, so yes, I care about what happens to you in that sense.”
“You know that’s not what I mean.” If he was going to be stubborn about it, she was going to press. Orelia held the plumrose out in front of her. “You went out and found all those roses knowing they’re my favorite, cut off their thorns, and arranged them all together. A man who does that cares about the person he does it for, so say it, Vade. Admit that you care about me.”
He rubbed the back of his neck, face looking haunted. Something was holding him back.
Impatience had her saying, “Why won’t you just admit it?”
He shook his head, walking away.
Orelia rushed up and grabbed his arm. “Why, Vade?”
“Because I can’t!”
“Why?” she shouted. “I know you do!”
Anguish littered his features, but he only stared at her, and she knew she wasn’t going to get an answer no matter how hard she tried.
“I guess I truly do mean nothing to you, then.” Orelia threw the rose on the ground, spun on her heel, and stormed off. She didn’t know where she was going. She didn’t care that she only had his shirt on, or that she was barefoot. She just had to get out of there.
“Fine! You want the truth?” he called after her.
Her hand froze on the door handle, but she refused to turn around.
Vade’s slow footsteps sounded, making her heart pound. When she could feel him behind her, Orelia finally turned and looked up at him.
His eyes had gone misty. “The truth is I care about you so fucking much that it scares the shit out of me.”
She sucked in a breath.
“You are not ‘nothing’ to me, Orelia. You’re a summer rain when it soaks the ground and breathes its love into the earth. You’re the setting sun that paints the clouds in remarkable shades of pink, orange, and yellow.”
Her lips parted when he touched her cheek.
“You’re the warmth of a fire and the softness of a blanket on a cold winter’s night. You’re the flowers that bloom year after year nomatter how harsh the seasons, and the calm of the sea before sunrise, when not even the birds have woken, and all is peaceful. You’re the world, Orelia. Because you are everything. That’s what you are to me. Everything.”
He cupped her face with both hands, and she gently gripped his wrists. “Vade . . .I . . .I’ve never heard you talk like that.”
“I’ve had a long time to find the right words.”
Her heart swelled so much she thought it might burst. His chest was against hers, dousing her in his natural warmth.
“You think it didn’t kill me to watch you kiss that fucker in the tavern last night? Or break my heart to see what he’d done to you? Do you know how hard it’s been to watch men ogle you wherever we go and not tell you that I want to be the only one that gets to look at you that way? Day in and day out I have to pretend I’m not interested in you for your own sake. To protect you. It’s taken every single fiber of my being to keep from telling you how I feel, Orelia.”
He brushed his thumb across her lips and she wanted him to kiss her. Her hands slid down to his waist, encouraging him, but Vade’s eyes stayed locked onto hers.
“You are the only true joy I have ever known in my life. A joy I don’t deserve for the things I’ve done. So I tried so gods-damned hard to push you away and make you hate me because I was trying to save you from me.”
“Vade—”
