Broke into my house.
Caused me to break my beautiful vase.
Then didn’t leave when I told him to.
So, to be fair, he has brought this all upon himself.
The fork makes a strange sound when it slams into his skin, a growl leaves my mouth—“fuck”—and we both stare at it for a few beats. But then I quickly pull my hand away, leaving the fork embedded in his flesh.
“Did you just…” He yanks the utensil from his hand as if it were nothing and holds it up between us. “I think you lost something.” He offers it to me, and I take it. My gaze flicks to the four small puncture wounds that are welling with blood.
He glances down at the fork punctures stark against his skin. His silver eyes lock onto mine, dark and unreadable. “You really don’t want me to stay?” His voice is low, calm only in volume, but edged with something sharp, dangerous, and barely restrained.
“No,” I reply without hesitation.
He leans in just slightly, a slow, deliberate movement. “Why?”
That single word carries more than curiosity; it’s raw, fragile, the faintest crack in his armor. I see it, the vulnerability beneath the hardness. But it’s still there, cold and dangerous, ready to snap if pushed too far.
“Because I don’t have room for crazy in my life right now. I’m raising a son, or did you forget that?”
“He’s with his father,” he tells me, like I don’t already know.
“Yes, and I’m tired. You woke me up,” I remind him. “When Oliver isn’t here, I like to catch up on sleep.”
“Can I sleep with you?” he asks.
“No.” I glance down at his hand and then meet his eyes again. “You should leave.”
“Why?”
“I told you already.”
“No. Why can’t I stay?”
“You’re a smart man, Soren.” Everyone knows how smart he is. He wouldn’t be so successful if he weren’t. “But you have issues that I don’t want to deal with. Namely, your sister.”
He scrubs a hand down his face, then licks his split lip. “She’s a problem, I get that. But she was sick for so long that it came naturally for me to take care of her. We didn’t have anyone else. I’ve raised her since I was eighteen,” he tells me. I knew all this from my research, but hearing him say it out loud is entirely different, like something shifting in the air between us. “I see that I’ve enabled her bad behavior, and I’ve been trying to fix it.”
“Good. Why don’t you focus on that and leave me alone? She thinks I’m the reason for your sudden change of heart when it comes to her.”
“You are.” His voice is steady. Certain. There’s no softness, just a fact laid bare.
My head jerks back in surprise.“What?”
“Youarethe reason. I realized it because of you.”
The words hang there. I swallow, forcing my voice steady. “Okay, well, don’t tell her that.”
I catch myself staring at his hand, then quickly look away. Something in the way he’s letting me in, the rare crack in his armor, stays with me longer than I want.
“I won’t,” he assures me.
“You aren’t staying,” I remind him. He smirks, and I can’t help but stare at him. He has a busted lip, his hand is bleeding, and he’s still the most handsome man I have ever seen.
Fuck him and his good looks.
“What about a goodnight kiss?” he asks.
