It should be uncomfortable, this forced intimacy with a man who’s practically a stranger. Who, until moments ago, I thought despised me. Yet the solid weight of his arms around me feels… not terrible. Warm. Safe. In a world gone mad, that counts for something.
And yet… This is dangerous.
Amelia’s expression lights up every time Julien’s name comes up. How comfortably she put her hand on his arm, and how his eyes softened in response.
I clear my throat. “So… Really, no one? No one you ever talked baby names with?”
His sigh ruffles my hair. “I guess I did with your sister once.”
My throat feels tight.
“More like she talked to me about it,” he corrects. “What was it again?”
“Theo for a boy. Dove for a girl.”
“Seems right.”
“You were close.”
“We were friends. A long time ago. Are we done with the questioning? I’d like to get some sleep.”
“Yep.”
It should be okay? I’m not doing anything illegal. It’s practical. The wind is cold, and he’s a furnace. I don’t have to feel guilty.
I slowly, hesitantly let myself relax against him.
Seconds stretch into minutes.
I can feel the tension in his body gradually easing, his breathing slowing, and his grip around my waist loosening.
At least he’s finally resting. He’s an asshole, sure, but a tired one. And considering how much he’s done to keep us all in one piece, maybe he’s earned the right to be both.
“I’m sorry for—” He pauses. “I didn’t intend to?—”
“Be mean?”
“In the bridal suite. When you were changing, and I saw your body.” His voice is softer now, less sharp-edged. “I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable, and I’m sorry for what I said.”
Does he know? He can’t. “It’s fine. You were… surprisingly gentlemanly.”
“Surprising because…?”
Because you didn’t question me further about the bruises. “Because you don’t like me.”
He sighs. “We’re back to that again.”
“Well, you’ve made it pretty clear.”
“Have I?” His fingers drum against my hip in a thoughtful rhythm. “Or have I just been an asshole to everyone equally?”
That startles a laugh out of me.
We fall silent again, and it’s strange how comfortable this silence feels, how natural it is to sit here with him when everything between us has been tense and awkward until now.
He leans into me, his lips brushing the shell of my ear. “Are you scared of me?”
A shiver runs through me. “Should I be?”
