"And you don't want to go?" he asked.
"God, no," I said. "Can you imagine? Me, at some fancy gala, surrounded by people like..." I trailed off, thinking of Lila in her Chanel. Colin with his perfect hair and his perfect life. "People like my cousin."
"What's wrong with your cousin?" Kael asked, leaning against the counter.
He had to brace his hands on the edge, his long fingers splayed across the surface. I noticed the veins in his forearms. The way the muscles shifted when he moved.
Girl, get a grip, I thought.
"She's just... perfect," I said instead. "Perfect hair, perfect body, perfect Alpha boyfriend. She makes me feel like I'm…"
"Like you're what?"
There were a million thoughts running through my head but I didn't let them go past being a thought.
"Nothing," I said quickly. "It's stupid."
"It's not stupid," Kael said, his voice firm.
He straightened to his full height again and took a step closer but not to the point that he was touching or crowding me. But he got close enough that I had to look up to meet those hazel eyes of his with golden flecks.
"And for the record?" he said quietly. "I don't think you're nothing."
I looked up at him, startled.
His gaze had become intense, more intense than I'd ever seen it. The gold seemed to glow. Or maybe I was imagining it.
"You're the person I look for every morning," he said, his voice low and rough. "The person I bake for. The person who makes my whole day better just by walking through that door."
My heart stopped and I thought I might flat line right then and there.
"Kael," I whispered.
He shook his head, a small smile playing at his lips. "Sorry. That was probably too much."
"No," I said quickly. "No, it wasn't."
It was perfect.
It was the single most perfect thing I'd heard in a long time. We stood there for a long moment, the bakery quiet around us. The only sound was the soft hum of the ovens in the back and the occasional car passing outside.
His scent was stronger now, that warm sugar and smoky vanilla. It once again wrapped around me like an embrace.
I so wanted to just lean into him and be held by him.
There was this need to see if his chest was as solid as it looked. If those arms would feel as safe wrapped around me as I imagined.
Wanted things I'd never let myself want before.
"I should probably close up," Kael said finally, his voice rough.
"Right," I said, grabbing my coffee. "I should go."
But neither of us made a real move to do so. He just stood there, all six-foot-something of him, looking down at me with those eyes that seemed to see straight through me.
"Amara?"
"Yeah?"
