I shake my head. “It doesn’t matter. W-was I in pajamas when you found me?”
“No. I gave you a sponge bath and put you in clean clothes.”
His behavior—coming to my rescue—means everything to me.
Why would he do all of this for me? Tears form, and I wipe them away quickly.
He pulls me into his arms and settles on an anime, but I zone out.
The way he’s taking care of me shows how much he cares, and I thought I was dealing with another Emerson—but clearly I was wrong.
An image of a man standing by a tree pops into my mind, but it’s fuzzy. Shaking my head, I need a pick-me-up.
“I didn’t know you were into anime.”
“Yeah. My favorite isTokyo Ghoul.” He twirls his fingers in my hair. “You look like Rize. She has purple hair, too.”
“Tell me about her.”
“She loves books—reading manga,” he whispers against my ear. “She tends to binge-eat.”
“That doesn’t sound too bad.”
“Humans. She binge-eats humans.”
“Thanks. Next time I’m out, I’ll eat a human,” I joke.
“No, you’re going to eat me.” He smirks.
“You’re saying if I were a starving ghoul, you’d let me eat your flesh?”
“Yes. I’ll let you eat me, baby. Matter of fact, you wouldn’t be allowed to eat anyone else’s flesh.”
That’s insane.He’sinsane.
I shake my head. “Eventually, I’ll eat your whole body.”
“I’ll let you, babe. Or I’ll get a transplant of your ghoul organ, and you’ll be part of me—haunting me.”
I laugh. “That sounds hot and creepy.”
For the first time, I feel light. Happy. How quickly I forget that we’ll never be the same—because he’s marrying someone else. My back stiffens.
I run my fingers through my hair. “Thank you for looking after me, Irvin. I really appreciate you. You’re good to me.”
He nods and wraps his arms around my waist, pulling me into his lap and kisses my forehead.
A lump forms in the back of my throat, and I swallow thickly, washing it away.
I’ll never feel his warm kisses or experience his kindness once he’s married.
I pull away. “When you’re married, we can be friends. I know you’re not in love with the other woman. I don’t want to lose you to her—or anyone else. We can’t be together, but I can offer you a friendship, Irvin.” I tuck a strand of hair behind my ear. “We can’t have sex, of course, because I don’t sleep with mar—”
He shuts me up with a kiss, stealing the breath from me.
“No one can keep me away from you, princess.”
I sit up straighter. “What if you fall in love with her? Wh—”
