“Hey,” he flicks on the lights before coming to stand in front of me, wrapping his hands around my upper arms, watching me with a worried wrinkle between his brows. “What’s wrong?”
"Why are we here?" I ask.
He eases my hair over my shoulder, running his thumb across my thrumming artery, so similar to the first night in my kitchen, and yet, everything about it feels different now.
It's no longer a threat of violence, but a threat of the inevitable fall. And that's infinitely scarier.
"I just wanted to show you what Idoremember of who I was before everything," he explains, watching his finger graze my pulse. "This is the only place that still feels like it belongs tome, not who I became."
When his eyes meet mine, I canalmostforget who this man is.
But that's a reckless road to go down, and one that I know I shouldn’t.
Skyler's words echo back in my head.Why are you so afraid of the possibility?
But fear isn't always a bad thing. Sometimes it keeps us safe.
And Idesperatelyneed mine to do that now, but the longer I’m in Cormac’s presence, the more sure I become that it won’t.
Chapter 22
Cum Cup
CORMAC
Brigit’s posture screams of nerves.
She’s scared to be here with me.
I can’t really say I blame her.
Aside from the most sensible fear, that of me and my violent tendencies, she’s afraid of getting too close to me. Of letting herself care what happens to me.
But she knows as well as I do that it’s too late for us now.
No matter what forces try to drive us apart, we are so deeply entwined now that nothing else matters.
She’s a part of me, body and soul.
And that should terrify her. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for her, and that kind of pressure can be a lot for someone so used to being insignificant in others' lives.
She hasn’t said as much, but it’s not a secret that she feels unimportant, even in her own life; that’s why she seeks out such extremes.
She doesn’t know she’s allowed to feel things as deeply as she does, so she finds external forces to give herpermission.
“Breathe, Brigit,” I tell her, making her face me. She’s beautiful in her little skirt and knee-high boots, pretending to resist as I drag her through the meadery. “I’m not going to hurt you.”
She rolls her eyes, “I know that.”
“Then why are you so freaked out?” I ask.
With a sigh, she tries to shake out her tense energy, “I’m not freaked out. I just don’t know how to deal with you when you’re not breaking into my house and threatening me.”
“Hasn’t that gotten a little boring?” I pry, nudging her shoulder with mine. “I figured we’d try something new.”
Her eyes fall to the ground, but I can see from the side the little smile she’s trying to hide behind biting her lower lip.
“Unless you’rereallythat used to it,” I suggest. “I think I have something sharp in the car.”
