Mouth dry, I swallowed and tried to reply, “W-why am I taking my pants off?”
“You really weren’t listening on the ride over, were you?” His eyes glimmered with amusement.
I tried to think about what he said, but I was too wrapped in my own thoughts. I definitely would have remembered if he told me to take off my clothes. I think.
“Your stitches,” he prompted. “Ezra’s comment reminded me they need to be removed.”
“Right,” I ducked my head embarrassed, and he chuckled again, moving closer.
His hand lightly pushed on my shoulder until I backed away. The high mattress behind me pressed against my legs, and he gestured to it.
“Take off your pants and lie on your back.”
Not waiting to see if I obeyed, he disappeared into the bathroom. A few moments later, I heard him rummaging around under the sink. I changed directions multiple times, second-guessing myself. Glancing at the slightly closed bathroom door, I hooked my hands in the waistband of my shorts and slid them down my legs.
Before Kaiden came out and caught me in my underwear—a sight he’d already seen multiple times by now—I jumped onto the bed and covered my lower half with a blanket. Hands clasped over my stomach, I stared up at the ceiling like it could open up and swallow my nerves if I begged it to.
“I can feel your panic.” Kaiden’s voice was suddenly beside me. “You know I’m not going to hurt you.”
I cleared my throat. “I was more remembering how it felt to get them put in.” A quick peek at the bedside table showed gauze, a jar of sterile water, and a small pair of very sharp scissors. “Shouldn’t we wait for Ezra to numb it again?”
Kaiden’s large hands settled over mine, his fingers gently wrapping around my wrists to move them higher up. My shirt followed as he folded the material just above my belly button.
“Eryn.” His tone demanded my attention, and I turned my head to look at him, lower lip locked in a death grip between my teeth. “This isn’t going to hurt, so I don’t need Ezra, okay?” I nodded, and he kept moving, as if he knew I’d freak out the second he stopped. “I’m going to lower the blanket now.”
The fabric slid halfway down my thighs, and I felt cool air on my hips. The wound had stopped itching long ago. The skin around the small stitches felt tight and pulled often. They definitely needed to come out. But if they didn’t hurt when I moved, this shouldn’t either, right?
I relaxed my tense muscles and nodded at Kaiden to proceed. I felt his smile through the bond, as impossible as that sounded, and relaxed even more at his approving purr.
“So brave,” he whispered and ran a soaked piece of gauze over my hip.
Once my skin was clean and more pliant, he picked up the scissors and a pair of tweezers. My pulse spiked, but I took a breath and told it to calm down. I trusted Kaiden, and he knew what he was doing. His hands didn’t shake once as he clipped the little knots loose and pulled them free. There was slight discomfort as the thread got caught in a couple places, but it felt more annoying than painful.
“There,” Kaiden said, putting the instruments down. “You can hardly see where they were.”
He stared down at me, at my exposed midriff and upper thighs, and swallowed, clearly at war with himself over something else he wanted to say.
“What is it?” I asked. “I can feel your uncertainty. Just ask.”
His half-smile set free a horde of butterflies in my stomach. “Look who’s getting better at reading me.” After another moment of hesitation, he sat on the side of the bed, close enough that I felt the warmth from his leg. “I was just thinking about how much you deserve a reward, but wasn’t sure if you would welcome me touching you.”
Oh.Oh.
“Why wouldn’t I welcome your touch?”
His eyes snapped to mine and held. I watched his tongue dip out to wet his bottom lip while a slow burn of arousal uncurled down the bond.
“Do you want me to touch you?” The calluses on his palm tickled the skin of my thigh.
“Why are you asking like it's a bad thing?”
If I couldn’t feel his attraction, as strongly as I felt my own, and if I was less confident in how I knew seeing me like this tested his control, I might be insecure. But hewasholding back.
“I just want you to be sure. Now that the truth is out, and we know where this is headed.”
Where this was headed? Why did it always have to come back to the damn bond? I’d acknowledged it, admitted to the fledgling pulse in my chest, and his presence at the other end of it. Was that not enough?
“Isn’t there an end game?” he pushed. “Not right away, but eventually?”
