“Elior,” he interrupted gently, forcing himself to look at me again. His eyes were still dark, but softer now, less fervent. “You’re okay. You don’t need to apologize. I’m just happy you enjoyed it.”
I nodded, even though the embarrassment kept crawling up my throat.
I glanced to the side without meaning to.
Patel was staring at the floor.
Not casually—rigidly. His ears were pink. His cheeks, too. One hand had come up to rub at the back of his neck, like he didn’t know what to do with the rest of himself.
Oh.
That somehow made it worse.
I hugged my arms around my middle, suddenly very aware of my body, of how close Jace was sitting, of the quiet, buzzing tension in the room, which felt too thick.
“I didn’t mean to,” I whispered, unsure who I was trying to convince. “I just… was excited.”
“I know,” Jace said. “We know.”
He set the carton down and put a little bit of distance between us, shifting back on the bed so his thigh wasn’t touching mine anymore. The loss of warmth was immediate—and confusingly painful.
Patel cleared his throat. “I’ve got to take a call. I’ll be back.”
Jace didn’t argue.
The door clicked shut behind Patel, leaving the room quiet again.
I stared down at the blanket, fingers twisting in the fabric. My heart was still racing, embarrassment and something else tangling together until I couldn’t separate them.
Jace waited a moment, then spoke. “You did a really good job, baby boy,” he soothed. “I’m so proud of you for eating.”
“You’re not mad?”
“At what?”
“The um… what just happened…” I stumbled, “with t-the strawberry…”
Jace laughed, shaking his head. “Why would I bemad at that? If anything, it made me happy. You’re getting more comfortable with me. That’s what I want.”
I risked a glance up at him, sucking in a breath at the look in his eyes.
Oh, Light.
I hated how easily he did that to me.
How one look—just one—could make everything inside me yearn for him.
I should’ve been angry. Iwasangry. Somewhere. I knew that. He’d lied to me. He’d broken my world open and then tried to gather the pieces back up with hands that had caused the damage in the first place. I knew all of that.
I didn’t think it had even been a week since he’d apologized.
And his apology…
It made me realize I knew Jace a whole lot more than I’d thought, because I knew he wasn’t sorry in a normal way. Parts of his speech had been too… dramatic, maybe—I wasn’t sure how to describe it.
It wasn’t that it was fake; it was just embellished. It was almost like he’d watched someone apologize and tried reenacting it with me.
I didn’t need someone else’s words.
