She stilled for a moment and he wondered what would happen next.
She adjusted her arms around him, her hands smoothing up his back.
Her touch was gentle, but the movement of her hands stirred up emotions that he knew he shouldn’t show. He didn’t want to push.
“You can stand right here with me.”
He felt her breath move over his arm, blowing over his skin.
He wasn’t about to argue with her words.
He was enjoying himself more than he should.
“Am I too heavy?”
Crois bit the inside of his cheek after he asked the question.
The last thing he wanted to was let her go and for her let him go as well.
“You’re tall,” she explained, “but I can take the weight. Vega and I have carried more than you without getting winded.”
For a moment he tensed, but his brain took over where his instinct was causing a problem.
Harmony was just saying it like it was.
Something he wasn’t used to.
Women, at least the women he used to spend time with, liked to flatter him just to get into his good graces or to get closer to him.
That flattery had become worthless and he couldn’t take it seriously anymore.
“Well,” he smiled as his legs were gaining strength, “I’m glad I’m not squishing you.”
She laughed softly and he took that as a win.
A big one.
“I… I have a question for you.”
“Hmm?” Her voice sounded like she was enjoying the warmth of their embrace as much as he was. “What’s that?”
There was a moment of internal debate in his head.
Not because of Harmony.
She was the right one to ask.
The only one he wanted to ask.
He just didn’t want to push too much, too fast.
“My partner-”
“Pilar?”
He hummed under his breath. “Mmm hmm. She’s getting married.”
“Yeah!” Harmony’s excitement lifted his worry to almost hope. “Everyone is talking about it.”
