“You know you really should let that go,” he says gently to not come across as dismissive. “Your feelings are valid, princess. They just won’t change anything. When it comes to other men, Thorin and Khalil are not going to apologize for wanting to hoard you for themselves.”
“And what about you? You don’t want me all to yourself?”
“I don’t think I should answer that,” he says. “I wouldn’t want to send you anymore mixed signals.”
“Will you answer something else for me then?”
“Sure.”
“Why do you call me princess? Is it because you think I’m spoiled?”
Zeke chuckles derisively, but it feels aimed at himself. “It’s what I told myself at first so that I didn’t have to face the truth, but no. I don’t think you’re spoiled.”
“It’s okay if you did. I am a little.” Zeke laughs, and I join him until it dies off shortly after. “So why?” I ask when my curiosity won’t allow me to let it go.
Zeke’s olive-toned cheeks turn a startling shade of red, and he barks out a nervous laugh. “Because every time I’m near you, I can’t help but feel like you should be wearing a crown and I should be kneeling at your feet.” He stares at his palms as if his head is asking him what the hell he’s doing admitting all of this to me.
My head however has left the chat, and my heart is doing backflips in my chest. “You want to kneel for me?” I whisper.
“All the time.” Feeling like there’s more he wants to say, I wrap my arms around myself and stare at our feet dangling over the sixty-foot drop. “I don’t want to be a Damien,” he finally confesses. “I don’t want to wait until it’s too late to tell you that I want you.”
I swallow past the emotions that threaten to choke me. “I’m sensing a but in there somewhere.”
“But… I don’t know how to want you without this voice inside my head warning me that none of it is real. That it’s all going to come crashing down on me.”
“Bane?” I gasp, and it feels like a blind reach in the dark for a way to understand him.
Zeke’s eyes are sad when he shakes his head. “A different kind of voice. The kind you and I both have.”
This time the sadness I sense is my own. It isn’t paranoia, resentment, or a broken heart telling Zeke that I’ll betray him. It’s intuition.
But no, that’s not quite right either. Zeke’s concern has never been for himself. This terror that kept him from loving or even accepting me is also for his brothers.
Tears threaten to spring free. “Oh, Zeke.”
“I wouldn’t blame you if you did. And I don’t think they would either.” He jerks his chin toward the bottom of the cliff where Khalil and Thorin are, and we watch them trade matching violent grins as they circle one another in the water. “If you’re going to hurt us, do it gently, princess,” Zeke begs. “If there’s any part of you that isn’t sure, if you’re just biding your time, tell me now.” Zeke’s green eyes grow darker when they swing my way, and it feels like a warm vise around my neck. “Because I’m losing, Aurelia. I don’t want to listen to that voice anymore.” I stop breathing when Zeke gently takes my hand and places it on his searing chest where his heart is pounding fast underneath. “I’d rather follow this if it means falling into you.”
“Zeke…”
“Tell me now,” he pleads again. “Once I’m cured of this fear keeping me from you, I won’t be able to turn away. No matter where you go or what you decide later, I’ll follow you to the ends of the earth, princess. I’ll live only for you.” Quietly, he adds, “Even if you don’t want me to.”
I don’t know what to say to that, and since I have the feeling Zeke isn’t expecting a response to his—what even was that? A promise? A threat? A proclamation of love? Somehow, it feels like all of the above, and my stupid heart is eating it up.
Am I seriously going to let Ezekiel Cura win me over that easily?
Yes.
We sit on the cliff above the waterfall in comfortable silence, watching the sun set and only speaking to make fun of Thorin when he keeps tripping over the same rock.
“It’s getting dark,” Zeke says when my stomach growls loudly. It’s only then I remember that I never got to eat.
We both head down just as Khalil returns from taking a leak.
“I don’t know if I can walk back,” I say as I wiggle my aching toes. “I’m pooped.”
“Good. Because we’re not going back tonight,” Khalil says as he reaches inside the extra pack he brought and pulls out a tent. “We’re camping here.”
After dinner, the four of us find ourselves back in the water under the full moon, but this time we decide to skip the swimsuits after the guys goaded me into a striptease. The three of them are sipping on the warm beers they stowed away in their packs. I had a sip of Zeke’s, who surprisingly had been the first to tip his toward my lips when I mentioned wanting to try it. It was gross, so the guys grimacing after every sip is definitely warranted.
