His hands flew to cover his mouth. Cassian started to say something, but for some reason, the words didn’t reach James’s ears. Instead, James kept on talking, letting his hands fall from his face.
“It’s because of me. It’s because I ruined things, isn’t it? Did hearing my story make you feel like you had to... to break off your engagement? Cassian, I-I never meant to hurt you. Or Ethel. Believe me, I...” James raked a hand through his hair. “Oh, I’ma horrible person. Because Ididwant to hurt Ethel. Nothurther, exactly—I hate even the mere thought of making someone sad—but in away,I wanted to hurt her. Because I wanted...” He locked eyes with Cassian. “You.”
Cassian only continued to watch him with what seemed like a pitying look.
“Are you finished, James?”
“I, uhm, I think so.”
“Good, because I’ve been sitting here waiting for you to be finished with your emotional outburst so that I could tell you that while, yes, you arepartof the reason I ended my engagement, there’s more to it than that.” Cassian lowered his voice even more. “Ethel’s heart belongs to someone else.”
James reeled back a smidge, a sudden heaviness in his chest. Sympathy robbed him of the oxygen in his lungs, and for a few seconds, he struggled to know how to breathe and what to say.
“I’m sorry, Cassian,” he finally managed. “How horrible.”
“It’s not horrible,” Cassian said simply. “Because my heart belongs to someone else, too.”
It took James a couple of seconds to let himself internalize those words and then another one or two more to let himself know them and to believe them, too. Once he did, his eyes began to well with tears.
Cassian scooted closer.
“It belongs to you, James,” he said. “And I wish that I had realized it sooner.”
Overwhelmed with love and like in equal proportions, James struggled not to cry.
“Cassian . . .”
“Come with me to my room,” Cassian purred. “I’ve been forced to spend close to twenty-four hours without yourexceptionalservice, and I find myself craving some of it.”
James let out a little sound, something close to a whimper, and his cheeks warmed a bit from having made it, though he was thankful that Cassian’s comment had seemingly banished his urge to cry. Now the only thing that James could manage to feel was fast-rising arousal.
Cassian made a husky noise of his own, one that James could barely even hear, though it still caused his stomach to swoop, stirring something inside him.
“Should I...” James’s eyes flitted to the paper and then back up to Cassian’s face. “I’m not finished with the scene yet.”
“You can write more in the morning,” Cassian said. “I found someone to cover the first couple of hours of your shift.”
“Holy heaven,” James spluttered. “Thank you, Cassian.”
Cassian’s smile broadened. “Shall we head to my room now, then?”
“Yes.”
“Yes, what?” Cassian asked, his voice a wonderful mixture of playful and chastising.
James’s breath caught. Oh, fuck, how he loved this.
“Yes, please,” he said.
Cassian threw him a wink and stood.
“Good man.”
James snapped the notebook shut and followed.
Chapter Fifteen
Cassian
