His eyes shine fast enough that my chest tightens. “I couldn’t tell. I thought maybe you were just like that with people. Protective. Careful. I thought maybe I was making it into something because I wanted it to be something.”
“You weren’t.” I tip his chin up when his gaze starts to fall. “Listen to me, Rys. I saw you. I wanted you. I stayed away because I didn’t know how to want you without putting too much of myself in your space before you asked for it.”
His hands flatten against my chest, right over my heart. “I’ve been waiting eight months.”
“I know that now. And for the record, I always saw you that way.” I kiss him again, softer this time, because the first answer doesn’t feel like enough. “I saw the flour on your sleeves, the way you left bread at Mrs. Allen’s door when she was sick, the way you smiled at me in the hallway and then looked away like you’d been caught asking for something. I saw you, sweetheart.”
His breath shakes. “Is this a thing now?”
My mouth curves before I can stop it, but the question matters too much to turn into a joke. “If you want it to be.”
“I do.”
A knock interrupts the moment before I can kiss him again.
Emrys startles, and I help him down from the counter before moving toward the living room. He follows, stubborn even with his face flushed and his mouth soft from mine. Through the peephole, Skylar Grayson stands in yesterday’s jacket with damp hair, a diner bag in one hand, and the expression of a man who has argued himself in and out of knocking enough times to lose count.
I open the door, trying to hide my smile. Skylar’s gaze moves from my bare chest to Emrys behind me, then back to my face. I can’t tell by the shape of his scent if he’s jealous, startled, or just plain confused. “I brought breakfast.”
Emrys slips around my side before I can answer. His whole face brightens when he sees the bag. “Are those donuts?”
Skylar lifts it a little. “Diner donuts. Which sounds worse than it is. I was in the area, and I wanted to check if you were okay, and there’s an update on the camera request. Also, the diner was open.” He stops, hearing the excuses pile up between us. His mouth tightens. “I brought breakfast,” he says again.
Emrys reaches for him without hesitation, fingers circling Skylar’s wrist, and pulls him inside. “Good. We like breakfast.”
Skylar goes still at the contact, his scent shifting before his face does. Emrys takes the bag, peeks inside, then kisses Skylar’s cheek in one quick, grateful press that looks almost thoughtless until Skylar’s whole body locks.
Emrys pauses, his cheeks coloring. “Sorry.”
Skylar’s eyes flick to him. “Don’t apologize for that.”
Emrys doesn’t push, only gives him a soft look before carrying the bag to the kitchen and setting donuts on plates. Skylar gives the update near the counter with his hands in his jacket pockets like he still isn’t sure what to do with himself.
“You’ll find it,” Emrys says, sliding coffee toward him. “You brought Kade home.”
Skylar looks down at the mug. “That wasn’t just me.”
“No, but you didn’t let them leave it wrong.” Emrys leans against the counter, studying him with that gentle directness I have already learned can undo a man faster than force. “You keep making yourself smaller as if you weren’t the only one who did the good thing.” Emrys’s voice stays soft. “It’s just something I noticed.”
Skylar looks like he wants to offset the moment with a joke but instead, his shoulders relax a fraction, his gaze shifting through the room. I still can’t read where his head’s at.
“Has anyone ever wanted you without needing you to fix something first?” Emrys asks.
His scent tightens, then shutters so quickly that every protective part of me comes awake. Skylar looks at the coffee instead of Emrys. “That’s a dangerous thing to ask anyone before coffee.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“No,” Skylar says quietly. “It isn’t.”
He lasts only a few more minutes after that before saying he should go, and none of us believes it’s about time. He asks me to walk him out, which is its own kind of surrender. I follow him into the hall and close Emrys’ door behind us.
Skylar makes it three steps before I decide to break the tension, needing to know what his stake is in whatever’s building between this. “If you keep showing up, make it clear.”
The muscles in his jaw tighten as he meets my gaze. “That’s not… Kade, it’s not that simple.”
“No, it isn’t. He’s already hoping, and I won’t let you give him something you aren’t willing to stand behind.”
Skylar sighs, the tiredness in his eyes keeping the anger from landing. “I don’t know what I want.”
