Again, that took her by surprise. She blinked, trying not to gape. “Really?”
He raised an eyebrow. “Well, these shelves aren’t going to fill themselves, and I definitely didn’t build them so that they could stand empty. Of course, I want you to fill them.”
Her mouth opened, then closed. Again, she didn’t know what to say to that. When she had been dating Eric, he’d called any purchase of hers a waste of money. He’d berated her for hours when she had splurged with her tip money to buy a paperback novel she’d been dying to read for a year, saying that she was worthless and should know better than to buy things without his consent. He’d taken the novel and thrown it in the trash as punishment, adding that from then on, she was going togive him all the money she earned because it was clear that she didn’t know the first thing about handling it.
When Amber remained silent and instead continued staring at Cillian like an idiot, his smile dimmed.
“Is it all right?” he asked. “I didn’t think you’d mind, and it wasn’t like I was using this room. Honestly, I’ve sometimes felt like this house is a bit big for one person.”
“No, no,” she said, finally finding her words. “It’s great. It’s… perfect, really.”
Cillian broke into a relieved grin. “Good,” he said. “Because the look on your face made me wonder if I’d somehow royally fucked up and that you were secretly in love with the bland, empty office that no one was using.”
She burst into laughter, a grin spreading across her face, one of the first genuine ones she had given in a long time. She wanted to tell him that this was the nicest thing anyone had done for her, and she would never forget it.
Just as she was about to open her mouth to say just that, something stopped her. She swallowed. He had done this for her, but one kind gesture didn’t excuse everything else he had done. He had still forced her to marry him.
Except that resentment was getting harder to hold onto. He hadn’t forced himself on her, though she’d noticed the way he looked at her whenever he thought she wasn’t looking. He checked in on her regularly, and he never expected her to wait on him hand and foot. It didn’t help that she had been fighting back her own attraction to him ever since she had moved in. Even now, she found herself noticing the way his muscles rippled whenever he moved. The paint speckling his wrists drew her attention to his forearms, and she wondered what it would feellike for those arms to pin her down, for his hands to run across her skin.
It was too much. She sucked in a breath, barely managing to keep her face a mask.
“Thanks,” she said after a long moment. “This is… thanks.”
She couldn’t seem to say anything else, and she didn’t want him to see the way she was holding back tears or her continued bewilderment. So, she turned and walked out of the beautiful room Cillian had built just for her. She listened, wondering if he would call after her to demand to know what was wrong. He didn’t, and she kept moving.
She didn’t stop until she got back to her room. Once the door had closed behind her, she stilled for a moment. She pushed her hair away from her forehead and stared, moving mechanically deeper into the room.
She lay on her bed and stared up at the ceiling. Cillian had done that for her. He had gone through all that effort because of an offhand comment she’d made. A rush of warmth swirled through her.
That doesn’t change what he did to you, a voice whispered in her ear.
The voice was right, of course. He had still forced her to marry him and had still not listened to her when she said she hadn’t wanted to.
Closing her eyes, she tried to remind herself of that. But it took only a couple of minutes for her to realize she was thinking about what books to buy and picturing herself in the room he had made just for her.
Chapter 9 - Cillian
Over the next couple of weeks, Amber began to relax around Cillian. He noticed that her shoulders didn’t remain perpetually taut whenever they were in the same room. She still regarded him with caution, but she had softened toward him.
There hadn’t been any word about Eric, though Camden and the others were now helping Cillian hunt. There had been some murmuring about some of the other members of the Night Pack, but nothing that they could use to help go after them, not yet. At the moment, things felt as though they lingered in a holding pattern.
It chafed at Cillian. He had never been the type of person to enjoy waiting for more than a few minutes. But at the moment, there was nothing else to do.
He found Amber lounging in the nook in her study, laying against the pillow, book resting against her knees. She stared down at the page, clearly entranced. She flipped a page, not glancing up. When he cleared his throat, she nearly jumped out of her skin.
“You scared me,” she said breathlessly.
“Sorry,” he said, laughing slightly. The chuckle died when she continued glaring at him, and he coughed. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to.”
Her features softened, and she nodded. “It’s all right,” she said. “Just… maybe be more careful next time. I don’t do great with people startling me like that.”
Comprehension dawned, and he could have kicked himself for being such an absolute idiot. He thought about everything he knew about her history, especially when it cameto men. Of course, she would be jumpy after everything she had gone through, both with Eric and during her time with the Ironbrand pack.
“Sorry,” he said again.
She sighed and gave him a tight-lipped smile. “It’s all right,” she said. “These things happen.”
An uncomfortable silence fell between them. It wasn’t the first time it had happened, though their occurrences were growing more infrequent and their duration shorter as they got to know one another. He wanted to ask what about him had made her so jumpy. He doubted it was just to do with him surprising her.
