Page 43

She bit softly on her lower lip, not knowing how to act, but she didn’t look away, and neither did he. He started to reach out to touch her hair again, but the bed shifted as Lukas moved.

Blaire jerked her head around to look back at the movie and took a deep breath as Lukas slowly lowered himself onto the floor beside her. His apple and spice scent filled her nose as he stirred the air around her. Blaire closed her eyes to focus on steadying her breathing. Was he finally going to try to connect with her again?

The door opened and Riley entered, carrying a mesh bag filled with treats.

“What the hell, Lukas?” Riley stomped over and looked down at him with her hands on her hips, the bag hanging at her side. “That’s my spot!”

Lukas shrugged. “You snooze, you lose.”

“You are such a child.”

Blaire giggled, and Lukas tilted his head at her, meeting her eyes and raising an eyebrow. She promptly shut up and looked back at the TV screen, yawning as Riley passed out the snacks to everyone.

Riley climbed onto the bed next to Aiden, took Lukas’s old spot, and started eating her jellybeans.

Ten or fifteen minutes passed with only the sound of the TV in the darkness of the room.

Lukas shifted and felt a soft impact on his shoulder. He glanced down to find Blaire turned toward him, asleep on his shoulder, her hair falling in a blonde curtain over her face. A half-eaten package of jellybeans was limply held in her hand.

He’d missed being near her, but after she rejected him in the cafeteria when he could have sworn he read the signals right, his pride was wounded. He wanted to respect her boundaries and give her space, but he didn’t know how to do that without completely distancing himself from her because of the powerful urge to touch her every time he got near her. But he couldn’t do it. He couldn’t stay away. He wanted to know more about her. What Professor Velastra had been giving him wasn’t nearly enough.

Lukas gently removed the jellybeans and set them aside before slowly reaching up and moving Blaire’s hair from her face, tucking the strands behind her ear before caressing a hand down her jawline. His movements caused her to stir and turn more to snuggle into his side, breathing in deeply against him as if she were smelling him. Faintly, Blaire whispered his name with a contented sigh.

Lukas tensed and quickly glanced around the room. No one seemed to have heard her or paid them any attention, until he glanced behind him and met Riley’s eyes. She grinned.

Riley leaned forward, whispering, “I wonder what Blaire’s dreaming about.”

“Shut up.” He glared at her.

She started laughing, which prompted Aiden to glance over and follow her line of sight. He looked at Blaire’s head on Lukas’s shoulder, then up at Lukas. They looked at each other for a moment, and Lukas didn’t understand the discomfort he saw in Aiden’s eyes. He didn’t have time to focus on his friend, not with Blaire’s hand falling onto his leg as she shifted. He couldn’t take it anymore.

Thankfully, the movie ended, so he slowly moved Blaire’s hand from his lap before Seth turned on the lights.

Mera stretched and sat up. “I don’t think I can manage another movie tonight.” She smiled at Lukas. “I don’t think Blaire can either.”

Kai chuckled. “She does look pretty comfortable, though.”

Lukas rolled his eyes. He could only imagine how they would behave if they heard her.

They remained on the floor as everyone started leaving. He wasn’t ready to disturb Blaire.

“You’re not going to wake her up?” Riley asked as she stood.

Lukas shook his head. “I’m not going to just leave her, but no, I’ll carry her home.”

He moved Blaire’s head from his shoulder and rested it gently against Aiden’s bed. She shifted and her head fell over to rest against Aiden’s leg. He clenched his jaw, staring at her.

Mera and Kai said their goodbyes and exited the room, Riley following behind. Seth moved to go through Aiden’s video games; it seemed he wasn’t leaving anytime soon.

Lukas stretched and bent down, putting one arm under Blaire’s knees and the other around her shoulders to pick her up, princess style. She turned her head into his chest and took a deep breath through her nose before snuggling in and sighing. That was the second time tonight she had smelled him. He didn’t know what to think of it.

Lukas wanted things to be different between them. In keeping his distance, he tried to observe and learn anything he could about her. He spent time with Professor Velastra to learn about Blaire’s history, her family’s impact on Rosebrook Valley, her preferences, and dislikes the professor had researched about her. He soaked up all the information like a sponge and found the more he discovered, the more he liked her as a person and wanted to connect with her directly, and not just because she was his Korrena.

The bond’s pull only added to the fascination and physical desire for her. She looked beautiful, and he wanted her without their biological connection, but it amplified everything. It made him more determined to make this work. The problem with trying to connect with her directly stemmed from the fear of rejection for what he was. He didn’t know if he could handle being called a monster again.

He pulled her close as he left Aiden’s dorm.

Entering the darkened dorm room, Lukas walked to Blaire’s bed and gently laid her down. He stared down at her for the longest before sitting next to her on the edge of the bed.