Total pages in book: 254
Estimated words: 240032 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1200(@200wpm)___ 960(@250wpm)___ 800(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 240032 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1200(@200wpm)___ 960(@250wpm)___ 800(@300wpm)
And the truth was, she hadn’t been the only one wishing he’d gotten home earlier.
I pressed my lips together, thinking again about that peck that shouldn’t have meant so much to me.
“It’s all right.” The fingers by my jaw slid so he cupped the nape of my neck. “Agnes used to have nightmares, and she’d come knocking on my door with an excuse every time.” I could hear him take a deep breath. “Everything is all good.”
Was it? Because it didn’t feel that way, waking up in the middle of the night, panting like I’d run a marathon. All because someone was invading not just my sleep but other people’s too. Just how many, I had no idea. No one had brought it up, other than Agnes, and I hadn’t wanted to ask and bring attention to myself in case the gnomes were right.
A faint growl rumbled through Henri’s chest. I felt it on my forehead. “You smell like cinnamon again.” Those callused fingers gently kneaded my neck. “There’s nothing to worry about.” I would’ve sworn he leaned in even closer. “We’ll figure out who’s doing it, and I’ll deal with them.”
That had me lifting my head. He was inches from me, and I peeked at him from under my eyelashes. “You’d do that?” I whispered.
The way he nodded made me feel like it was a promise. “I would,” he confirmed quietly.
He wasn’t doing this to protect me, I reminded myself. He would do this for anyone. I had to remember that. Him rushing around to comfort me was going to be a memory sooner rather than later. If this kept happening, I’d wake up with someone else in bed next to me. Someone else would be making me feel better.
I suddenly felt sick.
His scowl came out of nowhere. “What?”
Crap. “What?” My voice came out a little higher than normal.
“What did you just think about? Your scent got stronger.”
He was on to me again. “Just… just thinking about the future,” I tried to keep it vague.
He could tell, and he wasn’t going to let me get away with it, like usual. “Why are you lying?”
Dang it. “I didn’t want to, but I felt like I should,” I answered him honestly. “Just thinking thoughts I shouldn’t be, that’s all.” Not even I believed my BS.
“Which are?”
I shook my head.
There went that half frown, half scowl again.
“Do you bother everyone this much when you want to know something they don’t want to tell you?”
“No,” he replied, watching me closely. “What were you thinking?”
I shook my head some more.
He wasn’t going to drop it. “Tell me.”
“I don’t want to.” I bit the inside of my cheek. “There’s no point, Fluff. Trust me.”
“I do trust you; that’s why I want you to tell me what got you worked up.” Those amber eyes bounced from one of mine to the other. “Trust me.”
I did, damn it.
He said he wanted to know, but I really didn’t believe he was going to want to afterward. He didn’t look away though. He just sat there, touching me, like he hadn’t kissed me and then acted like he hadn’t. Sitting here with every line of his body insisting he wanted honesty. Maybe even needed it.
All right.
So be it. I shrugged. “I was just thinking that in a few months, if this happens, there’ll be some other man in a bed probably just like this one, having to talk me down from this, and... that made me feel disgusting inside, Henri. You’re my friend, and I understand why you don’t want to be more than that. I get that you don’t. I told myself I was never going to bring this up with you again, but… but I like you a lot, and I’m not going to apologize for that.” I tried to smile, but even without seeing it, I knew it was weak. “That’s what I was thinking, Your Hairy Highness, since you insisted on knowing. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
Henri leaned away like I’d cursed his ancestors or something, and I thought… I thought I’d screwed up. That maybe this wasn’t something he could brush off after all. That there was a chance I wasn’t going to be able to smile my way out of this situation.
I tried to think of a way to salvage this and not make it so awkward. He knew I was attracted to him. I’d never been subtle about it, and there was only so much I could hide. Liking him as a person couldn’t be so out of this world he was shocked by it.
Sienna had told me once that love and affection were some of the loudest emotions people could emit.
He’d asked for my honesty, and I’d freely given it, but…. I took in his features, his jaw covered in scruff, his short hair with its shorter sides. I lifted my chin.