“No,” she whispered, shaken by the fact that he’d been with no one.
“Good girl.”
"I've not kissed anyone too, not by choice."
Her confession fell between them and she saw him look at her mouth. "Then, when you choose, it'll be mine."
A sigh left her.
She looked down at her plate of pasta, and slowly took her first bite. It tasted pretty good to her, but she didn’t know if her taste buds were reliable at all. Watching him take his bite, her grip on her fork tightened.
His face showed no reaction, but he chewed slowly, looking down at the plate before bringing his eyes to her. “Did you make this?”
Nerves fluttered in her belly. “Yes. I watched a video and practiced a few times with smaller portions before making this. I...” she hesitated. “I wanted to make a nice meal for us.” Her eyes lowered.
His hand came to her jaw, bringing her face back up. “Make us a meal whenever you want. You’re gifted at this.”
“You like it?” She didn’t know why she needed his approval, why it mattered, it just did.
“Yes.”
A sigh of relief left her as her confidence bloomed. ‘You’re gifted at it.’ She was good at something.
They finished the meal in companionable silence.
Since the moment felt true, honest, open, she risked asking him the one thing that had always blown up in her face. “Is he... is he okay?”
She watched him as he finished his last bite and stood up, taking both their plates to the sink, soaking them in. She took a towel and stood beside him, waiting for him to answer.
“Yes, he’s okay.”
Something heavy she hadn’t known had been inside her lightened a bit.
“You’ve been keeping an eye on him, haven’t you?” she asked, needing to know he was watching over, looking after the one thing between them.
“I have. Just like I’ve been keeping an eye on you.”
Relief unfurled in her belly. When the Shadow Man decided to watch over someone, they were safe.
Overcome with emotion, she impulsively stepped into his back and wrapped her arms around his middle, feeling him still with the plates in his hand.
“Thank you,” she whispered into his back, her voice quivering with so much feeling she felt her chest overflowing with it. “Thank you so much.”
He turned around within her embrace, taking a hold of her face in his hands, his dual eyes blazing on hers. “For you, anything.”
He brushed their noses together in the lightest of kisses, the sensation burning through her entire body. Lyla could not remember being embraced by anyone, had no memory of feeling as safe as she did right then.
“Hold me, please.”
His hands tightened around her and he pulled her in, her face going into his chest, her nose filled with his distinctive, masculine scent, her body full of the warmth of his. He held her close, and listening to his heartbeats, feeling everything she was feeling, she could almost believe he felt it too.