“How about you? Did you curse me?”
“No, and I wasn’t rooting for Lan.”
“Then were you rooting for me?”
“I don’t think so.”
“That means it’s a possibility. I’ll believe that you were cheering me on.”
“Why is that important?”
He lifts a shoulder, but his arm tightens around my middle. “Beats me.”
We remain like that for a while. Seconds. Minutes. During that time, his gaze gets lost in the lake and I watch his face.
This is the first time he’s sort of hugged me outside of sex, and I want to extend the moment for as long as possible.
“I’m going to stay the night,” I announce out of nowhere.
No, actually, I’ve been thinking about it all week long, but I’ve had the courage to say it out loud now.
His gaze slides to me and I can’t help feeling a tinge of discomfort at the sight of the bruises and cuts on his face.
“Why?” he asks, his tone curious instead of accusatory.
“Because I want to.”
“Why would you want to?”
“I told you. Because I want to get to know you.”
“Spending the night won’t allow you to get to know me.”
“Maybe not, but it’s a start.”
And I will fight tooth and nail to get a say in whatever we have.
23
JEREMY
What the fuck am I doing?
None of this is going to plan, and I can’t find a name for whatever ‘this’ is.
It’s as confusing as the girl who’s causing the whole fucked-up change. I hate change, especially when I haven’t anticipated it. There’s nothing more irritating than being in a situation I can’t predict.
I thought I knew Cecily Knight, that I’d found her buttons and identified everything that makes her tick.
But then again, watching or going through her things might’ve been the easiest part of understanding the girl who’s now sleeping wrapped around me.
This scene happened after she announced that she’d be staying the night.
She shouldn’t want to stay the night. I was fully expecting her to run after she saw me pummel her fucking prince. I had every intention of hunting the fuck out of her if that were the case, but still, the fact that she not only didn’t run but also came here early brought about an unwelcome change.
When I felt her presence behind me, I was overtaken by a powerful emotion that was novel to me. Because instead of nursing the fucker’s wounds, she came to me.
She choseme.