He shrugged. "Did you like it?"
She let out a shaky breath, smiling. "I loved it. Wow..."
He licked his lips, looking down.
"This was the best one so far," she said. "Thank you. Send it to me."
"Already did."
She moved forward and placed a soft kiss on his cheek. He turned his face toward her and kissed her on the lips. When they parted, she sighed in bliss.
Seated in the same position again, she waited a few moments before asking, "Did you mean it?"
He stared at her. "Of course."
She gulped, her smile fading. "Who hurt your eye?"
His jaw locked, but he didn't look away. "You don't wanna know."
"You can't decide that. Tell me."
He sighed closing his eyes for a few seconds. "I did it."
She resisted the urge to react strongly and kept her tone casual as she said, "How?" Her heart banged against her chest.
He shrugged. "Does it matter?"
"It does to me."
He shook his head, then looked at the sky for a moment and said, "I wanted to feel the pain somewhere else."
She stayed silent, lost for words. She couldn't decide how she felt or what his words meant.
He gulped and looked at her again, his face frowning as he said, "Giselle, would you choose to stay if I confessed something?"
She nodded.
"It's not something you'd like hearing. I've done terrible things."
She smiled and reached out to place her hand on his arm. "I'll stay."
Vulnerability didn't scare her. It didn't matter to her what he'd done in the past. As long as he knew the path ahead and the difference between right and wrong, she didn't care what his past circumstances made him do.
He gulped. "What if I tell you that you're not safe with me?"
Her eyebrows merged at his words. "Stop acting like one of those main characters from the overdone trope in cliché books, where they end up being incredible, all the while underestimating themselves. Like, I don't know,Edward Cullen."
His face scrunched up in confusion.
Giselle cringed. "You're not a vampire, are you?"
He blinked. "What?"
"You know... The morally-gray trope."Stop rambling, idiot! He's not Chris who gets all your lame jokes."No? Oh, never mind."
He stayed silent, waiting for her to respond to his earlier question.
She heaved a sigh, "I know I'm safe with you, Xav."