Page 83 of Ramshackle
My heart skips.
“Rae, I…” He pauses, his face lined with concentration as if all the things he wants to say are firing rapidly through his head, and he’s struggling to pick one at a time. “Thank you.”
Even though my head’s fuzzy with his proximity, the words shock me enough that I immediately fight them on reflex. “What? No, you shouldn’t—”
His palm covers my mouth again. “Let me get this out. I’ve been meaning to say this to you since we got you back, but you’re either recovering or not alone.”
I offer him a short nod, but he doesn’t remove his hand.
“I never thanked you for saving me that time in the lab. I know…the result of saving me messed everything up between us, but you were doing it for me. And then…when you were with Gordon…all of that was because you chose to save me. You had to go through everything because of me. You gave yourself back tohimto save me and the others and to give me a chance with Vera.”
I try to argue into his hand, but his fingers press more firmly to keep me quiet.
He’s making me sound like more than I am.
It was simpler than that.
“You’re amazing, Rae. The strongest person I know. You’ve been through hell and come out stronger. Only you could turn everything on its head and stand taller because of it.”
His hand slides away, but his fingertips linger along my jaw. My cheek.
“I’ve said this before, but I’ll say it again. I don’t deserve you in my life, but I’m a selfish fuck and I want you anyway.”
I stop breathing.
His fingers slide under my ear, weaving into my hair at the nape of my neck.
His face draws closer.
“Rae…” he breathes.
My lips part on instinct. Maybe in the hopes of him resuscitating me, because I’ve gone numb with shock.
Did he say…he wants me?
But what about Vera? What about everythingbadI’ve done? Those couple of things can’t possibly outweigh everything else. I must’ve misheard him.
My chest tightens. “You…want me?”
My words don’t stop the measured crawl of him closing the distance between us. He moves in slow motion, his lips edging closer to mine while all I can do is fall into his molten gaze.
“I—” he starts to answer, and then the door whips open. Bright light pours over us, eclipsing the warm glow of the room. Fresh air sweeps in, inducing a cool shiver to run through me.
“Oh, dear. I thought I heard someone in here,” a female muses.
Dane jerks back. He climbs to his feet and snaps at the woman, “And that gave you permission to barge in? There’s no lock on the door. We were fine.” He helps me to my feet next, and I’m careful to put some space between us.
My heart is still jumping around my chest, but the fresh air is clearing my mind. I don’t know what was happening in there. He thanked me. And then…he was going to kiss me.
And I would have let him in that moment. I wasn’t going to stop him.
But now that I can think again, I remember the reasons why I shouldn’t. He may see some glorified version of me right now, but I know he’s only looking at one side of me. And I can’t forget what I did to his sister.
He knows I’ve been with Kellan, too, but that wasn’t stopping him.
“Rae?” I jerk my head up to find the woman gone and Dane watching me worriedly. “Is it what I said? I’m not taking it back. I meant every word in there.”
He reaches toward me, and I step back. His face falls.
