Page 59 of The Bound Blood
“You’ve been looking at me like I’m worth knowing since the first day. And I don’t need you to have all the answers. I just needthis. Whatever this is.”
I blink hard.
“Linds…”
It’s all I can manage. Because her words hit places I don’t let people near. Places carved out by years of being the one who fades into the background. The one who supports from the sidelines. The one who keeps his head down and his heart guarded.
But with her… I want to be brave.
“I’ve thought about kissing you a hundred times,” I whisper. “And when you did it—whenyoumade the first move—it didn’t scare me the way I thought it would.”
She leans closer again, resting her forehead against mine.
“What scares you now?”
“That I’ll never be able to stop. Or I won’t be good enough for you.”
It’s not suave. It’s not slick. But it’s true.
Her breath catches, just enough to make me think they were the right words. Then her hands slide to my waist, holding me likeshe’sthe one groundingmenow.
“You are enough. And you never have to stop,” she murmurs. “I’m not going anywhere.”
I close my eyes for a second, just to feel it. Her. Us. This impossible moment stitched together from trauma and healing and everything in between.
“I want it to be right,” I whisper. “And I want you to know that I’m all in. Even if I fumble through every second of it.”
She smiles, and it’s like the sun breaking through the frost.
“I don’t mind fumbling,” she says, kissing the corner of my mouth again. “Not if it’s with you.”
I don’t know where the words come from.
Maybe it’s the way she’s looking at me—like I’m not just the background noise anymore. Maybe it’s the heat still lingering from her kiss. Or maybe it’s just the crash of everything we survived finally settling in my bones and making me realize that I don’t want to waste another second.
“I know a place.”
Her brows lift just slightly, the barest tilt of curiosity.
“It’s not a bedroom,” I add quickly, rubbing the back of my neck. “But no one really goes there. It’s quiet. Private. We wouldn’t be interrupted. Unless you’d… prefer a bed.”
She stares at me, eyes wide for a beat, and I immediately start second-guessing myself.
“I mean,notthat I’m assuming anything,” I rush out. “Just—if we needed more—comfort, or blankets, or—God, I’m messing this up.”
But then she laughs. Really laughs. And it’s not mocking—it’s warm and breathless and just for me.
“You would’ve taken me right here in this dark little alcove if Auron hadn’t shown up, Nolan,” she teases, brushing her fingers lightly along the edge of my jaw. “Don’t pretend you suddenly need a bed.”
I go red. Full-body, forehead-to-collarbone red.
“I—wastryingto be respectful,” I mutter, even as her laughter makes my heart feel like it’s blooming.
She leans in close, lips brushing my ear.
“I waswillingto let it happen in this alcove,” she whispers. “Doesn’t mean we can’t go somewhere a little more… horizontal.”
I swallow hard. My brain stutters. My entire body tries to combust.
