Page 61 of Beautiful Ruins
Always back to her.
I shut the water off and stepped out, wrapping a towel around my waist.Steam fogged the mirrors.The house was subdued in the way that early morning usually was.
I left my bedroom door open deliberately.
After last night, I didn’t want her waking in silence.If she stepped into the hallway and called out, I wanted to hear it.If she panicked, I wanted no barrier between us.
So the door stayed open.
I moved around the room, toweling my hair dry, then tossing it onto a chair.I crossed to the dresser and opened a drawer, pulling out clean clothes but not bothering to put them on yet.
I felt it before I saw her.
That slight prickle between my shoulders.
There were eyes on me.
I turned.
Izzy stood in the hallway just beyond my open door.
Barefoot.Hair loose around her shoulders.Wearing one of the shirts Tone had slipped over her head, oversized and falling mid-thigh.Her bruises were visible in the soft morning light.
She’d clearly meant to walk past.But had stopped.
There was a long, suspended silence.
Her gaze flicked—quickly, involuntarily—over my chest, down the line of my torso, then back to my face.
I angled my head slightly.
A slow grin tugged at my mouth.
“Enjoying the view?”
Her eyes widened a fraction.“Your door was open.”
“I know.”
Another silence.
Charged this time.
She shifted her weight slightly, like she wasn’t sure whether to retreat or stay.There was color rising in her cheeks, but she didn’t look embarrassed.
She looked… curious.
I leaned one shoulder against the dresser, deliberately relaxed.
“You can come in, you know.”
Her gaze sharpened.
“Is that wise?”
“Probably not.”
That earned the faintest smile.
