Page 40 of Inked Temptation
I knew Killian was there. It was hard not to know he was there because I could feel his presence. But I did my best not to look up right away. Instead, I gave lavish praise and attention to the puppy in front of me before I forcibly pulled my gaze up to look at Killian.
He stood there, dark circles under his eyes, blond hair disheveled. His beard was coming in, but he needed to oil it or brush it or something. He looked unkempt, not groomed, and he shouldn’t look sexy.
But dammit, he was like catnip to me like that.
There was something wrong with me.
“Hi,” I said, surprised my voice sounded so calm, because I was anything but calm.
“You came back,” Killian whispered.
I couldn’t help but think about Beast saying that to Belle, right before Beast died and turned into an uglier version of himself. There was probably something inherently wrong with me that I had always found the Beast hotter than the human part of him, but I wasn’t going to go down that path anytime soon.
“I did. Work.”
“Yeah. Work.” Killian cleared his throat, and that’s when I noticed that his hands weren’t empty. Instead, there was this little carving of a dog in play. I just blinked at it.
“Did you do that?” I asked, not knowing why I was even asking.
Killian nodded. “Yeah. I couldn’t sleep, and I like to do things with my hands.”
I met his gaze, and I saw the heat there before he banked it, and the fact that it mirrored mine worried me.
“Oh. It looks great.”
I stood up, not realizing I had still been kneeling this entire time and moved towards him under my own volition.
“Is that Cora?”
“It is.” Killian cleared his throat and handed it to me. “It’s for you.”
I nearly dropped it as I looked up at him. “What? Why?” I cursed under my breath. “Not that I’m not thankful because it’s amazing. The detail? I can’t believe anyone could do this with their hands.”
“I see the work you’re doing on this place. You have skills, too.”
Again, the innuendo, but I ignored it.
“Nothing like this, though. This is beautiful, Killian. But I’m confused. Why did you make this?”
Killian looked down, steeled himself as his jaw tightened. “To say sorry.” He looked up at me.
I looked at those eyes as ice washed over me. “This better not be for the kiss,” I blurted, hating myself, but I needed to say this. I did not want to be the one that got kicked again. “Don’t give me an apology carving made with your own hands for the kiss. Please.”
I deserved better than that.
“It’s not,” he growled out, his jaw tense. “Because I yelled. And I was an asshole. I’m an asshole a lot, but you didn’t deserve it after all that. You let me speak my truth, and then we kissed. I didn’t handle it well, and I’m sorry for that.”
Killian moved forward then, and I looked up at him. “Oh. You didn’t have to do that.”
Killian looked at me then and reached out, sliding his finger along my jaw. “I think I did, Archer.”
And then he lowered his mouth to mine, and I knew I was making a mistake that I wasn’t going to walk away from.
