Page 39 of The Edge of Never

“Kind of hard to show you without exposing myself,” they murmured.

The possibilities floated through my mind, and all of them had me shifting against Kit.

“Where exactly are they?”

“On my chest.” They turned their face back towards mine. “Wait, you didn’t think I had them like… down there, did you?”

It was my turn for my face to grow hot.

“No.”

“You’re lying.”

“Am no lying.”

Kit narrowed their eyes.

“Not that I have anything against them, but I don’t want any there myself.”

“I didnae think ye did, Kit.”

Their name slipped out of my mouth without me thinking about it.

I let go of Kit’s hands. I hadn’t realised I was still stroking their thumb. The moment I released them, I wanted to hold their hands again. To feel their soft skin all over mine.

What the fuck is wrong with me? I’m losing my fucking mind here. What are you doing to me, Kit? Seriously… what are you doing to me?

Thirteen

Kit

This man and his damn accent would actually be the death of me. There was something about the way he pronounced my name. It sounded like Khet rather than Kit. And it melted my insides. Coupled with all his touching, I was coming undone at the seams. The way he cuddled up to me, holding me as close as possible, was so at odds with how he’d treated me these past few days. Sure, Thane made it clear he wanted to keep me safe, but this… I didn’t know what to make of the stroking and the softness in his green eyes. He always looked so severe, like the weight of the world was on his shoulders, but right then, Thane was, dare I say it, relaxed. It was a sight I didn’t want to ruin, not now we’d called a truce.

“Well, that’s enough about me. Tell me something about you.”

The thought of carrying on our conversation about my tattoos made me nervous. I’d been tempted to show him the one on my chest. And if we kept talking about it, I might well do that. It was an intimacy I was afraid to share with this man.

We were in a set of circumstances neither of us wanted to be in. Forced together by the need to survive. I was already very up close and personal with him. If I bared my sternum to him, we’d cross a line I didn’t know if we could come back from. And whether I even wanted to.

Getting close to someone terrified me. I didn’t know if I could trust myself. Not after Sienna shat all over our friendship like it was nothing and the past twenty-five years meant fuck all. Loving the wrong person for most of my life made me reconsider a lot of things about myself. Like how could I be so naïve?

I wanted to blame it all on myself, but Sienna had been supportive of me. Had been there for me. But now I was wondering if that was real. If I had mistaken her care for manipulation to keep me on her side. Who the fuck knew. Thinking about it made my head hurt. It made everything hurt, so I shoved it back in a box where it couldn’t cause me pain. I would have to open it and deal with the emotions one day, but it wasn’t today.

“Me?”

Thane looked perplexed at my request.

“Yeah. Can be anything. Like what you do for fun, but also, I never asked how old you are.”

His frown made me close my mouth.

I’d shared things about myself. Wasn’t it only fair he did too? Not like we had much else going on. It was snowing outside. We had no phones. Nothing to keep us occupied except for each other. There weren’t a lot of things two people could do beyond talking. Any other ideas I might have were most definitely off the table.

“I dinnae like talking aboot mahself.”

“You know, I hadn’t noticed with your sunny disposition and all.”

Maybe I was baiting the bear a little with that one. Thane didn’t get to ask me about myself without giving me something in return.

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