Page 23 of Exile

“Okay.” I rubbed my arm and smiled gently. “Me neither. I wanted to read by the water.”

He didn’t react to that. He simply stood there, his eyes burning into mine.

I understood.

He wanted me to leave.

A tight smile spread on my lips as I stepped closer to him. “Thank you for letting me celebrate your birthday with you. Even if it was yesterday.” I hesitated before pushing up on my tip toes and kissing his cheek quickly.

Without awaiting his response, I turned away and left his house.

Like it always had when we were distant, my heartbeat went crazy. I took a deep breath and looked over the water, unable to steady my pulse.

Walls were built around him, and getting to him wouldn’t be easy.

But today showed me that he was capable of letting me closer.

He was slowly letting me in, and with all the patience in the world, I would carefully get to know him better.

Chapter 6

DARWYNN

I hadn’t seen him in two days.

After baking him that birthday cake and watching him eat it with furrowed brows against his will, I decided to give him some space. Caspian wasn’t the kind of man you could push. If he wanted to talk, he’d find you. And sure enough, he did.

I was sitting by the water, the sun low in the sky. The non-fiction book I’d picked from the general store wasn’t giving me the satisfaction I was used to from the usual romance novels I read, but I wouldn’t let any book go to waste.

The quiet was nice and peaceful, but I heard footsteps behind me.

“Got a minute?” His low and raspy voice was unmistakable.

I turned, smiling up at him, surprised to see him. “Of course.”

He took in the spot next to me, trying to decide if he wanted to sit on the cold stone or if he’d rather stand. I patted my hand on the ground, smiling up at him. “It’ll warm up once you sit on it.”

He grunted and finally sat down next to me. The book I had given him with the Polaroid pictures inside was in his right hand, and we both looked at it as the small waves crashed into the shore.

When he held the book to me, I set the one I was reading aside to grab it. “Did you like the pictures?” I asked, looking up at him,

He gave a quick nod. “These are pretty damn impressive.”

My smile widened, pleased with his words. “Thanks. I wasn’t sure if they’d be your thing.”

“They’re not,” he said bluntly, then added, “but they’re good. Really.”

I flipped through the book, glancing at the photos. “Do you have a favorite?”

He reached over and flipped to a page in the middle of the book, tapping on the image of a misty forest. His hand brushed mine for a fleeting moment, and shivers ran down my spine. “That one. Feels like the kind of place you’d go to disappear.”

“That’s what I loved about it, too,” I admitted, watching him closely. “The whole trip was like that, really. Finding places where it felt like the world just…stopped.”

He nodded, his gaze distant. “I’ve had moments like that. Rare, but they stick with you.”

“Like on a set?” I asked, testing the waters.

His eyes flicked to me. He didn’t look amused, but he surprised me by what he said next. “Which movies of mine have you watched?”

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