Page 70 of Through the Water

“Sit,” I offered, ignoring the nervous flutters in my belly as I scooted toward the window. It was the first time we’d been alone together. Technically, it was my first time in my life I’d been alone with a man I cared about, period.

“Want me to get the lights?” Killian asked, watching me with a steady gaze. “I don’t want to keep you up—”

“No,” I begged, taking a deep breath to calm my racing heart and thaw my insides. “I mean, will you lay here with me—just until I fall asleep?”

“Are you okay? Would it be better if I left?”

I patted the empty spot with a shaking hand. “Stay.”

He rolled the table over and sat down, almost immediately shifting as if he was uncomfortable. “What the hell?”

When he stood up and pulled the blankets back, I winced, belatedly remembering what I’d tucked away before his arrival.

“Well, well, well… what do we have here?” He dangled the magazine in front of me with a smirk. “Doing some light reading?”

“Nothing—it’s nothing.” I snatched it from his hand and pushed it beneath my pillow before reaching for the brownie container.

“Nothing,” Killian echoed with a lifted brow. “Right.”

He couldn’t expect me to talk if my mouth was full. With that flawless logic, I lifted the warm dessert to my lips. I’d never had one right out of the oven but decided with the first bite that I’d never be able to eat it any other way.

“How long does it take before the medicine kicks in?”

I swallowed before answering, “Um, it depends. Sometimes, a half-hour, maybe less. I’ve never actually timed it.”

“Do you want to watch TV?”

I shrugged and took another bite, closing my eyes with a small sigh of pleasure. Chocolate was my weakness.

When I reopened them, Killian was watching me through hooded eyes. “Good?” he murmured.

“So good,” I whispered, fighting the urge to moan as the decadent flavors melted on my tongue. “Do you want some?”

“Yeah,” he responded in a gruff tone. Instead of taking the container from my hand, he slid the pad of his thumb along the side of my mouth before popping it into his. “Mmm… you’re right. That’s fucking delicious.”

My eyes went round, and I made a noise that sounded a little like a whimper. The chill I’d felt only moments before heated, sending soft ripples of warmth to my extremities.

“Don’t look at me like that,” he whispered, running his tongue over his bottom lip.

“Why?”

My heart frolicked around my chest as Killian bent his head to mine. “Because I don’t want to rush this.”

His response was simple, but I couldn’t resist looking up at him from under my lashes. The spark burning in his blue eyes left me dazed. Disoriented. Mindless.

For a moment, he just stared at me before cupping my jaw in his right hand and tipping my face up. I wanted to beg him to keep touching me, but I didn’t have the words. His proximity left me excited and achy, but in a way that felt good.

Really good.

Killian’s eyes moved over my face, narrowing slightly when he got to my lips. Just as I became convinced he was going to kiss me, my voice returned. But instead of telling him all the things I wanted him to do, I blurted out the first thing that popped in my head.

“Did you always know you wanted to play baseball?” I asked in a tight voice, overcome by the strongest sense of loss when his hand fell away from my face.

He settled back against the pillows and reached for the remote, flipping aimlessly through the channels as he considered my question. “Yeah…well, I take that back. As a kid, I told anyone who would listen that I was going to be a ballplayer when I grew up. Then, I hit my teens, and those doubts crept in. I just didn’t see it being a lifelong career. What about you?”

“Oh no, I never saw myself playing baseball,” I deadpanned. “I don’t even know the first thing about it.”

Killian playfully pushed my shoulder with a grin. “No, I mean, tell me about yourself. What’s your passion?”

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