Page 65 of Incurably Cupid

Mesmer pulled away and frowned, as if trying to hear something just out of range. “What are you feeling right now?”

“Um, that I’m enjoying being close to you?”

Mesmer cocked his head, listening again. Then he suddenly kissed me, and though he surprised me, I melted into him. He pulled away with a huge, excited smile. “I think I can feel your emotions.”

I blinked at him. Say what now?

He laughed. “Yeah, just now you were surprised. And when we were kissing, you were...” He blushed, shaking his head. “Then when I held you, you felt comfort, peace, and happiness.”

I searched my feelings but couldn’t sense anything other than my own. “Why can’t I feel yours?”

He shrugged. “Maybe you will? Maybe it will just take a bit more time for you to connect with my emotions.”

I frowned. “I’m emotionally stunted, Mesmer. What if I won’t be able to feel yours at all?”

Mesmer picked me up and snuggled me on his lap. I scowled at him because he shouldn’t be doing that—he could open his wounds again. They were just barely healed over. Not to mention all of the internal stuff that was held together by stitches and thread.

He chuckled at my scowl and kissed my nose, then smiled when he listened to my emotions and did it again. I laughed and pushed him away. “Yes, I confess, I love it when you kiss my nose.” I made a face at him.

He started tickling me in retaliation, and I squirmed until he accidentally discovered that stroking my wings made me blissfully boneless.

He kissed my wings, first my left wing, then my right. “Your wings are sensitive, huh?”

If he could do this for about the next fifty years, I'd be ecstatic. "Yeah, yours aren't?"

He shook his head. “They’re a lot less so. For one, my wings are more bat-like in texture. Yours are feathery. And for two, my wings have to be able to lift my stone body into the air, so they’re nearly as thick as a dragon’s wings.”

We talked for another hour or so, cuddling in my bed. My eyes were getting heavier, and I could tell Mesmer’s were as well. “You’re not worried about ravishing me anymore?” I asked with a yawn.

He kissed my nose, felt the answering thrill in my feelings, and smiled sleepily. “No.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Why not?”

Tenderness filled his eyes. “I can feel your emotions now. They’re beautiful to me. But it’s also made me understand that you’re feeling emotionally fragile right now, for a few reasons—not just me—so my strongest desire at the moment is to showeryou with comfort and love without expectations. To just let you adjust and feel stronger again.”

I hid my face in his chest and gripped his tee shirt with a death grip. I’d seriously cried more in the last twenty-four hours than I’d ever cried in my life, but this guy just continued to bust through all my walls. Like every single one.

“Thank you for choosing me,” I whispered.

I peeked at his face, not feeling very brave at the moment, only to find that Mesmer looked pained. He cuddled me closer to him, then whispered, “I don’t think you realize, Indie, what an unbelievable gift you are to me. Thank you for choosingme.”

I fell asleep to the warmth of his touch and the comforting sound of his heartbeat.

Chapter 22

Indie

“Love is selfless.”

Cupid Inc. New Recruit Training Manual

Ifelt someone nudge my arm. I flailed and smacked whatever it was away. I was so tired. Five more minutes.

“Indie,” Mordecai hissed. “It’s time.”

I sat up so fast it made my head spin. “It’s time?”

Mordecai nodded. “I’ll wait outside to lead you both there.”

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