Page 44 of Apex of the Curve

“Okay, in all fairness, I’m really tired and lunch was a long time ago,” I said with a rueful smile as I polished off the first rib and picked up the half an ear of corn from the edge of my plate.

“Finish up and take yourself upstairs and get ready for bed while I tidy up down here and I’ll come tuck you in.”

I felt my expression soften and a smile grace my lips.

“That sounds really awesome,” I confessed.

“Good deal.” He nodded.

I finished my meal and it really was good. We chatted while I finished up my cider, lips faintly burning from the slightly spicy barbecue sauce that’d been in a sticky slather on the meat.

Finally, when I was yawning just about every other sentence, Fenris shooed me away from the kitchen bar.

“Off you fuck,” he said kindly. “Go get ready for bed. I’ll come up in a minute.”

“Okay,” I murmured gratefully as I drifted toward the stairs.

I fetched down a clean towel from the closet in the hall and thought about how it had only been around a month or so ago that I’d woken up in this strange place unexpectedly and how off-putting it had been. A wry smile twisted my lips as I thought to myself, my how some things change.

I grabbed my nightgown, went into the bathroom, brushed my teeth, clipped up my hair so it wouldn’t get wet, and took a quick shower to wash off the day.

I scrubbed my face twice to get the worst of my makeup off and knew I would still have to finish up with micellar water on a cotton pad around my eyes. My mascara and eyeliner could sometimes be stubborn.

Fenris knocked on the bathroom door as I stood dressed in my nightgown in front of the mirror and finished off my nightly beauty routine with a little toner.

I opened the door and he leaned against the frame. His height should have been imposing but it wasn’t. I mean, not anymore.

“Whatcha doin’?” he asked.

“Just taking the rest of my makeup off and using a little toner on my skin.”

He smiled a bit, almost shyly and said, “I suppose if I told you that you don’t need all that, you’d scoff at me.”

“Right now,” I said, straightening and gathering up my used cotton pads from my makeup kit, “absolutely. I don’t usually wear a full face, but the stress has waged some war on my complexion and I’ve needed all the extra help I can get.”

“I wasn’t lying when I said you were beautiful, downstairs,” he said, and I looked up at him.

“I’m happy you think so,” I said softly.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

A strained silence stretched between us, full of promise and desire. His eyes gravitating from mine to my lips as he clearly considered kissing me and I swear to God, that simple flick of his gaze just mere inches lower caused a hitch in my breath. I held it, rendered absolutely inert as I wished he would go for it.

I simply wasn’t brave enough to make the first move which sounds silly! I know! I just… I just couldn’t, though.

How soon was too soon?That ever-present inner voice, full of speculation ceased quickly by the one filled with derision. Too soon and what will people think?

What would people think, indeed? There was a certain unfairness to that considering the circumstances. It wasn’t as though Charles had died… he’d just left me. Cheated on me, used me as cover from the word go, a lie… I was just a lie. All of it was a lie.

“Let’s get you tucked in. You look like you could use another good night’s sleep,” Fenris declared quietly.

He wasn’t wrong.

“Okay,” I murmured and took his hand. He gave mine a little squeeze and led me across the hall, guiding me in front of him through the door.

The bed had been turned down for me and I felt the tightness of anxiety in my chest loosen some.

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