Page 39 of Storm Bound
“It… it wouldn’t be fair on me,” I explained. “I’ve been craving your-your touch, your lips, your…everythingsince the day we met. And then we drew the line there. But we kissed, anyway. And our kiss has been imprinted on my memories, my fantasies, my every waking moment. If I get so d-desperate for you after a kiss, what’s going to happen if I kiss you again? If you let me... touch you? If you let me be with you? I-I can’t in good conscience do this to myself for a fling that can’t go anywhere.”
I was so proud of myself for even managing to articulate properly, let alone actually say exactly what was on my mind.
Yet, the more I said, the more Charlie’s face brightened, which said something, considering we were in the middle of a tropical storm in a house rumbling from the effects of it and lit only by a small lantern.
“I didn’t realize,” he said.
I shrugged and tried not to show how affected I was by his warm smile. Or how desperately I wanted to kiss him, despite my fears.
“It-it wouldn’t be professional to tell my nurse I want him,” I said.
Finally, he released the hold he had over me with his intense gaze and looked at the floor again.
“I’ve been... trying to reason with myself over and over since that day. I’ve been…” He sighed. “It’s not been easy being in relationships. Not even with doctors or nurses…Especiallywith doctors and nurses. So I promised to protect myself from harm by making that my hard rule.”
His voice was low and uncertain. Nothing like the dominant daddy he’d been a few moments ago when I was still under his control.
“Is that because of your limp? That’s just ridiculous,” I said.
“Uhm… yeah, I know.” He didn’t even look at me.
Had people been so cruel to him because of a condition he had no control over? Because of something that was so common? Any doctor or nurse would know that.
“Give me their names and numbers, and I’ll call them to tell them to fuck off back to hell,” I said.
His green eyes illuminated the darkest patches of my soul, and I almost lost any resolve I had.
But I restrained myself.
It didn’t stop me staring back, though. We sat there, face to face, my heart beating wildly, and I waited. For what, I didn’t know.
Someone to come and rescue me from this torture? Maybe.
“So… friends?” I asked when things inside the house stilled for a few moments, before creaking again.
His eyes narrowed, but he didn’t respond.
“Are-are you okay?” I asked.
“Yeah… Just trying to think of… reasons why this would be wrong,” he said, licking his bottom lip but staying otherwise still.
“And? Come up with any you want to share?” I whispered.
“None. No,” he said. “You’re different. I can tell. You’re not like the others.”
I would normally jump at the mention of being unique and different, but I didn’t know what it meant in this context, and I was too intoxicated by his gaze to think clearly.
“Sorry,” he shook his head. “I was just thinking out loud. You’re not like the others, are you? You wouldn’t hurt me?” he asked and sounded so vulnerable it broke my heart a little.
I shook my head in response. “Never.”
“Then I’m not just using you for a night,” he replied, and his head tipped slightly to the side, leaning forward.
I did, too. I could be making a big mistake. For all I knew, he was just saying that to get me to sleep with him. But I also knew his concern and insecurities were genuine. So if he was lying, he was adamngood liar.
If he wasn’t?
Oh well, I was a sucker for a good liar as my recent dating record indicated.
