Page 43 of Glitter Rose
“I fucked up.” His hand falls to the mattress between us. “The timing, the way I asked?—”
“The way you treated me like your dead fiancée’s replacement?”
His face hardens. “Low blow, princess.”
“Stop calling me that!”
“Why? Because it reminds you that you’re hiding up here while the world burns?” He gestures around my bedroom. “Living in your tower like none of it matters?”
“Fuck you!” I try to get out of the tangled sheets.
He catches my wrist, not roughly, just… holding. “Stop.”
We stare at each other, breathing hard. His thumb brushes over my pulse point, so gentle it burns the anger away.
“You’re not her replacement.” His voice is barely audible. “You’re nothing like her.”
“Great. Thanks.”
“Sarah was… practical. Tactical.” His fingers tangle with mine. “You wear glitter during the apocalypse and talk to telescopes.”
“Is that supposed to make me feel better?”
“I’m saying you make me feel something I didn’t think was possible anymore.” He rests his forehead against mine. “And it scares the shit out of me. And I tried keeping mydistance, but it’s not working. Would you please think about it? It’s either you coming with me or me staying here.”
Knox? Staying here?
“You’re shitting me.” I drop my gaze. “You can’t?—”
“Can’t what? Make my own choices?”
A laugh escapes me, half-sob. “You’d really stay? For what—for me?”
“Yes.”
“Or you’d take me with you?”
“Yes.”
“What if your people hate me? What if I’m useless out there?”
“Then we’ll figure it out.”
“I—”
“Look at me.”
I raise my eyes to his.
“I’m not asking you to decide right now.” His eyes dart between mine. “But I’m not leaving without you either.”
“Okay.” I nod repeatedly. “I-I’ll think about it.”
“Good.” Something dims in those gray eyes, and he rises.
“Wait.” My hand shoots out, catching his arm. “Where are you going?”
“Couch.”
