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Maybe it was just that he didn’t have the first fucking clue what to do with those feelings.
Well. I could bloody well show him. Starting now.
“OK. Well. It is right, for the record. I love hugs. Always have. And you can hug me any time you damn well please,” I told him, closing the last little bit of space between us. I sighed and leaned against him, turning my tear-dampened cheek to his chest, and wrapped my arms around his back. “This is a hug.”
Silar’s body was taut as the skin of a drum. His heart slammed beneath my cheek, like it was trying to run right out of his chest and reach me. A shudder rolled through him, and suddenly his arms were around me again, thankfully with less of that bone-crunching desperation this time.
A little sob hiccupped up out of my throat as I buried my face against him, breathing in his unique scent of dust and sun and Silar. That fragrance grounded me. His warm skin soothed me. And when his hands began to roam along my back, I sighed into the sensation.
One of his hands came up to cradle the back of my head, stroking my hair in stiff, patting motions that became more fluid and natural every moment.
Mama used to brush my hair. No one else had touched it since she’d died. My scalp sang, my neck tingling, and I had to fight hard not to start crying all over again. Because I was sure that if I did, Silar would end the hug in a big panicky huff that he’d done something wrong.
But he hadn’t.
In fact, in that moment, I couldn’t think of anything more right. Being here, with him. Letting him hold me this way.
The moment had to end. Of course it did. But when it ended, it wasn’t because of anything Silar or I did or said.
It was because of Fallon.
“Hello?” his voice boomed from what sounded like directly outside the bedroom door. I nearly jumped out of my fucking skin, and Silar gave a low growl and tightened his hold on me in response.
“Is everything alright in there?” Fallon called through the door, oblivious to the rigid set of Silar’s torso, the furious white burn of his eyes. “Silar, if you are examining your wife for injuries, I should like to know the results!”
“I bet you would,” Silar hissed, glaring at the door.
“Of course I would!” Fallon continued, innocent and undaunted. “You know that I was worried! Cherry,” he said then, apparently switching tactics. “I apologize for what happened. I take full responsibility. I did not even know you were here yet and-”
“Fallon.” Silar’s voice dripped with venomous warning. “We talked about this. Sit down. Shut up.”
“Did you talk about this before or after you wrapped your tail around his throat?” I said, the words muffled against the muscled expanse of his chest. Silar’s hand was still protectively cupping the back of my head and it seemed like he wasn’t planning to let me go anywhere. “And don’t think for a second I believe that ‘It’s a Zabrian greeting!’ bullshit Fallon came up with.”
A tremor went through Silar’s arms. He remained silent so long I thought he wouldn’t answer before he suddenly whispered in a strained voice.
“He could have killed you.”
“His cattle could have,” I corrected him primly. “Pretty sure Fallon didn’t specifically send them on the war path just so they could trample me. Wait…” I paused, my heart swelling up into my throat. “Are you telling me that you almost strangled another man because… because he indirectly almost harmed me?”
“Yes.”
Holy shit.
That… should not have been so hot to me. Especially when the person in question was someone as sweet as Fallon seemed to be.
A sigh worked its way through Silar’s body and he finally let me go.
“I wanted to tell you before,” he said, his vision pulsing white. “I would have told you before the end of the thirty days. I swear it.” His voice went hoarse but his gaze held mine. “Cherry. I am not a good man.”
I snorted at that melodramatic statement.
“Pretty much everything I’ve observed you doing for the past two weeks is in direct contradiction with that statement.”
Silar gaped at me in silence.
“Look. Was it a good idea to nearly choke the living daylights out of what I assume must be our closest neighbour? No. But it was a crazy day. Emotions were running high. You almost watched me die.”
Yeah, still processing that.
