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That concentration, the pure kind that came from her, was dangerous.
The kind of danger that a man would die to have.
“Long story short,” he said and then smirked when she frowned in response. She really did like to hear his stories. And he would tell her all the boring details eventually, but he wanted to get to the part that mattered.
“It was part of a mosasaur. It was actually several intact vertebrae—”
“André!” she said excitedly. “That’s amazing!”
“You know what a mosasaur is?”
“Uh, duh.” She made a face. “Giant lizard that ate sharks.”
He laughed and pulled her in for a hug. When he pulled back, her eyes were shining.
“That’s so cool,” she said. “Did you find more?”
He wagged his head back and forth. “I won’t be there for the rest of it, but I still get credit for the first part.”
Her happiness on his behalf made his heart pound. How could he feel both happy and sad at the same time?
Because this was what he’d wanted, and now that he was getting it, it felt too good to be true.
“André,” she said softly, her eyebrows dipping in concern.
“Yes?” he asked, knowing he wasn’t hiding his complicated feelings the way he wished he could.
“What’s going on?”
“It was the most exciting day of my life, Nik. And I had no one to tell.” He swallowed and his heart thundered in his chest. He could do this. He could be vulnerable without expectation. He could confess to her and let it exist for what it was.
“The only one I wanted to share it with was you.”
Her eyes scanned his face, probably looking for the lie.
But she wouldn’t find it because it just wasn’t there.
She didn’t say anything, which only made him want to take back what he’d just said. Claim it was a joke or that he’d had too much wine despite him not having any wine at all.
But he had promised himself that he wasn’t going to run away anymore.
And if he couldn’t keep this promise to himself, then there would never be a reason for anyone to believe anything he ever said.
It had to start with him.
And it had to start now.
She placed her hands on his shoulders and then ran them up to the back of his neck. She pressed her cheek to his chest, and he wrapped his arms around her. They continued to sway to the music until the song ended.
He took her hand and led her back to their table, but he didn’t take a seat with her.
He needed a minute.
She caught his hand before he walked away.
“Are you leaving?” she asked. Panic washed through her features, and he hated himself in that moment. That’s what he’d taught her to expect from him, wasn’t it?
“No,” he replied solidly. “Unless you have a strange impulse to hurdle a few hedges. In which case, please count me in.”
