Page 241 of Black Reign

His hand drops.

I miss that too.

This is impossible.

I'm sitting beside Xavier Blackwell.

Breathing the same air.

His knee is less than six inches from mine.

I can hear him inhale.

See the pulse at his throat.

Ghost has a pulse.

Ghost has eyelashes.

Ghost has a tiny scar near his right eyebrow I never saw in photographs.

Ghost apparently remembers how I take tea.

How am I supposed to survive this?

He leans back.

His gaze travels over me again.

Hair.

Eyes.

Face.

Hands.

Then returns to my eyes.

Not sexual exactly.

Something deeper.

Wonder.

Like he spent years looking for something he wasn't entirely convinced existed and now doesn't know what to do because it's sitting on his sofa drinking tea.

My chest aches.

“What?”

He doesn't pretend not to understand.

“I'm looking.”

“I noticed.”

“I've waited a long time.”