Kieran’s hands flexed around her hips in an attempt to keep her still. Every breath caused the subtlest of motions where their bodies met, but it was enough to have him worried. He’d gone so long without relief that the anticipation alone might unman him.
“I think from the first time I saw you,” he said honestly. “But I knew for sure that day when you held my hand at the Open House.”
Her eyes widened and she shifted her weight. “And you’re just telling me this now?”
He closed his eyes and tried to fight the compulsion to roll her over and claim her as his body demanded. She was sick. Her body needed to heal, and she needed time to adjust to the bombshell he’d just dropped on her. His mind parroted the same phrases back to him over and over again as he struggled to regain some semblance of control.
“You weren’t ready to hear it before. Now you are.” It sounded good. He wasn’t about to admit that he’d simply been too afraid to tell her for fear of scaring her away.
Faith stared deeply into his eyes, searching. Her fingers curled again, though she didn’t seem to be aware of it; he was fairly certain she didn’t realize her inner thighs were contracting on either side of his hips, either.
He was, though. He liked it. Too much. Didn’t she know that every minute of every day she owned another piece of him? God, he couldn’t wait until he felt those nails scoring his back, those legs wrapped around him in blind, mindless passion.
“You sound very sure of that,” she said.
She didn’t believe him; doubt clouded her soft gray eyes.
“I am. Because now I know you feel the same way.” His voice, growing huskier with each passing moment beneath her, was almost a growl.
She stilled above him. Fear and disbelief etched her features, and he knew with absolute certainty that he had been right. Faith knew there was something special between them. What he didn’t know was why she was so afraid to admit it.
“And how do you know that?” she asked, her voice a frightened whisper.
“Because,” he said gently, needing her to understand this if nothing else, “you never would have trusted me with the truth if you didn’t. If you didn’t want more, there would have been no reason to tell me any of that.”
She remained perfectly still as she processed that. The feel of her beneath his hands was distracting. With much difficulty he pried his fingers from her hips and propped his hands beneath the back of his head, daring her to disagree. It was a risk letting go of her like that, but he wanted her to know, and to accept, that the next move was hers.
He watched in awe as several emotions flitted across those expressive gray eyes even as her facial expression remained relatively neutral. Fear, followed by surprise, then acceptance. He would always know what she was thinking by her eyes.
After several moments, those little claws flexed again and he saw a sparkle in her eye that hadn’t been there before. The knowledge that he had been the one to put it there turned half of his mouth into a decidedly masculine smirk.
“You’re very arrogant,” she said with a twist of her lips. “I haven’t seen this side of you before.”
His smirk became a full-fledged grin. “I can be very arrogant when it comes to you, Faith. Simply knowing you love me makes me feel invincible.”
*
Faith couldn’t quite wrap her mind around that. Surely she was dreaming, an erotic, romantic fantasy brought on by her recent fever. It must have returned with a vengeance while she was napping.
He certainly felt real enough, all warm and hard beneath her.
Some unseen barrier between them had been breached, and there was no going back. She needed time to process it. Faith couldn’t fully accept Kieran’s declaration any more than she could accept what was in her own heart, but she couldn’t bring herself to openly offer resistance to his presence or the things he tried to do for her, not after he’d said those words.
So she said nothing. To his credit, neither did he. He seemed to understand. He didn’t pressure her for the same words, or even validation, and she was grateful for that.
They snuggled on the couch and watched some DVDs together. She caught Kieran snooping through her sketchbook when she went to take a bath, but was secretly pleased when she saw him smiling as he turned the pages.
He made a couple of business-related phone calls, too. Faith tried in vain to suggest that he should go take care of whatever he needed to, that she’d be fine, but he refused to leave her, saying he could take care of everything he needed to over the phone.
He waited on her hand and foot, ensuring she drank enough fluids and rested, even making her soup and tea throughout the day. She couldn’t remember ever feeling quite so pampered. As unfamiliar as it was, it was also very nice.
After several hours of resisting Kieran – something that proved to be impossible under such an onslaught of tender care – she finally gave in and just tried to enjoy it. For more than two months, Kieran had been a constant presence in her life - always helping, listening, making her laugh. In the past two days, Kieran had shown Faith more gentle care than anyone ever had.