"Oh, I'm not screwing you," I assured him.
"Aspen first," he agreed, stealing another kiss. "Then Keir." Hismouth wouldn't stop, and I liked the way he kept talking, kissing, and then talking again. "I'm patient, Rain. Or at least I'm going to be."
Those words were what made me pull back, desperate to see his face. "What?"
He groaned again, looking away. "I did it again, huh?"
"Yeah, kinda," I admitted. "Hawke, what is going on?"
"You're human." He said it like an answer.
So I made a circular motion, encouraging him to keep going. "And?"
"And you expect things to happen fast. Your entire lives are a hurry. Rain, I'm eighteen years old. I have centuries ahead of me. Time to make decisions, make mistakes, and then learn from them. I have no reason to think I'm going to miss out because you're figuring things out."
Ok, and now I was even more confused, so I took a step back. "What does that mean?"
He followed, refusing to let me run away. "It means I'm fae. True fae, Rain. Not like Keir." He murmured as if that wasn't quite right. "Keir's a pureblood, but he grew up here. His thoughts are from a culture of immediacy. Mine aren't. I learned it's always a long game. I need to plan for the goal I want, not the quick gratification. A little magic can get me that, but there's only so many options I can burn through before I have none left."
"Not really clearing things up," I pointed out.
So he scrubbed his face. "I'm trying not to think with my dick."
"Gotcha." I caught his hand. "See how much easier that was?"
"And I do like you," he went on, ignoring my snark. "Rain, you make me nervous, and I'm not used to that."
"Me?"
He nodded. "You." Lifting his free hand, he cupped my face. The one I was holding, he shifted so our fingers could lace together. "When I saw you facing down the Huntsman, I decided I didn't want to ignore this. I wanted to impress you, but you're hard to impress. I can't use magic to do it, because yours is just as strong. I can't use muscles, because Keir's already done that. I can't make you laugh, because it's what Aspen does. I'm trying not to walk all over my friends, but it's not working, so when you brought me up here, I screwed up. I wasn't ready, so I..." He sighed. "Yeah."
"Keir knows you kissed me," I warned him.
He actually chuckled. "Yeah, he kinda told me I should."
"So does Aspen."
"She told me to first."
The guy had his head tilted down, but his eyes werestill on me. It made his lashes look so thick, and his eyes? Ok, I had a weakness for that warm brown color. Combined with the almost-smirk stuck on his lips? My pulse was already moving faster than normal. Now it was moving lower.
"But it's ok to like you, right?" I asked, just needing him to reassure me. "I mean, I don't want to be the girl who leads people on."
"Do you like me?" he asked.
Biting my lower lip, I nodded. It was small, more of a slightly-embarrassed jiggle than anything. "Yeah, but it seems I like lots of people."
"Aspen," he said like he agreed. "Keir?"
"Maybe."
That made him wince. "Oh, that's clearly not a maybe."
"Ok, yes!" I relented.
"And Wilder?"
I kinda shrugged. "I don't really know him, but rumor has it the two of you are a thing."
