The first glass of wine did not have the intended effect, unable to bring Galenor back to me.
So, I served myself another one and when it finished, I poured a third.
Things started to look blurry, and my eyelashes fanned heavier down my cheek with every sip I took. The concern building through my bones started a dance with the alcohol in my system. My feet were heavy, ankles pumping with ineptitude and anguish and my neck struggled to keep my head upright. When the familiar sound of the lock unsealing the door finally tickled my ears, I jumped into action and ran into the kitchen, preparing my spirit for what was to endure. My eyes for what they were about to see.
I bumped against a hard chest, a heavy weight forming a barrier to prevent my advance and I looked up, readying my fighting stance. They would not keep me away from him.
Not this time.
Emerald eyes blinked at me with relief and curiosity, a small smile curling unbloodied lips.
“Galenor,” I wrapped my arms around his neck, pressing myself tighter against the hard body. Instantly, heat pooled around me, his returning embrace spreading warmth across my skin. The combination of his closeness and the wine rushing through my blood almost made me pass out from relief.
“You’re okay,” I exclaimed happily, taking only a step back to scan his body, to check for unseen wounds. Not enough to leave his embrace though.
First things first, he was standing, he wasn’t bleeding, and he was smiling. All good news in my book.
“I am okay,” he murmured, an octave dropping from his tone with the new meaning those words had for us.
“I’m so happy,” I let a deep breath out, joining my chest to his again and closing in the distance between us for another hug. This time, a tighter one. A truer one.
His arms wrapped around my body as his chin dropped to my shoulder to rest. Galenor gave himself a moment to inhale. The air filling his lungs inflated his chest and pressed him tighter onto me, our heartbeats joining in a symphony of caresses. Our hands started wondering on the other’s back, taking in this moment and the safety settling around us. We did not know how long it would last, but we were both safe. Together.
We could at least have this night.
“Are you alright?” I unpegged myself from his arms enough to study his body again, as if I couldn’t trust my eyes the first time and needed a second inspection.
He nodded, eyes dropping down to his chest.
“It was a talking day today.” As he spoke the words, he too realised our unsettling situation, how our first instinct had pushed us into an embrace and took a small step back. Not enough to fully distance himself from me, but further away from my arms.
On their own accord, they released Galenor’s shoulders and dropped around my body, forcing my brain to push my legs into a step back of my own. I took another one, separating myself even further from the fae, suddenly realising that this sort of closeness shouldn’t be allowed with a subject, no matter the assignment, but the alcohol running through my blood had the mission to wrap me in humiliation.
As I was taking the second step, my ankle turned wrong and my feet stumbled against one another, forcing me to lose balance. As my vision was slightly blurred and my reactions delayed, I did not have time to catch myself on something before I landed on my ass. On the floor. At Galenor’s feet.
“Ouch,” I frowned, squinting from the pain. Once more, long arms wrapped around my body and hoisted me up, the fae lifting me from the floor with a chuckle as if I was a sack of potatoes.
Mortified, I hid my face in his shoulder, unwilling to look at him and enjoying the soft tickles his hair performed on my skin.
“Are you okay, muffin?” he jiggled my back slightly to force me to look at him and, not having another choice, I did just that.
Wide, curious and glinting eyes blinked at me. A curl of his lips followed my movements as I lifted my gaze to his. And started laughing.
I let out a deep sobbing laughter, my eyes tearing up and my stomach drilling with contorting pain, so much that I had to double down onto Galenor’s body again because I couldn’t stop myself from letting it all go. All the worry, all the anxiety, the sudden joy his closeness brought on me. The happiness I felt in that moment, all wrapped up in his arms. Even though it must have proved pretty difficult to keep hold of a woman contorting herself with laughter, he did not ease his hold on me for one second, keeping me tightly pressed into his arms. Where I was safe.
He did try to calm me down a few times by saying my nickname, but when I did not respond, his lips murmured my real name, sealing that connection we had both forged, yet neither of us was willing to recognize.
“Ellyana, are you…” his regard slipped from my lips to the room, then returned to me once more. “Drunk?”
I snickered, proud of myself. “Maybe…”
The chuckle rumbling from Galenor’s throat did things to my body but echoed deeper in very particular areas. My brain took that exact moment to remind me that his skin was brushing against mine, that his torso was basically shoved into my left boob and that my pussy laid so close to his face.
I turned crimson, the wine in my system sending pulsations all across my body, from my cheeks down to the part of me I really wanted this male to pay attention to.
“Put me down,” I swallowed a dry gulp, feeling guilt washing over me. It was weird how the alcohol hit in the most annoying moments. Where was this happiness and relaxation when I needed it? When I spent hours watching the door and hoping for him to get back uninjured?
“Ellyana…” his eyes scanned me knowingly, probably sensing my desperate need for him. No, no, my need to be away from him.
