“But with you...I don’t have to worry. You’re ironclad. And no nightmare in the world can rob you of that.”
I dropped my gaze. I didn’t feel ironclad, not around him. I felt...soft. Breakable. As bare and unprotected as the apple he’d skinned that night in Oceansgate.
Time for another subject change.
“Iamstubborn, though,” I said. “Which has never helped me with the nightmares.”
“I wouldn’t call you stubborn. You’re more like...strong-willed.”
“Come on.” I leveled him with a look. “I’m difficult.”
He cocked his head. “I believe ‘spirited’ is the word you’re looking for.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’m prickly.”
“You’re assertive.”
I puffed out a breath. “I’m a handful. Too much.”
“Well,” he said. “As one handful to another, I think you’re just enough.”
My pulse misfired, robbing me of words, even though his claims were ridiculous. I knew I wasn’t in danger of winning any personality contests anytime soon.
Still...a dark thrill flickered against the backdrop of my quickened breathing.
“You’re welcome to keep going.” His eyes flashed a challenge. “I could do this all night.”
“You’re impossible,” I said.
He laughed. “Well. That much might actually be true. Now, if you’re fresh out of self-deprecations, why don’t you tell me what you dreamed?”
The thread unraveling from my nightgown became newly fascinating. But I had no reason to hold back. He already knew my secrets. “It was...one I’ve had before. Lots of times. About my parents leaving me.”
“Ah.” He slid his arms down over my knees, hooking my thighs, pulling me closer. His torso was like a slab of hot stone pressed against my shins.
The contact woke something inside me, heat uncurling from some haven deep within my bones. Each nerve sparked like a shooting star.
Briefly, I closed my eyes, overcome by the rivers of sensation coasting through me. Goddess, I was fucked. Royally so.
Pun definitely intended.
“Your parents were idiots,” Kyven said.
“That’s the thing, though,” I said breathlessly. Better to lose myself in protests than in him. “They weren’t. They were just normal people whose kid made them miserable. It’s no surprise they got rid of me.”
“No. If they were miserable, it was because they’d decided to be. It had nothing to do with you.”
I paused. “Is that really what you think? That life is just...what you make it?”
“It’s what I know.”
“That sounds too simple.”
“The truth often does.” His head tilted, his cheek heating my kneecap. “And once you realize that, your parents won’t be able to touch you. Neither will the nightmares. Neither will I, for that matter. You’ll have everything you’ve ever wanted. Anything you desire.”
Anything. For some reason, my focus dropped to his mouth.
A mouth that now lifted under my gaze. “You’re a force of nature, lioness. Once you embrace that, nothing will stand in your way.”
