She flinched at his words and his heart clenched. He wanted nothing more than to reach across the table and take her hand, but they weren’t there yet.
“What you don’t realize yet, little bird, is that I’m not going anywhere unless you are with me. I know there’s a lot going on in that head of yours, but the one thing that you don’t have to worry about is if I will ever leave. I’m not going anywhere, little bird. Not until you tell me to.”
Her wide grey eyes were filled with shock, her mouth slightly parted. Her knuckles were clenched against the edge of the table, and he couldn’t resist the pull anymore.
Slowly so that she didn’t spook he reached across the table and ran a finger over her knuckles, watching as the tension slowly slipped out of her. Flowing out of her as if his touch had a calming effect.
Like she did to him.
“Mark, I don’t know … What I mean is … Just …” She huffed out, a frown pulling at her beautiful eyes, and she reached up to rub at it.
He withdrew his hand, the ache in his chest growing, and sat back, waiting, giving her the time to gather her thoughts.
“I don’t know if I can give you what you need. I’m worried that I’m not going to be enough for you,” she whispered so softly that he almost didn’t hear her.
“Winter. Little bird, look at me.” She raised her head looking up to him and he could see it all. The confusion, the fear, but most importantly he could see the hunger.
“I’m not rushing you. I’m here whenever you are ready,” he said softly as tears came to her eyes. He was just about to get up and go to her side of the booth, fuck if she was ready, he couldn’t handle her tears, but before he could their waitress returned.
Winter’s body went tight, and she quickly wiped at her eyes.
“Are you guys ready?” the waitress said in a peppy voice.
“Sorry we haven’t had a chance to look yet,” Winter said quietly, reaching for her menu. Her face had closed down and he didn’t like it, but he didn’t know what to do about it.
He didn’t know how to tell her that he didn’t want the waitress, without scaring her or causing a scene.
“Ahh honey, you need to hurry up! A man like this wants his food.” The waitress giggled and touched his shoulder.
He was watching Winter and hadn’t been prepared for it. Hadn’t had a chance to mentally brace, but as the waitress reached out and laid her hand on his shoulder, he felt his gut roll.
“Five minutes, please.” He grunted, shrugging out from under the waitress’s hand, and she huffed and walked away.
“Um … I have a question,” Winter asked, eyeing him intensely.
He nodded to her to continue, trying to get his heart back under control, as he reached for his own menu, even though his appetite had disappeared after the waitress had touched him.
“Why is it that when people touch you, you flinch?” she whispered, and he stilled.
“What do you mean?”
How did she know?
He thought that he had been really good at hiding it.
“When we are in a store and someone accidentally touches you, you flinch, or your jaw gets tight. Like you … I don’t know … It’s like it, I don’t know I just was wondering. Sorry.” Her head turned down towards her lap, and he internally cursed himself and his reaction.
In the last year she had been gaining confidence, and it was very seldom that she got down on herself. Like right now.
He didn’t like it.
He wouldn’t let her dip down into her cycle just because he was too much of a wuss to tell her the truth. He looked around the restaurant, the faces of the other people in the restaurant.
This wasn’t a place for this kind of talk.
“Winter, look at me,” he said, his words firm, as he turned back to her.
Her head came up her eyes shining with her hesitation. One day she would meet him head on. She would hold her head up high. And he couldn’t fucking wait.
