“Don’t,” he ordered firmly with a low growl but the gentleness in his words was unmistakable. “Never think that. It holds no truth in it and never will.”
I blinked, stunned by the intensity in his eyes and the honesty in his words. My cheeks grew warm under his scrutiny and my gut twisted in tingly knots.
“I’m not in pain because I’m repulsed,” he whispered, his thumb brushing my cheek with aching tenderness. “It’s because being near you makes it impossible... to suppress what I’ve been feeling... what I feel now.”
My breath hitched, heat creeping up my neck. There was no lie in his voice, no hesitation in the way he looked at me like I was something precious, something his. Yet the idea was too unrealistic to fathom.
In what reality would anything he said possibly be true?
Slowly, cautiously, I reached up to hold his hand that rested against my cheek. His touch was making it hard to think and it felt like I was falling thoughtlessly into his essence.
But then, it played right in my e
