Chapter Fourteen

He wanted to reach out to her to touch her face, caress her cheeks, and draw her close to himself. He knew she could only feel the passion that was swelling in him if only she was within the embrace of those hands that kept numb at his sides as if everything moral in the world was urging him to keep still.

Ethan was just standing there, staring at her who'd channeled all her efforts into restraining herself from looking at him. He swallowed.

"Aleth?" He managed to say.

Alethia sighed softly. She should have left him be while he was fast asleep, now he'd woken the lion and she had to work out a way to escape from its claws. She turned to look at him, holding herself in a way that suggested that she wasn't fazed by the unceasing awkwardness between them. But she only had to look at his face to lose her composure again.

"Have you had breakfast?" Ethan said. That seemed like a perfect escape, but Alethia was rather surprised by the sudden change of topic. She looked at him for a while bef