CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CLARK’S POV

For a full second, I stood still just staring at her.

Eva.

In a hotel robe too big for her.

Barefoot.

Eyes soft with worry and something that looked like fear or maybe longing.

And her voice…

“I can’t sleep.”

It hit something deep and unguarded inside me.

I opened the door wider.

“Come in.”

She stepped inside slowly, like she wasn’t sure if she was allowed.

She shouldn’t be allowed but I closed the door anyway.

Her fingers tugged nervously at the robe belt and she wouldn’t look at me.

I took a slow breath.

“Nightmares?”

“A little.”

“What else?” I asked as she hesitated.

Her chest rose and fell quicker.

“I don’t… I don’t like being alone in a strange place,” she finally whispered.

“It makes my mind noisy.”

Her voice cracked on the last word.

And that was it….that tiny crack…that tiny vulnerability.

It broke every barrier I had left.

“Sit,” I said gently.

She lowered herself onto the edge of the bed, legs curled under her, robe falling loosely around her knees.

Her skin glowed under the warm lights, hair messy from tossing and turning.

I sat in the chair opposite her, putting a deliberate distance between us.

“Do you want to talk?” I asked.

She shook her head.

“Not really.”

“Do you want silence?”

She nodded.

And so we sat…just breathing the same air.

The silence wasn’t empty…it was thick, heavy, charged.

Her eyes kept darting to me, then away.

My own restraint felt like a rope burning in my palms.

After a long stretch, she finally whispered,

“Thank you… for earlier.”

“For debunking the rumor?”

“For not letting me panic.”

I leaned back.

“I told you….It won’t be your fault. Ever.”

She looked at me…her eyes were big and soft and full of something I didn’t want to name.

“Why do you get so… protective?” she whispered.

Because you’re trouble for me in ways I can’t explain….because your sadness affects me..because I care more than I should.

I badly wanted to say it but I swallowed hard.

“You’re under my responsibility,” I said carefully.

“It’s natural.”

She scoffed.

“You’re lying.”

My jaw tightened.

“Eva..”

“People don’t look at their soon to be sister in laws the way you look at me,” she said quietly.

That pulled the air from my lungs.

Her voice… her honesty…

It disarmed me.

“Eva,” I said low,

“you’re misunderstanding…”

“No,” she cut in gently,

“You are.”

Her courage startled me every damn time.

She moved slightly closer on the bed…barely an inch, but I felt it like gravity shifting.

“I know when someone cares,” she whispered.

The room felt smaller, hotter and unbearably intimate.

I forced myself to stay still.

“You should sleep,” I said finally, voice tight.

“It’s late.”

She nodded slowly but didn’t move.

“Can I stay here for a bit?” she asked.

It was a simple question but yet a dangerous one.

“Eva…”

“I won’t come close,” she whispered quickly.

“I just… feel safer here.”

The irony wasn’t lost on me.

I was the one she needed protection from.

Still, I nodded.

“All right…for a little while.”

She gave a small relieved sigh and curled on her side, still at the very edge of the bed, facing away from me, hugging a pillow.

I remained in the chair, watching her breathing slow… steady… peaceful.

Minutes passed.

There was something strangely calming about it.

Her vulnerability.

Her trust.

Two things no one ever gave me easily.

Eventually, her voice floated into the quiet.

“Clark?”

“Hmm?”

“Are you ever lonely?” she asked as my heart stalled.

What kind of question was that?

I opened my mouth to deflect but for once, I didn’t.

“Yes,” I said softly.

“Sometimes.”

She shifted under the blanket.

“Me too.”

“Go to sleep, Eva.”

She didn’t reply.

But after a few minutes, she whispered so softly I almost missed it,

“You don’t have to be lonely.”

My head snapped up.

“What?”

But she was quiet.

Breathing deep.

Slow.

Fast asleep.

I stood, walking toward the bed slowly, even though I had no reason to.

Her eyelashes lay softly against her cheeks.

Her lips slightly parted.

Her hand rested near the empty space beside her.

An ache formed in my chest.

I brushed her hair gently away from her face.

She didn’t wake.

She only sighed and curled into the pillow like she wished it was something..or someone else.

I stepped back quickly.

I knew I needed sleep, I needed distance and I needed….

A soft buzz cut through the silence.

My phone lit up from the desk.

A message.

From Rachel.

Eva’s sister.

Rachel:

Are you awake? We need to talk….It’s important….It’s about Eva.

My stomach dropped.

And before I could even respond, another message came in.

One that froze the blood in my veins.

Rachel:

Don’t tell her I messaged you….Just answer me..Does she seem… attached to you?

I looked toward the bed.

At Eva.

Sleeping in my room.

In my bed.

In a robe.

After saying I didn’t have to be lonely.

My throat tightened.

Another message appeared instantly.

Rachel:

Clark, please.

I need to know before I do something I can’t undo.

Undo?

Undo what?

Before I could type a single word, she sent one more message.

A short one.

A terrifying one.

Rachel:

She can’t fall for you….Do you understand? She can’t because you are mine.

My hand froze around the phone.

My heart rate increased….as my heart thundered in my chest.

What was Rachel thinking and why the cryptic messages.

Then Eva shifted slightly in the bed, her voice soft, unconscious:

“Clark…”

I turned sharply toward her.

And everything inside me twisted.