Page 24 of Let Me In

Just offering.

Just staying.

The breeze shifts. I brush my hair back from my cheek and tuck it behind my ear. The sun lights the edge of the ridge like it’s blessing the moment.

We don’t talk more. We don’t need to.

I lean my shoulder a little closer to his—not quite touching. Not quite daring. But near enough that he would feel it if I leaned just a bit more.

And I think… maybe I will.

Just not yet.

I glance at him again and find him already watching me.

Not intensely.

Just… soft.

Like I’m something he might be learning by heart, if I let myself believe that could be true.

And this time, I don’t look away.

His eyes don’t shift either.

Then slowly—so slowly—I feel his hand brush against mine again. My heart stumbles, then kicks hard against my ribs.

Not with fear.

With feeling.

With the quiet thrill of being touched like I matter.

A light touch, not grasping, not insistent. Just… there.

And then it moves. Not to take. Not to hold.

But to trace.

His thumb passes over my pinkie. Pauses at the knuckle.

A faint scar. Barely visible unless the light hits just right. The fading sun catches it now, glinting across the old line of pale skin like it’s a map he’s memorizing.

I swallow. “Caught it in a car door when I was a kid. Always been a klutz.”

His thumb moves once more, slower this time. Like the scar is something worth understanding.

“Doesn’t look like clumsy to me,” he murmurs. “Just looks like you survived something."

The words slip beneath my skin before I can guard against them. My breath catches—quiet but sharp—and something in my chest tightens, like the ache of being seen for the first time. Not pitied. Not dismissed. Just… recognized. I don’t even realize I’ve been holding myself tense until the warmth of his hand makes me soften, just slightly. Cal doesn’t react to the shift in me with surprise or question. He just stays exactly where he is, like he meant for this all along.

He doesn’t say anything else. Doesn’t ask.

He just shifts his hand.

Lets his fingers fold gently around mine.

Big. Strong. Callused.

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