Page 54 of Rhaz's Redemption
“If you don’t like them, you can burn them. That is what they’re made for after all.” Rhaz ran a nervous hand through his hair as he looked to me then back at the leaf in my hand.
“No, it’s beautiful,” I assured him, but my words weren’t very convincing.
“Something’s still wrong, isn’t it?” He asked in a soft tone.
“It’s…” I tried to think of how I could put this feeling into words and I just couldn’t.
“I…”
“This is…” I looked at the pile of leaves that had been delicately folded into star shapes and sighed. “Everything you’ve been doing is so wonderful.”
“If that were true,” Rhaz began slowly. “Then why do you keep looking at me as if I am not someone to be trusted?”
There it was. I thought I’d been hiding my feelings under my smiles, but I guess not. Rhaz could read me like a book and I wasn’t sure how I felt about that either. It made me feel laid bare and vulnerable in ways I wasn’t ready for.
“I hurt you,” he began again. “And trust isn’t earned in a day. So it’s alright that you don’t share my affection. You don’t have to, not now, not ever. I just want to make you happy.”
His head was hung low in defeat and even his tail looked sad as it trailed through the dirt.
“I do like the things you’ve been doing for me,” I confessed. “You’re wonderful.”
“Beatrice,” Rhaz purred my name in a low tone and stepped closer to me. “There’s more to it than that. I can see it in your eyes. There’s something you’re not telling me and I’m dying to know what you’re thinking.”
“But what if it’s bad?” I asked and chewed my bottom lip.
“I have earned your ire. Whatever secrets lie within your heart, I wish to hear them. Please,” he begged.
I chewed my bottom lip and looked at the pile of leaf stars again. “I’m afraid to love you back.”
Rhaz opened his mouth to speak but I put a finger to his lips. “I’m afraid that all these nice things you’re doing for me are just to win me over, and that you’ll stop doing them once we’re together.”
Rhaz took a step back as if I’d punched him, and I immediately felt bad. I didn’t want to hurt him. I turned to walk away, but Rhaz grabbed my wrist and forced me to turn and face him.
There was pain in his eyes, and that intensity that was always simmering just under the surface.
“I like doing things for you. It doesn’t matter if you love me back. You don’t ever have to love me back, but I will never stop doing nice things for you.” His words were soft and reverent and full of genuine honesty.
“Why?” The question slipped from my lips before I could stop it. I wasn’t usually so bold, but fuck it. I was on an alien planet trapped in a ravine with a male who was supposed to be my mate. So why not?
“Why?” Rhaz cupped my cheek in his large blue hand and looked down at me with a softness I’d never seen on his face before.
“Because whenever I look into these beautiful brown eyes, I see the entire universe. I see everything that ever was and everything that ever will be. When I see you, I see someone who is smart, beautiful, wise, and kind, and I want to be the male who is worthy enough to be called yours. Maybe not today, and maybe not tomorrow, but someday I want to be worthy enough to be yours.
Rhaz’s words took the breath right out of me. I…I wanted that too. I wanted to be with him. But the question remained, “How do we move forward?”
He looked down at the food he’d prepared for us and said, “let’s start with dinner.”
His statement was so logical and simple that it made me laugh. We would go forward one step at a time, and right now the next step was dinner.
“I can do that,” I smiled.
We sat down on the log together and he passed me a fruit bar and some nuts.
“When we get out of here I’ll make you a proper dinner,” he promised.
“I’d like that.”
Rhaz picked up one of the leaf stars he’d made and held it up. “To getting out of here.”
