Page 59 of Beauty Beneath the Sorrow
“Yes, I am,” she answers with a small voice, her tone noticeably embarrassed.
“That’s all you had to say.” I hold my hands out into the darkness as my sight adjusts. “I thought you were here to continue what went on in the rain earlier.”
“We’re friends, right?” I nod, but before I can speak, I feel her small hands slip into mine. “Thank you.”
I rub the inside of her palm with my thumb. “Do you want to stay with me until the storm passes?”
“You don’t mind?” I can’t see her beautiful face, but I can sense the tension in her muscles releasing. “I know it’s stupid, but I’ve always been likethis.”
“It’s not stupid, and no, I absolutely don’t mind.”
Then I hear an unexpected light chuckle from her. “It’s fucking freezing in here. What do you have the temperature at?”
I rub my lips together, stifling laughter. “I need to be cold to sleep well.”
Lina’s hands slowly slip from mine. “Apparently.”
I flip on the light in the bathroom, illuminating the space. “I only have a king, but you’re welcome to sleep here until you feel comfortable returning to your room.”
Lina’s eyes dart between mine and the fluffy comforter on the bed. “No funny business,” she playfully warns.
“We slept together perfectly fine when you were sick.” I smile.
“I’m not sick now.”
I reach out and gently twist a piece of her wavy blonde hair. “Do you think things have changed?”
“We’ve always been this way.”
“I know”
“We’ll be fine,” she says in an upbeat but unconvincing voice before crawling onto the bed.
Watching Lina fold herself into my bed, I have to fight with my dick, burying the urge to throw her arms around my neck and cuddle her body into mine.She’s Brian’s daughter,I repeat under my breath. We can’t be together. With what I did at the masquerade ball and the kiss this evening, we’re playing a dangerous fucking game.
I inhale deeply, turn off the light switch, and then round the other side of the bed. While lying down, I keep my back to her. She barely moves, but the thick silence in the room is deafening. Only a brief moment later, a dense rumbling of thunder subtlyshakes the windows. I feel Lina stiffen on the mattress.
“Carter?”
“I’m right here,” I speak over my shoulder, still trying to maintain distance.
“The building isn’t going to collapse, right? I mean, the storm isn’t that strong, right? We’re so high up.” Panic laces her voice. Wow, she is petrified.
Against my better judgment, I turn toward her. We talked about this, and I’m already going against it. Thinking she was still facing the wall, I am surprised when I come within inches of her face. “No, I don’t think the storm will cause the building to collapse.”
Small puffs of her breath feather my lips as she chuckles. “I know that sounds ridiculous.”
“Try to get some sleep.”
“Okay, you’re right.”
Less than a minute later, another loud crash of lightning and the banging of thunder hit the windows again. Lina comes at me with force. Before I realize what’s happening, her body is flush with mine, and her face burrows into my chest.Fuck. My muscles are frozen.
I quickly give in, resting one arm around her back and propping my head up with the other.
“Sorry, that was a reflex,” Lina apologizes, starting to back away.
I apply gentle pressure on her shoulder blades, keeping her in place. “Stay.”
