Page 184 of Star Claimed Omega
He approached with quiet, prowling steps.
He placed a single white lily on the surface in front of her.
The flower gleamed under the overhead light, delicate and fragrant, a soft contrast to the man who brought it.
She neither spoke nor gazed into his eyes.
He turned and stalked out with the same silence he used to enter her space.
The air seemed colder in his absence, and she shivered.
After a beat, Soleil reached forward, her fingertips brushing the stem.
She lifted the bloom and brought it to her nose.
The scent was gentle, fresh, and sweet.
She let out a slow, quiet breath.
Then she found an empty vase behind the register.
She filled it with water and set the lily inside, even as its perfume lingered in the atmosphere like a memory that did not hurt for once.
31
Chapter 31
SANTIAGO
Each morning, Santi waited forherat the far end of the corridor outside her suite.
He never interrupted her flow, never called her name.
He remained a still figure in a black tactical coat, hood up, arms crossed over his chest as station lights flickered above him.
He kept vigil like clockwork, his internal rhythm synced to hers now, not the station’s.
The first few days, she walked past him like he didn’t exist, back stiff, her spirit still wounded and hurting, resisting his doggedness.
Santi didn’t flinch.
He took it.Ate it.
Because he deserved worse.
Over time, however, he sensed a shift.
She didn’t address him, nor meet his gaze, but she ceased resisting his presence.
That somehow exacerbated his agony because even as she softened, Santi suffered.
Every second, so close yet so far from her was pure punishment.
Fokk, he missed her.
To see her and not touch her was agony; still, he bore it without complaint.
He hated that he’d had to stand by while she moved her shit to a new pad on the ground floor of the workers’ dormitory.
