Page 60 of Erik's Salvation
Maybe they were both right. Maybe she’d be his salvation, and he’d be her ruin.
CHAPTER18
Something kicked at Erik’s gut. Something hard and intense…something he had absolutely no control over. It was like a sucker punch, so brutal his lungs refused to take in the next breath.
Sun shone through the gap in the curtain, telling him it was morning. Telling him he’d slept in Hannah’s bed all night. Not only that, but he hadn’t woken once. That never happened.
Her soft cheek pressed against his heart, and her warmth…it seized him, heating even the coldest part of his chest.
But the thing that really had his muscles tensing was the fact he didn’t want to move away. Because she felt right in his arms. Like a piece of him that had been stolen was finally being returned.
His hands twitched to stroke the hair that fanned over his shoulder. Draw her closer even though she was already so damn close there wasn’t a breath of space between them.
He hadn’t woken with another woman in his arms in…
His heart wrenched at the memory.
Then came the blaring fucking question in his head…why didn’t he want to run right now?
Because he’d already tried to stay away, and that just made him want her more? Because she made him feel like he could breathe, without the burn of pain inside his lungs?
A shrill beep trilled through the air. His brows slashed together, his gaze moving to her phone on the bedside table.
She groaned against his chest, then rolled over and grabbed her cell. His gaze flicked over the alarm—Take your long-acting insulin now, Hannah, or I’ll just wake you again in five minutes.
His lips twitched as she ended the alarm. When she returned to his chest, he almost thought she was going to go back to sleep, but then he heard her breath stop, felt her body tense. Like she only just realized whose chest she lay on.
Slowly, she pushed up and looked at him. There was a moment of quiet where she studied his face like she was searching for… He had no idea what. Something.
“Hey.” Her soft voice dug inside him, igniting a war. A battle over what heshoulddo and what hewantedto do.
“Good morning, Angel.” At least his voice didn’t expose the turmoil inside him. “Do you need to take your insulin before your alarm goes off again?”
“I do. I usually set myself like five alarms because I get used to them and sleep through. When I was younger, Nico used to storm into my room and hit me with a pillow until I woke up.”
Her eyes sparkled as she spoke, and it made too many damn emotions topple over each other in his chest.
Another second passed, and when the moment felt too heavy, he climbed out of bed and pulled on briefs and pants. The second he was separated from her, he felt the loss like he was leaving a part of himself behind.
“Coffee?” he asked in a voice that exposed too much emotion.
Her brows flickered and her bottom lip disappeared between her teeth. “Sure. I just need to check my blood sugar and take my long-acting insulin and I’ll be out.”
Shit. The woman needed food too. His head was a damn mess.
When he only saw the pod machine in her kitchen, he groaned, tempted to go next door and use his café-quality machine. He didn’t. Because then he’d be running, and he was trying like hell not to do that.
Erik heard the soft pad of her feet moving down the hall. He didn’t turn right away, but when he did, he almost wished he hadn’t. She was standing on the other side of the kitchen, hip against the counter, wearing panties and his shirt. The shirt was unbuttoned, so he had a perfect fucking view of the center of her chest.
His legs twitched to cross the room and pull it open.
But then she tilted her head and looked at him like she was dissecting some mysterious specimen.
His brows lowered. “What are you thinking about, Angel?”
She lifted a delicate shoulder. “Just trying to work out which Erik I have this morning. I’m not sure yet.”
He opened a cabinet, finding a lot of pink animal mugs. “What are the options?”
