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He locks his jaw and stands, hauling me up with him. “You can never know that.” He drags me away from the table.
“My food!” I whine.
“I’ll buy you more. When you’re in your room. Which you won’t leave again until Liam is behind bars.” He stomps out of the cafe, pulling me along behind him, a bit too aggressively.
“Ow,” I mutter.
He releases me like I burned him and puts a foot between us. “I’m sorry, Amelia.” The guilt on his face is more pronounced than it should be. He’s scared to hurt me.
“It’s fine,” I say quickly, following him across the street.
“No, it’s not.”
The tension between us is an extra person on the sidewalk and people dodge around the three of us like we are carrying a deadly disease. Every step feels like a mile. We enter the hotel lobby and he falls behind, probably to ensure I don’t try to run away again. A bellboy shoots the brooding giant behind me a funny look but makes no effort to intervene on my behalf.
I hit the elevator button and wait, tapping my shoe with impatience. I can’t handle this kind of silent contention. The elevator dings and I step inside; Caleb follows. I feel every inch of his presence behind me. I want to lean in and run far away at the same time. The doors close us in silence and I can’t take it.
“If you want to say something, just say it.” I whirl on him.
His frown deepens and he steps around me, hitting a button on the keypad. The elevator stops.
He spins around, trapping me against the wall of the elevator with a hand on either side of my body. My hands find his chest and I can feel his racing heart beneath my right palm and his quick breaths against my neck.
He grabs my face with two hands, a slight tremor in them. “I told you not to go anywhere without me,” he says, but the torment in his eyes begs a hundred more pleas on his behalf.
My knees buckle as the impact of his words floods my veins with an irresistible warmth.
“It isn’t safe.” His voice is so low I can barely make it out above the pounding of my heart. “And I need you safe, Amelia.”
It’s so close to I need you, Amelia.
“Nothing would have happened.” I try to comfort him.
He clenches and unclenches his jaw. “You don’t know that. You see the good in people, but I’ve witnessed the bad. I was so scared when I couldn’t find you.” His hand moves to cup my chin and his thumb brushes my bottom lip. “So scared.”
His lips land on mine, scorching every inch of my body with the barest touch. I was made for this man. I feel it in every breath of his kiss. And he was made for me. Even if he can’t admit it out loud. For now, I’ll take what he can offer.
I drag my hands through his hair, tugging him closer to deepen the kiss. He presses me harder into the wall of the elevator. He’s rough and tender at the same time. Biting and caressing. Afraid to hurt me, but unable to restrain himself. I love this version of him: the one that’s kind of lost, the one that doesn’t have everything under control, the one that is starting to crack, allowing me entry into his sacred soul. But as fast as the fissure opens it closes. He spins away and hits a button, making the elevator move again.
“I can’t let you get hurt, Amelia. I won’t.”
“You can’t make that promise.”
“Yes, I can.”
I know what he’s saying. He won’t be the one to hurt me. But he already is.
He doesn’t look at me again as the elevator doors open and he leads us to our rooms. When he gets to mine he doesn’t wait for me to invite him in, he walks in and sits at the desk, then stares at me.
I cross my arms over my chest. “What?”
“I guess I’m going to have to keep my eyes on you since I can’t trust you not to leave this room.”
There goes my high from that kiss in the elevator.
He can’t trust me? He’s the one who always walks away. Is he comparing me to his father right now, always leaving him? I know this is different, but that’s what his accusation feels like. His dad didn’t know what he was walking away from. But I know what’s waiting for me when I return. A man who is passionate and patient. A man who wants the best for me but doesn’t know he deserves the same.
“I’ll always come back,” I whisper.