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“Thank you, Sebastian,” she echoed.

“You’ll be okay, Daphne,” he said as he rose to stand, and my hand tightened on Daphne’s. I didn’t need reminders that my fiancée wasn’t fucking okay.

When I heard the door click shut, I spoke. “You’ve been avoiding me.”

Her hazel eyes went wide, like she wasn’t expecting me to call her on it. “No, I haven’t.”

“Yes, you have.”

Her knee bounced a little before she steadied it. I knew that habit. She was trying not to stomp her foot in frustration. “I’ve been trying to figure out what’s wrong with my stupid power.”

I leaned closer, using my grip on her hand to pull her toward me. She went without protest, and I felt a wash of pride. “Wewillfigure out what’s wrong,” I promised, before adding, “I’m finally done with clean up duty.”

Daphne’s mouth parted slightly. “Clean up duty?”

“Not the best look,” I said, moving closer. She wrenched her hand free of mine to cross her arms over her perfect breasts, but she didn’t move away. “Having an explosion like that happen on my watch.”

“You were the one who saved them.” Daphne sucked in a breath when she finished speaking, almost like she didn’t intend to defend me that earnestly.

“Wouldn’t have even been a close call if I wasn’t distracted.” I leaned forward more, unable to resist crowding her. Not when she was taking it as well as she was.

“Why were you distracted?” And then I mentally jumped for joy when she reached up to push her hair over her shoulder.

She was nervous. It could have been residual from Sebastian’s checkup, but her breathing hadn’t kicked up until we were alone.

“I’m exhausted, Daph. No sleep means I don’t think straight.”

Daphne looked down to where our legs were practically intertwined. Her delicately sandaled feet against my worn boots. “We can’t afford any more problems.”

The words were cautiously placed into the air. And that’s when I knew I had her. “No, we can’t. Not with an explosion and not with your health. So what are we going to do about it?”

I let her squirm a little, visibly fighting with herself on whether she should say it. I basked in it for a second before saving her. “You need to get back in my bed.”

Daphne searched my eyes and face, taking in my features while her brain worked through the pros and cons. When my brilliant plan emerged as the winner, she took a deep breath in. “Fine.”

“Glad you see the value in this,” I prodded, relishing in my win.

“You might not be saying that after tonight,” Daphne said, tilting her chin up and eliminating even more space between us. “If you wake me up at dawn, I’m throwing water on you.”

“Sounds like a great morning wake up, if you ask me.”

Daphne’s eyes narrowed, her gaze dropping to my mouth for one glorious second. Then she chose the high road and pushed away. “Ugh, I’m going to regret this.”

“Looking forward to it, baby.”

Frustration, blushed cheeks and all, bloomed on her face and I felt like I’d just taken on an army of five hundred to one and came out on top.

Sleeping in my bed was the least she could fucking do after leaving me to toss and turn like a fish out of water for a damn year. And if it healed her, I’d strap her down until the fear of losing her ebbed.

As much as I wanted her back with me, it would probably feel like torture. It always did before. Until the moment I fell asleep, I would be consciously trying to hold my hands close to my body, to stop myself from reaching for her.

I wouldn’t touch her unless she asked. She did it once, she could do it again.

Even if it was torture, I’d still won. And seeing her writhe under defeat would always spark the same triumph it had when we were children, trying to see who could get the biggest rise out of the other.

Every other task I had to finish for the day all of the sudden seemed easy, just meager blockades to getting what I wanted.

I stood, extending my hand to help Daphne rise with me. She took it, laying her fingers in my palm and gripping lightly. She popped up a little too fast for how close together we were standing, and I had to steady her with my hands on her arms.