Page 141 of Marvelous

My vision narrowed.

I didn’t know how, but Talia must have sensed me coming, because she looked over her shoulder at me and visibly sighed.

Relief swam in her oceanlike-colored eyes.

I made it to her, wrapped my arm around her waist, and pulled her body into my chest, then, I glared at the prick.

He caught my glare, and then he nodded and moved away.

I watched him go, and for a few moments, I left my hand where it was, feeling her body pressed into mine, couldn’t help but for a brief moment to take into consideration how fucking right she felt there.

I released Talia, and for a split second, I caught it.

She had stayed pressed against my body.

But... one of us had to be the one to ruin it.

This time... that had been me.

“Shouldn’t wear such revealing clothes, you don’t want the attention,” I said.

And then cursed my moronic, stupid fucking self.

Because her body had gone tight.

I caught it.

I saw it.

And on the way back to the table, I kept picturing the look of hurt in those eyes of hers.

Eyes that were so much like her siblings, but eyes nonetheless, that seemed otherworldly to me.

What I didn’t know... was that my careless words were going to have an impact on her.

A colossal impact.

One that I would’ve traded my left nut to have stopped.

***

Because if there was one person on this planet, I never wanted to look at me with fear in her eyes... it was Talia Vienna Griggs.