Page 14 of Purple Protector (Eiloren Clan #3)

IT WASN’T THE FIRST time Birch and Aaron shared a meal.

In fact, they’d been sharing meals since Aaron had moved into Birch’s rooms. Birch hadn’t initially wanted Aaron to go to the dining hall in case he was attacked, and Aaron couldn’t say he’d minded.

He liked spending time alone with Birch, and he could never have enough of it.

So he enjoyed spending time with Birch in Birch’s rooms and sharing meals with him there. Birch always had more than enough food brought up, almost as if he was afraid that Aaron wasn’t eating enough. He was taking care of Aaron, and Aaron loved it.

He glanced at Birch, who was frowning at his plate.

These days, that expression was often on Birch’s face.

He was worried because he still hadn’t found Aaron’s attacker.

Aaron was worried, too, but only because he wished he could go back to a normal life.

The only thing he enjoyed about this one was that he was spending a lot of time with Birch, and he hoped that even after the attacker was caught, he could continue doing so.

He hadn’t mentioned it to Birch, but he thought that he was being pretty obvious about it.

Birch was trained to notice things, so he’d probably noticed Aaron’s feelings.

Or maybe not. So far, he’d been nothing but friendly. That could mean he didn’t know how Aaron felt about him, but also, more simply, that he wasn’t interested.

The thought made him want to cry. If Birch just wanted them to be friends, Aaron would take it, but he really hoped there would be more to their relationship than that.

“Are you sure you don’t want anything else?” Birch asked, leaning into Aaron’s space.

Aaron quickly swallowed the bite of chicken he’d just put into his mouth and shook his head. “I’m fine.”

“Because I can get someone to bring more food or go myself.”

“I haven’t been exercising a lot, so I don’t need a lot of food.”

Birch grimaced. “I’m sorry about that. It’s not safe for you to leave these rooms until we know who’s after you. If you feel that you need to, though, I can organize something. Maybe you could take a walk with me and Marlin?”

Birch gently touched Aaron’s hand as he spoke.

He’d been doing that more often lately, and Aaron couldn’t help but wonder what it meant.

Birch hadn’t been like this before, not even when Aaron had first moved into his rooms. It had been just over a week since then, and unless Aaron was mistaken, Birch was taking every opportunity to touch him in some way.

More often than not, it was their legs pressed together under the table, a squeeze of the shoulder, things like that.

They woke up tangled around each other every morning, and Birch never seemed to mind.

Aaron was a cuddler, and he couldn’t stop himself.

As long as he and Birch shared a nest, he would wake up plastered against Birch.

There were also small touches like a stroke of Birch’s finger on Aaron’s cheek to say hello in the morning, a touch to Aaron’s hand like now.

Aaron wanted more, but he didn’t know how to ask.

He was afraid that he was reading too much into it and that Birch was like this with everyone, even though he knew that wasn’t true.

He’d seen Birch with Marlin, Killian, and Hedley.

He cared about them, but he never touched them like this—easily and carefully, as if he was afraid to break them.

No, that was reserved for Aaron, and even though it was hard to believe that Birch would want him like that, Aaron wanted to.

He wanted what Birch was offering without words.

He just wasn’t sure he would be brave enough to take it.