Page 50 of Savage Blooms (Unearthly Delights #1)

She led Eileen into the drafty kitchen by the hand and put the gooseneck kettle on. Eileen’s skin tingled where Nicola touched her, searing her flesh with the impossibility of tenderness.

Nicola fished two bags of chamomile tea out of the cupboard, doctored up a pair of mugs with honey like she was slathering chocolate sauce on the inside of a Starbucks cup, and poured in the hot water the moment the kettle started to whistle.

Then she sat down at the rough-hewn kitchen table and motioned for Eileen to sit with her.

Eileen sank down into the nearest chair, memories of chopping carrots and peeling potatoes with her mother crowding in despite the circumstances.

The knife grooves on the wood were so deep that the table smelled constantly of crushed thyme, her mother’s favorite herb.

“Are you, uh, okay?” Nicola said, pushing Eileen’s mug towards her. “It looked like Finley grabbed you pretty tight.”

“I’m not afraid of a little manhandling,” Eileen said breezily, knowing full well she might have done worse to Finley if Adam hadn’t stepped between them.

Nicola’s brows creased as she stirred her tea.

“But someone putting their hands on you in play, that’s different from someone putting their hands on you in anger.”

“I suppose,” Eileen said, taking a sip of the scalding tea. It peeled off a few tastebuds, but all the better. She deserved to hurt.

“And you shoved him too, Eileen. Really hard. I saw it.”

“I did,” Eileen said coolly, putting her tea back down. It tasted like home and freely given love, two things that currently felt like hydrochloric acid on bare skin. “What about it?”

“Your relationship isn’t my business, but… Well, it sort of is, since Adam is kind of involved with you and I’m kind of involved with Finley. I know we’re making this up as we go along, but I just don’t want anyone getting hurt.”

“I understand,” Eileen said, wishing someone would come put a knife through her heart and end this misery for all of them.

Maybe that was the simplest escape route.

No lies or scheming needed, no collateral damage, just Eileen and her legacy bleeding out on the kitchen floor.

She knew herself too well to think she was magnanimous enough to release either Adam or Nicola from their death spiral of lust and lies: it would take eliminating her from the picture entirely for either of them to be free.

“I’m glad to hear it,” Nicola said, polishing off her own tea. “I certainly wouldn’t want Finley to grab me like that, so there’s no reason he should be grabbing you.”

“Finley is right about some things. I can be spoiled and selfish. To put a finer point on it, I can be absolutely awful to people.” Eileen yanked on her mental reins, reminding herself not to wander too close to the whole truth. “I’m trying to be better. And I want us all to be friends, at least.”

“I think we already are. Although I should probably come clean about something…”

Nicola scraped her thumbnail along the faded painted flowers on the side of her teacup.

“What could you possibly have to confess?” Eileen asked with a laugh. Nicola wasn’t afraid to show her teeth, that was true, but Eileen had a hard time imagining that Nicola could have done anything under her roof worth being secretive about. She seemed too earnest, too sweet-natured.

“I made some accusations to Adam about you a few days ago.”

“Accusations?” Eileen echoed, her smile already fading.

“I got upset the night you and Adam found that picture of his grandfather as a child. I think I just felt… on the outside of things. I got it into my head that you had some sinister grand plan for him you weren’t telling us about.”

Eileen couldn’t scrape together two words so she just looked at Nicola, hoping her expression was neutral. Hoping that the deafening pounding of her heart didn’t give her away.

“I know you have secrets,” Nicola went on, voice a little softer. “And they’re yours to keep. But I hope you’ll share some of them with me, in time.”

“That’s very kind,” Eileen said, voice thick. Somehow, Nicola’s generous patience was worse than any.

“Do you want to play a game with me?” Nicola went on.

The Confession game flashed through Eileen’s mind, and for a moment she thought Nicola might be propositioning her. It was enough to make her lightheaded.

“A game?” she repeated, throat dry.

“Not that kind of game,” Nicola said with a titter.

Was Eileen imagining it, or was there a faint blush in Nicola’s cheeks?

“I was thinking cards or Scrabble. I’m pretty decent at Scrabble, actually.

You have all those board games in the parlor.

You like games, right? It might be a soothing activity. ”

Eileen found, to her horror, that the walls of ice around her heart were beginning to thaw in the presence of Nicola Fairweather.

It was as natural as an iced-over loch coming back to life in the presence of the spring sun, but it was still horrifying.

Eileen wasn’t in the business of caring about people. Historically, she was terrible at it.

But perhaps, for Nicola, it was worth it to try.

Perhaps, this time, it wouldn’t all end in ruin.

“That’s a lovely idea,” Eileen said, and gave Nicola’s hand a squeeze. “I can show you a game I like.”