Page 111 of The Awakening

I chuckle. “Well, when you put it that way, it feels a little excessive.”

“Quite.”

“Nonetheless…” I slide my jacket off my shoulders and toss it onto a nearby chair, then move toward the archway leading into the greenhouse. “I’d like to take advantage. Will you be joining me? You can relax, and I’ll let you know when it’s ready? We should shower first, though. I can’t help myself—it’s an engrained behavior.”

Jae laughs. “Okay, sure.”

* * *

We shower,but I don’t touch him in any significant way, because apparently, I’m wolfish and mated with a deer. Well, fuck me.

I don’t touch him, but I playfully bump him a few times to take the obvious edge off. He laughs when I do this, and we talk about the day while we get clean. How beautiful the villa and entire ceremony were, how Giovanni is an asshole but he means well. How Nino’s present anxiety is obvious, but he’s going to be a great father and we’re not worried about him.

The moon is high and so bright overhead that it lights up the night. I can see it as I settle down into the tub first. Jae’s phone rang while we were in the shower, so he went to check it in case there’s some emergency with the hospital or Nino and Haru’s surrogate. I relax down, then notice a switch on the edge of the shelf holding about a million potted plants right by my head. Curious, I flick it. A line of tiny white faerie lights glows all along the shelves, their string hidden between the plant vines and leaves so that they appear to just float in midair. The water is perfectly warm, and the glass gives us a wide view of the courtyard, trees and flowers beyond this beautiful space.

When Jae comes back into the greenhouse, he’s still naked and looking all around in wonder. “Well, this is something… Hopefully no one is taking a stroll back here.”

“Indeed. Is everything alright?”

He stops at the opposite end of the large tub, then gingerly climbs inside, avoiding stepping on my feet as I draw them up a little. “Mmhm, everything is fine. It was my father. He left a message and was just checking on me.”

“Did you tell him you were coming to Italy for the week?”

“Yes,” he says, sitting and folding his knees up against his chest. “He wanted to know if I arrived safely.”

“Did you tell him that you’re bonded?”

He grins. “No, not yet. But I will later. That’s a longer conversation.”

“You told me that your father left and moved to Korea when you graduated high school, but he seems to keep contact with you fairly often?”

“Yeah, my father isn’t a bad person by any means. He just didn’t want to be alone in that cottage with me off in university. It made perfect sense for him.”

“But it inadvertently left you alone.”

Jae shrugs, running his wet hands up and through his hair to push it back. “I managed.”

I don’t say anything because I’m not sure that he did. Not well, anyway.

Silence falls between us, and crickets are chirping beyond the glass, the soft call of a nocturnal bird. I look at Jae, and he smiles politely before turning his head to glance away from me. I know what he wants: to come over here and be closer to me. But he’s hesitating and doubting himself.

I don’t know, maybe it’s the wolf in me, but I’m starting to get a little frustrated. How many times do I need to prompt him like this?

Sitting forward, I reach underneath the water, grab one of his ankles and pull. He slides down, his arms flailing up in shock just before his head dips underneath the water. I know he’s going through something right now and trying to get his bearings. I know. But I’mreallyover this shy shit.

He breaks the surface again, gasping and pushing his soaked hair back and away from his eyes. “Shit, Jun—”

“Why are you hesitating?”

He surprises me when he slaps the surface of the water, sending a wave directly into my face. “Because I bloody hesitate now! That’s what I do!”

“You weren’t like this before.”

“That wasbefore.” He inhales a deep breath, smoothing his hair again.

I wipe my face with my palms. “You’re the same, sunshine.”

“Not biologically speaking. I’m quite different.”