Chapter 13
OREN
Home. I hadn't expected to feel so much when I asked her to come home with me again, but it was undoubtedly there. Feelings I thought would never happen again.
But Ayla had worked her way into my own heart so quickly I hadn't had a chance to defend against it. And maybe that was why it had worked.
I'd promised myself no one would ever have a chance to break my heart again. But here I was, cleaning up after cooking dinner for this woman a second night in a row and it felt so good it was almost frightening. Damn, I never wanted her to leave.
"Mind if I ask you a question?" Ayla's voice pulls me from my thoughts, and right back to her.
I quirk a brow. "That's a question."
"You just made a joke. That's amazing." She's teasing and I feel the glow start in my gut. Like any time I make her smile or laugh, or even get a hint that I'm part of her happiness, they could probably see the halo of heat I'm putting off from space.
"What was wrong with the door today?" She lays her hand on my arm and the canned response I had planned dies in my throat.
We're sitting on the couch again, the same one where we woke up together this morning, and I'd never felt so rested as I did after blinking my eyes open to find her pressed against my side.
"What happened with the front door, Oren?
You worked on it all day and it looked fine to me when we finished up. "
I sigh, and run my hand through my hair and opt for honesty. "Nothing's wrong with it. It's fine. A perfect fit. Latched exactly the way it's supposed to."
She examines me, eyes searching my face. "Then why am I here tonight instead of staying in my cabin?"
"Because I want you here." My admission is gruff, but no less true.
And it feels like all the iron I'd lined my chest with, armoring my heart to avoid the pain of loss once more have fallen away.
I'm exposed, and it's not lost on me that Ayla could take me down for good with a dismissal.
Oh, she'd be nice about it, I'm sure. But it would still hurt.
"You want me here?" Her question is soft, and when I nod, unable to form words, she leans in close to me. "Oh good. Because this is where I wanted to be."
Happiness sparks to life inside me, overwhelming me with the power of it.
"Really?" I grunt out the statement and am rewarded with her wide, bright smile as she nods. I reach for her and she lets me pull her close, draping her legs over my lap and cuddling close to my chest. Her lips are so close, so pretty, and I want nothing more to kiss the hell out of this woman.
"I hope you're going to kiss me because if that's not a kissing kind of look, then I don't know anything at all."
Her hopeful permission lights a fire in me and I don't wait any longer. This need to show Ayla how I feel about her bubbles up in me and I'm already hard, aching. She's soft in my arms, warm in my lap and when press my lips to hers, the connection between us roars to life.
And I'm lost.