Chapter 8 #2
Sleep was impossible. Not because of the too-small couch or the unfamiliar surroundings, but because she was twenty feet away and I could still smell her. Vanilla and steel and that warm, sweet undertone that had been driving me insane since dinner.
Arousal. She'd been aroused when she went to bed, her scent shifting when she'd passed me, and the knowledge sat in my chest like a brand.
She wanted me. Her body knew it even if her mind refused to admit it.
And I wanted her. Desperately. Dangerously.
But what future did we have? Five days from now, the autopsy report would hopefully clear me. I'd go back to my life at the village, she'd go back to hers. Different worlds. She was my lawyer, for fuck's sake. This was temporary. A moment stolen from reality.
Except it didn't feel temporary. It felt like something that mattered.
"Kael?" Her voice drifted through the darkness, soft and uncertain.
"Yeah?"
"Are you asleep?"
"Does it sound like I'm asleep?" I shifted on the couch, trying to find a position that didn't make my spine ache. The movement was futile.
A pause. Then, quieter: "Can't sleep either?"
"Not really." I stared at the ceiling, tracking the patterns of shadow and firelight. "You okay?"
"I don't know." The honesty in her voice surprised me. "I keep thinking about everything that could go wrong. Dawson finding us. The autopsy being delayed. What happens if—"
"Sarah." I cut her off gently. "We're safe here. You made sure of that."
"For now."
"For now is all we've got." The words came out stiff, weighted with more truth than I wanted to acknowledge.
Silence stretched between us, but it wasn't uncomfortable. The cabin's thin walls and open layout made it feel like we were in the same room, separated only by darkness and the things neither of us was saying.
"Kael?" Her voice again, softer now.
"Yeah?"
"Why didn't you ever flirt with me before?"
The question caught me off guard. I sat up slightly, my pulse kicking up. "What?"
"You flirt with everyone. Every woman in Franklin. But never me." She paused, and I heard the sheets rustle as she shifted. "Why? And don't say it's because I'm bossy."
Because you mattered. Because flirting with you would have meant something, and I wasn't ready for that.
"You scared me," I said instead.
"I scared you?" Disbelief colored her voice. "I'm a five-foot-five human—"
"Not physically."
"—and you're a seven-foot Orc who breaks handcuffs like—"
"Sarah." I ran a hand through my hair. "You scared me because you're... you."
A beat of silence. "That's not an answer."
"It's the only answer I've got." I exhaled hard. "You're smart. Fierce. The kind of woman who'd stake out a jail in the middle of the night to protect someone. The kind who'd risk everything—her career, her freedom—for what's right."
I heard her breath catch, and her scent shifted again. Warmer. Sweeter.
"Flirting with you would have meant something," I continued, my voice dropping lower. "And I didn't know what to do with that."
The silence that followed was heavy with unspoken things. I could hear her heartbeat from here, faster than it should be. Scented the arousal she was trying so hard to hide.
The idea had been circling in my mind since dinner, dangerous and reckless and impossible to ignore. I'd been trying to talk myself out of it for hours. But lying here in the dark, listening to her breathe, knowing she wanted me even if she wouldn't admit it...
Fuck it.
"Sarah," I said quietly. "Can I ask you something?"
"Okay." Her voice was barely a whisper.
"What if..." I stopped, choosing my words carefully. "What if I could show you what it's like? What if I could teach you about pleasure? About sex? With no strings attached."
The silence was deafening.
"What?" The word came out strangled, shocked.
"You said you've never let your guard down. Never had time. Never let anyone in." I kept my voice steady, even though my pulse was racing. "But you deserve to know what it feels like. To be touched. To be wanted. To let go."
"Kael, that's—" She stopped. Started again. "That's completely inappropriate—"
"Is it?"
"Yes! You're my client—"
"Technically, I'm a fugitive you're harboring."
"That doesn't make this—we can't just—"
"We're two adults," I said. "We're attracted to each other. We have five days before reality comes crashing back in."
"This is insane." But her voice wavered, and her scent—God, her scent was driving me wild. The arousal was stronger now, unmistakable. "You can't just—we barely know each other—"
"Don't we?" I interrupted. "I know you're brave. I know you're loyal. I know you put everyone else first and never think about what you want. I know you take your coffee black and you hum when you cook and you bite your lip when you're thinking hard about something."
"That's not—"
"I know you're lying there right now telling yourself this is a terrible idea while your body is telling you something completely different."
"I am not—" She stopped abruptly.
"Sarah." I said her name like a caress. "I can smell your arousal."
The sharp intake of breath told me I'd hit the mark.
"Your scent changes when you're aroused," I continued, my voice low and deliberate. "It's been changing all night. When you watched me chop wood. When we had dinner. When you walked past me to go to bed." I paused. "And it's changing right now, even as you're trying to tell me this is a bad idea."
"That's not—you can't just—"
"I'm not trying to manipulate you." I sat up fully now, turning toward the bedroom even though I couldn't see her through the darkness. "I'm offering you something. No strings. No expectations. Just... pleasure. Because you deserve it. Because I want to be the one to give it to you."
"Why?" The question was barely audible.
"Because it matters to me." The honesty in my own voice surprised me. "Because you matter to me. And because it doesn't have to mean forever to mean something right now."
Silence. I heard her breathing, quick and shallow. Smelled the war between her mind and her body, logic and desire.
"I don't..." She trailed off, and I heard the sheets rustle again. "I don't know what to say."
"You don't have to say anything tonight." I laid back down, giving her space even though every instinct screamed at me to go to her. "Just think about it. The offer stands."
More silence. Then, so quietly I almost missed it: "Kael?"
"Yeah?"
"You're right. About my scent."
My heart slammed against my ribs.
"I know," I said softly.
The fire crackled. The wind whispered against the cabin walls. And between us, in the darkness, hung a possibility that changed everything.
She hadn't said yes.
But she hadn't said no.
And for now, that was enough.