33. Presley
Presley
By the time we make it back to the house, my hair is a disaster, my legs feel like jelly, and I’m fairly certain there are scratches from the tree bark all over my back.
Penny is looking out the patio door, waiting. Judging.
I stop in front of it. “Oh, don't look at me like that.”
Her ears lift.
Hades steps beside me.
“She knows.”
“She does not.”
“She absolutely knows.”
“She's a dog.”
Penny stares at me.
“You have no room to judge me. You curled up on a man you hardly know.”
Hades coughs.
I glance at him. “What?”
“Nothing.”
His mouth twitches.
I open the door and Penny runs out, tail wagging like she hasn’t seen us in days.
Hades crouches and she immediately goes to him.
“Unbelievable.”
He scoops her up. “You abandoned her.”
“I did not abandon her. I put her in the house so she’d be safe.”
His gaze catches mine. Something shifts between us.
Safe. The word feels different now.
Hades reaches for me with his free hand. I go willingly.
He pulls me against his side.
Penny is wedged between us, perfectly content with this arrangement.
For a moment, we just stand there.
With Hades’s arm around me and his heartbeat steady beneath my hand, this feels pretty damn perfect.
I should probably be questioning several of my life choices.
Instead, I'm smiling.
Because I think I finally understand what draws me to him.
Hades doesn't make me choose between quiet and chaos. Between feeling protected and feeling a little afraid. Between the man who sat beside me last night while I talked about Grandma and the man who just chased me through the woods because I wanted him to.
With him, somehow, I get danger without feeling unsafe. Darkness without being alone in it.
I look up.
Hades is already watching me.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“Liar.”
His mouth curves.
I rise onto my toes and kiss him, softly this time.
When I pull back, something almost vulnerable flashes through his eyes.
Then it's gone.
“Come on,” I say. “I need another coffee.”
“You have a problem.”
“And yet you're still here.”
His hand settles at the back of my neck. “I told you.” His eyes hold mine. “I'm not going anywhere.”
My heart squeezes.
I believe him.
As we walk deeper into the house, I realize something far more dangerous than being chased through the woods.
I'm falling in love with him.