was at masking what she was feeling, I could read this. She was waiting for me to decide if I could let it go without asking what’d happened, or if I would insist on hearing the details.
“If you ever want to talk about it with me, I’ll listen.” I released her hand and curled my fingers around the back of her neck, my thumb resting on her jaw. “But I’m not going to push or assume. I may fuck up, and I’ll never be perfect, but I try to learn from my mistakes.”
Relief flooded her face, and I knew I’d made the right call.
I’d gone about this whole thing wrong from the beginning, made assumptions in a lot of different places, not just when it came to why Nyx had come to Savannah. I thought I’d understood having trust issues because of what had happened with Antoinette and my father, but one bad relationship couldn’t begin to compare to the abuse Nyx had gone through.
While anyone being hurt like that was monstrous, she’d been hurt by someone who should have protected her, and when she was able to share what had happened to her, no one had believed her. Not her mother, not the cops. I still didn’t understand what had sent Nyx from that to juvie, but I didn’t need to. She’d had her trust betrayed in a horrible fashion.
I’d always prided myself on caring for the women I’d been with, whether as a ‘vanilla’ girlfriend or as a Dom/sub relationship, but I’d completely fucked that up with Nyx. How could I have expected her to feel safe when I was so focused on myself that I failed to see that she needed my protection much more than I needed it for myself?
“You look like you’re thinking way too hard for someone who just got laid,” Nyx pointed out. “If you have something on your mind, I can go.”
She started to roll over, and I reached out, pulling her back to me for a kiss. I didn’t drag it out, but I did make it thorough enough that she looked a little dazed when I pulled back.
“Um…thanks?”
I brushed the back of my hand down her cheek. “I like seein’ you blush like that, firebird.”
She rolled her eyes and sat up, holding the sheet to her chest. “Don’t you have a lesson you need to be getting to?”
“That eager to get rid of me?” I smiled as I asked the question, but it wasn’t all a joke. She’d come to me for comfort and distraction. I wasn’t foolish enough to think that just because we’d had sex and I’d apologized for my previous behavior that she and I were going to waltz off into the sunset.
The only fairytales that happened in real life were the ones that resembled the original versions rather than the Disney ones.
“I don’t know,” she said. “Should I be?”
She was trying to make light of it, but I could see the caution under the good humor. She wasn’t sure where things were going to go from here, wasn’t sure what either of us wanted. I wouldn’t put that on her. It was time to put myself out there.
“If you don’t want me around, I’ll go,” I said. “But I need to say something first.”
I sat up, letting the sheet keep me covered from the waist down. This wasn’t a conversation I really wanted to have naked, but I supposed the lack of clothes would keep Nyx from running out before I was done.
“All right.” She seemed to be steeling herself.
“I told you before that I didn’t just want to fuck you, and I meant it, but it’s more than that.” I wanted to take her hand but decided it’d be better if I didn’t touch her while I was telling her that sex wasn’t all I wanted. “I care about you, Nyx. A lot.”
Her eyes widened.
“I’m not asking you to say anything like that back to me,” I added quickly. “But you deserve to know how I feel. Especially since I’m also saying that I want us to spend time together for as long as you’re here in Savannah.”
“And then?”
“I don’t know,” I answered honestly, “but I’d like to find out if we have something between us. Something that could be real. More than just sex.”
She looked away, fingers moving to twist in her hair. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea…”
“I’m not going to make demands or set rules or anything like that. I want