The crow and the beast - Kaz brekker

chapter 26 - teasing

Kaz had a sleepless night, once he had lost his grip on Cara he has been tossing and turning all night. Cara knew but also saw that even tho he was tossing and turning he was still sleeping so she let him be.

She knew he hadn't had much sleep these past few days as he insisted on sleeping in his desk chair. When the first light creeped through the windows kaz got out of bed.

Cara heard just by the way he walked and breathed that he had a bad day. So she waited until he was out of the room before she got out of bed.

She put on a warm coat as she was planning to head out today and went downstairs to get some food. Once she was done she made her way to the crow club where she made one of her special tea for kaz.

she carefully knocked on his office door and waited for his response.

"come in"

she opened the door and saw kaz look up, his eyes lighting up for just a moment.

"I know you have a bad day so I brought you this" she held up the tea and placed it on his desk. The corners of his mouth went up ever so slightly. "thank you" he responded as he took a sip of the tea.

"I will be headed out for today kaz" when she said that he gave her a look, he did not even have to say it for cara to know exactly what he was going to say.

"yes kaz I will be careful. And I will be back here by dark. You worry to much." She giggled at the face he made as he shook his head.

when she left his office she greeted jesper and wylan who were at the bar as she passed them. she decided to go to the market first to get some paint.

It was fairly cold outside but there was no rain thankfully, she got to the market soon after and got herself some dark paints, and metal straps.

after she got everything she needed she went back to the slat to put it all up in her room before she headed out again.

she took her time to walk over to the forest clearing, although she liked ketterdam her heart was still more fond of nature. While she did not mind the busy streets of the city and the laughing and yelling of humans she admitted to herself that she liked the peace and quite of nature more.

She greeted her horses when she got to the clearing. she gave them each a treat before she started her training with them again.

Elvis was listening to everything she asked of him, he really was a dream horse. Venus was .. well .. hard headed. But she liked his spirit and he did know what he needed to do. Moon was the newest addition but she was learning fast and was very willing to do everything Cara asked of her.

When she was done training for the day she sat down on the grass. Her horses grazing around her. she could hear the leaves rustling and the water of the little stream flowing. Living here one day would be a dream.

she was so in het element that she did not notice the time until the sky turned orange. The sun was setting. She said her goodbye to her horses and walked back to ketterdam.

when she entered the slat and walked to the stairs she greeted the dregs as she went, of course it was known to them that she had a relation with kaz brekker so they tried to get on her good side, knowing she was the more forgiving side of the couple. She chuckled at the thought, as if she had anything to say over it.

she opened the door to her room, it was mostly empty with her stuff being all in kaz's room but all the stuff she needed was here for now and she thought it was best to have some distance from kaz as he was having his bad day.

She walked over to the corner of the room where the crows had put her broken armor. 2 of the straps had been broken by the hyena's and it had fallen off.

she lifted the armor and put it on the table. First she needed to remove the broken straps before she could attach the new ones. It took her a while to get them off but when she did she was proud of herself.

she took the new straps that she had bought this morning at the market and started putting them on instead, by the time she was done her hands were raw and she had tiny cuts everywhere because ... well she wasn't the best craftsman in the world.

once the straps were on and secure she cleaned the armor with some water and then took the paint she had gotten from the market. She had already made some sketches and started painting a flying crow onto the armor.

she was so focused she did not notice the time, again, and she was putting in the last details when she heard the door to her room open and the rhythmic ticking of a cane against the wooden floor.

she did not look at kaz but instead opted to finish the painting while she still had a little focus left. She felt him stand behind her looking over her shoulder. When she finished the last detail and put her brush away he finally spoke.

"looks beautiful" Cara smiled, he of course did not see her smile as he was still looking over her shoulder so she decided to be sassy.

"me or the crow?" she felt him shift his weight for a moment.

"both" he said, Cara felt her cheeks heating up.

She quickly decided to switch subject as she took the supplies and started putting them away.

"how was your day?" she asked the man.

he knew exactly what she was doing as he grinned but played along.

"it started of pretty bad but I am feeling a lot better now" Cara smiled at him.

he was not wearing his signature coat and hat but was dressed in a stylish shirt with long sleeves and black pants.

when she put everything away she washed her hands and slightly hissed in pain when the water hit all the small wounds on her hands. Of course kaz had noticed this and walked over.

"show me" he said quietly.

Cara brought her hands up and slowly turned them so kaz could inspect them.

"let me treat it" he said as he already motioned for her to follow him.

while she was already following him she spoke up.

"kaz are you sure? I know u are having a bad day and I don't want to cause .. you know .."

He had opened the door to his room already and was almost already at the medicine cabinet when he realized what Cara had said.

"it's okay, I don't get the panic with you anymore. But I still want to take things slow okay? I want to savor every moment with you, every touch" Cara saw he wasn't just saying that to calm her but he was genuine with what he said.

she smiled at him. he motioned for her to take a seat so she did. He slowly took his gloves off and sat on the chair next to her. he opened one of the containers she had prepared labeled wounds and took some of the salve out of it.

He carefully applied it to the bigger wounds on her hands from where she had cut herself. He was really focused on what he was doing. Even though he was done his hands still lingered on hers for a minute.

"I am going to finish some paperwork and then take a shower, don't wait for me to head to bed alright." He leaned over and kissed her forehead before making his way over to his desk.

Cara looked over the papers that were scattered around the table seeing mostly notes on recent heists and reports of the dregs while kaz was doing his paperwork. After a while she felt tired enough to ready herself for bed so she put on a shirt that was actually way to big for her and some shorts.

She was standing in the middle of the room when she realized that she had lost something since she came back from her uncle. Right at that moment she heard the clicking of a cane behind her.

"hey kaz do you know where – " she cut herself off as she did not expect to see what she was seeing right now. Kaz was looking at her from the other side of the room. The only thing he was currently wearing was black shorts that came to just under his knees. Meaning he was shirtless, hair still damp from the shower.

Cara felt her cheeks heat up for the second time today. She had always looked away when he changed, not wanting to invade his privacy, she had caught a glimpse here and there but not a sight like this.

His chest and arms were surprisingly well toned, a little tuff of chest hair growing. It took him one and a half seconds to realize why she had stopped mid-sentence and immediately smirked.

"you know, if u take a picture it will last longer" Cara snapped out of her daze and she was sure she was red like a tomato by now.

She quickly turned away. Mumbling "sorry" as she did.

She heard a chuckle behind her and the ticking of a cane as he approached her. she dared not turn around still processing the embarrassment.

He was standing right behind her as he spoke again. "I don't mind it if you look you know. I have nothing to hide from you." He said as he placed a hand on her shoulder urging her to look at him.

When she did turn around she tried to keep her eyes strictly on his face. He brught his hand to her cheek and kissed her softly. She brought her hand up to touch his shoulder like she always did when they kissed but stopped herself as she did not want to cause him to panic.

"it's okay" he quietly said as he took her hand and placed it on his chest, on the place where his heart was beating almost as fast as hers.

She looked up to him as if to ask for permission, he took her other hand in his and nodded. She slowly began to move the hand that had been resting on his chest, exploring the pale skin.

She brought her hand over his shoulder to his bicep and back to his chest and did the same thing on the other side again, very slowly as if he would break underneath her touch.

Finally she brought her hand up to his neck and cheek as they met eyes once more. his eyes were soft, a look he would only have when he was with her.

he lot go of her hand and instead put his cane aside and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her closer to him until she was almost against his chest.

He leaned down and kissed her, this was a deeper kiss than he would normally give her. it was full of passion and dare she say with a hint of lust.

The kiss ended when he pulled back for air but rested his forehead on hers.

"I do think you are beautiful love." He smirked when he said it.

"never thought you were a charmer brekker" she anwered.

"go to bed, I will join you in a moment." He pulled away from her and took his cane to walk to the dresser.

Cara went to the bed and already made herself comfortable underneath the blanket. Kaz joined her soon after, this time wearing a comfortable shirt.

He immediately threw his arm around her and pulled her close. "goodnight love." She smiled at the nickname. "goodnight"