Elemental

Chapter 28

Christine woke up with arms wrapped around her. Panic seized her but she saw Damien's sleeping face above her and relaxed. Damien had one arm under her neck and the other rested on her hip. Her head was in the crook of his shoulder with her hands flat against his bare chest. She didn't want to move and didn't want Damien to wake up either. Once he woke up, they'd have to talk and figure out how to move forward from here. Would things be any different? Was he comforting her just as a friend? She couldn't bear to find out.

Damien shifted and Christine froze. His grip tightened and she felt his fingers run over the bare skin of her hip where her shirt had hiked up. She couldn't help but shiver.

"You awake?" Damien asked, softly.

"Yeah," she replied. There was no use pretending she was asleep.

She didn't move. Didn't want to face having to look into his eyes. She was going to cave. She thought last night that she might be ready to embrace her feelings but she was afraid again. Afraid and vulnerable and with no way of expressing her feelings. She usually fled when emotions started to get the best of her but she didn't want to. She wanted to feel vulnerable with him and to be more open. She just didn't know how.

"How are you feeling?" He asked.

She couldn't help but blush. "Better. Thanks."

"You don't have the urge to run, do you?"

"I do, but I don't want to."

He was silent for a moment. "What changed?"

As if he didn't know. As if it wasn't obvious. Christine thought that he just wanted to hear her say it and to acknowledge it. That was fair because once she said it out loud, there was no going back.

"I don't want to pretend anymore," she said at last.

Damien pulled back slightly. He wanted her to look at him but she was afraid she'd lose her courage if she did. She stared at her hands against his chest.

"Pretend what?" He prompted.

"Pretend that..." she swallowed. "Pretend that you don't mean everything to me."

Her heart was racing and she could feel the embarrassment heating up her chest and face.

"Christine. Please look at me."

She did. Damien was smiling, his blue eyes were as bright as she'd ever seen them. He was about to say something but she cut him off.

"But, I mean, it's not fair to be anything or to assume that you want to be anything—"

"Christine, it's okay" he grinned, running his thumb across his cheekbone. "I think you'd have to be pretty damn blind to not see how crazy I am about you."