Page 89 of The Haunting Plot

I can feel his gaze on me, but I can’t look at him. Not yet. “I couldn’t stand there and let her talk to you that way⁠—”

“You love me?” He turns me in his arms.

“Shit. I did say that part out loud, huh?”

“Yup. No takesie-backsies.”

I can’t help but laugh at the goofy way he eases my emotional burdens. And he’s been doing it this entire time.

He delicately slides his thumb under my chin and lifts my face to his.

I drop my eyes, resting my forehead against his chest. “I can’t look at you when you say what you’re about to say.”

“Why?” I don’t miss the hurt in his tone.

“I want to hear every word you’re about to say, and I can’t think when I look at you. I don’t want to worry about which eye to focus on, if I’m staring too long, or if my face matches my emotions.”

His hand soothes down my spine, and I relax into him. “Raven, I love you so goddamn much it hurts. I think I knew the moment my lips touched yours in my truck after your panic attack. No one else has ever had this effect on me. Not physically. Not emotionally. I’m wholly and completely under your spell.”

“Even when I bared my claws at you?”

“If you want to cover me in scratches, I wouldn’t complain.”

“Even when I kept pushing you away?” Fuck, I hate how needy I sound.

“Especially then. I could tell you needed time, and for you, I’m learning to be a patient man.”

“Even—”

“Gonna stop you, Ray. There are no stipulations your beautiful brain could conjure that would change the way I feel about you. I love everything about you. Your loyalty, your heart, your snark, your logic. The way you advocate for the people you love. I’m not saying it’ll be easy. We’ll butt heads. I’ll get on your nerves, but no one in this world makes me feel as alive as you do. And I’m up for any adventure you throw at me, haunted or not.”

My head lifts, finally looking up at him. His forehead is scrunched in concern, and the wrinkles around his eyes are making them do that twinkling thing. He looks so handsome, even his stupid slutty ’stache is appealing. Who am I kidding? It’s always been appealing.

“What’s wrong? Did I say the wrong thing?”

“No. You said all the right things.”

“Then why do you look so mad right now?”

“Because I don’t see me the way you see me. I’ve spent most of my life trying to go unnoticed, trying to blend into the background.”

“No offense, but you couldn’t do that if you tried.”

His words make my skin tingle. “What?”

“You’re fucking magnificent. I tried not to notice you, but it was impossible. You walk in a room and command it.”

“That’s just the mask I wear. It’s the version of myself that I present to the world so they don’t perceive me incorrectly.”

“Can’t take a compliment, huh?”

“Shut up.”

“Ray, you can spit all the fire you want at me, and I’ll happily drop to my knees and take anything you want to give me. But something tells me you don’t really want me to shut up. Do you, spitfire?”

Shaking my head, I sigh. “I don’t.”

He cups my cheeks in his hands and presses his lips to mine. Blood rushes to my face, my ears, my chest as warmth spreads throughout my body. I break the kiss, pushing against his chest before it gets too heated.