Page 81 of Darkened Promises

“It’s fine. I’m fine,” I assure her. “It’s not the first open kitchen cupboard or drawer I’ve walked into.”

“But this was my fault,” she worries, hands flapping and hovering over me. “Can I see?”

“If you want, but it’s okay.”

Rosy steps in between my thighs and gently cups my face, tilting it down and to the side so she can get a closer look. Now all I can see is the deep V of her jumper. Her breasts are so close that I’m struggling to focus.

“Does this hurt?” she asks, tentatively poking the area.

It smarts a little, but nothing that won’t fade fairly quickly.

“No, I told you. I’m okay, really.” I chuckle, my hands coming up to rest on her hips. I desperately want to pull her in and hug her.

Rosy’s hands slip from my face down to my shoulders as she leans back. Taking the cue to lift my head, I tug my eyes away from her cleavage and lift my gaze to her face.

“I feel really bad.” She sighs, chewing her lip as the space between her brows pinches.

“A kiss might help?” I offer. It comes out throatily, full of my nerves.

What if she declines? Some moments feel easy, and I can lean in and kiss her without hesitation. Other times—in fact, a majority of the time—I question and doubt myself.

Her brow smooths, a small shy smile gracing her lips as she slowly leans in, taking her time. A sharp tingle shoots down my spine at the anticipation, and my fingers flex around the softness of her hips.

When our mouths meet, her arms wrap around my neck as my hands travel up her back, winding around her tightly and pulling her into me. The warmth of her hug as our tongues collide makes the whole moment perfect, even if I had to walk into a cupboard to get here.

Because this right here with Rosy? It erases any pain or memory of it. It leaves me breathless and enraptured.

The timer going off disrupts us, and I groan as we break apart.

She chuckles, dropping another light kiss before she steps back. Her hands pull away slowly, and a shiver wracks through me at her caressing touch.

“Thank you for that,” she says as I get up and walk over to the oven.

“For what?” I pull out the brownies and slide it onto the trivet on the worktop.

“For what we just did,” she answers.

I catch a blush cresting her cheeks when I glance over my shoulder. “Why would you thank me for a kiss?”

I stir the pan full of vegetables, thankful they didn’t burn whilst we were distracted. If we’d taken much longer, they would’ve, and it would be ruined. Cracking the eggs into a bowl, I whisk them and wait for Rosy to answer.

“Um. Argh. Why does this feel so awkward? My therapist said I need to try to talk to you all about things.”

“You can talk to me about anything,” I tell her, still keeping my back to her as I add the egg mix into the pan and season it.

“I…have been worried that perhaps… Well, that maybe some of you aren’t…attracted to me anymore.”

Hand outstretched into the bread bin, I pause, frozen, before I pull out the loaf of oregano focaccia. I put it on the chopping board and cut a section.

“Sorry. I’m not ignoring you,” I say after a moment. “It’s just thrown me that you’ve had those thoughts. There’s no doubt in my mind I’m wildly attracted to you, Rosy. Nothing has changed for me. Instead I fall for you more and more. Have you spoken to the others about how you feel?”

Silence greets me, and after placing the bread back into the bin, I turn back to her.

“Ah…you’re…that was so sweet. I feel the same about you,” she says, head ducking as she pushes a loose tendril of hair behind her ear. “I spoke to Noah about it, and he reassured me that it wasn’t true either. I haven’t spoken to Nate, and Max seems hard to pin down alone time with recently. He just seems tired a lot, and I don’t want to put pressure on him.”

“He hasn’t told you where he’s been on the weekends?” I ask, eyes widening in surprise.

“No?”