He Didn’t Kidnap Me. Not Exactly novel Chapter 181

Chapter 181

Anyway, before I could recover enough dignity to attempt speech again, his gaze drifted downward toward the bandages covering my injury The amusement faded immediately, replaced by something far more serious.

When he spoke again, his voice was quieter, deeper.

“Don’t scare me like that again.”

The words settled over me far more heavily than I expected.

A moment earlier I had been too distracted by the hug to think clearly. Now, however, the reality behind the statement became impossible to ignore.

The hospital.

The surgery.

The waiting.

Everything he must have experienced while I was unconscious.

My chest tightened.

I suddenly realized that while I had been unconscious, DeLuca had been awake through all of it.

Watching.

Waiting.

Not knowing.

The realization made my heart ache in a way I wasn’t entirely prepared for while his gaze remained fixed on the bandages for another second before returning to my face.

Then, as if he needed further confirmation that I was actually sitting here in front of him, he lifted a hand and gently cupped my cheek.

Any remaining traces of coherent thought immediately abandoned me.

This was unfair.

Profoundly unfair.

There should have been rules against this sort of thing.

“You can’t do that again,” he said and I attempted to ask what exactly he meant.

Throwing myself in front of bullets?

Getting shot?

Almas dying?

Unfortunately, the combination of his hand against my cheek and the way he was looking at me made speaking significantly more difficult than it should

have been

In the end, all I managed was a small nod.

Thankfully, he seemed willing to accept that.

For several seconds neither of us spoke and I simply found myself studying him.

The closeness made it easier to notice details I usually missed. His eyes had always been striking, but there was something different about them now. The familiar coldness wasn’t gone entirely, it probably never would be- but it had been pushed aside by something warmer.

Something softer.

Something real.

For the first time since I’d met Adrian DeLuca, it felt as though he wasn’t hiding behind anything.

“Daisy.”

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