My Fated Mate Can Have Her-Chapter 58: Not Close Enough

Violet

He flinched, as if coming to his senses. He snatched his hand back to himself and raised his eyes to meet mine.

"I apologise, I shouldn’t have—" He dragged his breath and pinched the bridge of his nose, squeezing his eyes shut before opening them again.

I nodded quickly, and darted forward, latching onto my discarded pant and turning my back to him hurriedly. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

I sensed him slowly pulling back and when I could no longer sense his pointed stare at my back, I fought the urge to look back.

If he wasn’t staring at me, he was likely washing himself too, and it would be rude to—

The faint sound of fabric rustled behind me, stopping my train of thought.

Then the splashes of water against the backdrop of the flowing rain followed.

I swallowed the lump in my throat and forced my attention to cleaning myself rather than the naked man behind me.

My hands trembled as I washed myself, the rain making it difficult to see anything in the distance. Everything was a blur of water and cold and the acute awareness of him also washing himself behind me.

I then washed away the lingering stickiness in my pants, my neck slowly heating up despite the cold.

At the very least, I needed to have been done by the time he finished.

"Are you done?" His voice cut through the sound of rain, startling me.

"No, almost," I said, nearly turning my head but struggled not to. "Please, don’t turn around yet."

He sighed. "Alright."

It was tricky wearing my pants while sitting, but I still managed it before slowly standing up. Strength had returned to my legs, and I turned around to face his back.

He was also dressed in his own wet pants too.

"I’m done."

He turned around and within seconds, he lifted me into his arms again. I stifled the small sound that was about to jump out of my throat, my cold hands gripping his shoulders as he carried me back toward the cave. I hadn’t expected him to move so fast.

The warmth of the cave interior was shocking after the brutal cold of the rain. I suppressed a shudder as Kael set me down near the tent.

"Hold on, wait here," he said before heading towards the fabric on the floor where our clothes were spread from before the rain.

He grabbed my clothes, already dry, and walked towards me, water dripping from his pants.

"It would be best to change before going in and wetting the interior." He glanced down at my wet pants and I immediately grabbed the clothes from him.

He walked towards the cave entrance with his own pair of dry clothes. "I won’t look," his voice trailed towards me.

Even so, I swiftly raced behind the tent, putting one barrier between me and him at least. I threw off the wet clothing and put on the dry ones.

When I circled the tent, he was already dressed, standing with his arms crossed across his chest and still staring into the rain.

For some reason, my gaze shifted to two items on clothing on the cave floor.

My eyes widened.

Our shirts on the floor painted a vivid image of what had happened minutes ago in my mind and I shook my head, involuntarily squeezing the wet clothing in my grip.

The rapid downpour of water snapped my attention to the present and Kael turned around to look at me.

"Sorry," I mumbled and moved towards the tent entrance to properly squeeze the fabric.

After spreading it and retrieving the shirts from the cave floor, I dove into the tent, desperate for the illusion of privacy.

Outside, I could hear Kael moving before his footsteps eventually came to a stop. He was likely sitting, leaning against the cave wall again.

I lay down on the bedroll, my arms wrapped around myself. I felt strangely tired, but my mind wouldn’t quiet.

I could still feel his hands on me. Including the phantom press of his body against mine.

And now we were here again, separated by nothing but a thin layer of tent fabric.

It felt wrong somehow. Strange.

’I should tell him to come in.’

The thought made my heart race.

But how would I even bring it up? What would I say?

’Come sleep in here with me’ sounded too forward.

’I don’t want to be alone’ sounded too needy.

’It’s cold’ was a lie he would see right through.

I lay there, staring at the tent ceiling, trying to work up the courage to say something. Anything.

The words formed and reformed in my head, but my throat seemed to have closed up entirely.

’Don’t be stupid. The bedroll is too small for both of us. Where would he even sleep?’

Silently chastising myself, I closed my eyes, irritated and annoyed at myself.

Maybe I’d just rest my eyes for a moment. Just a moment. And then...

The thought trailed off, unfinished, as sleep finally claimed me.

My last conscious awareness was the sound of rain outside and the knowledge that he was so close, just on the other side of the tent wall.

But not close enough.

[ - ]

The rain had subsided a great deal by the time I had woken up again. But it was dark out, clearly night. A bit of my shyness had still lingered, and Kael seemed more gentle, more open.

I wasn’t sure if it had been an excuse for us to not interact a lot, but he had suggested I spend the night finetuning my senses and practicing what he had taught and shown me. I was soon lulled by a fascinating new world of sensory details, discovering more sounds and sensations aside from the falling rain and the heavy air of the cave.

But amidst all that, I could sense his stares on me throughout the whole night, a soft whisper of what we’d done.

I wondered how we would act around each other for the next few days.