The Rejected Mate novel · Chapter 21 of 24

Chapter 21: Her Door

He knocked at dusk, and he had brought bread.

Willa opened the door of the little house behind the bakery and looked at the loaf in his hand.

"You brought me bread," she said. "I work in a bakery."

"I know. I couldn't think what else."

"It's terrible bread."

"I baked it myself."

She laughed, helplessly, and stood back to let him in.

The house had one room downstairs with a stove, and a narrow stair that went up to a bed under the eaves.

She had lit a single lamp.

She had changed into a plain blue dress with buttons down the front.

Her hair was brushed and loose over her shoulders.

Caelen stood in her doorway and forgot where to put his hands.

"Your shoulder?" she said.

"The healer sewed it properly. I held still the whole time."

"Show me."

He took off his shirt.

The seam ran across the top of his shoulder, neat and black.

She laid her palm flat over it, and he felt it all the way down his spine.

"Willa," he said.

"Wait. I have rules."

"I remember your rules."

"No touching unless I say."

"Yes."

"And nobody says the word."

"Yes."

"Good."

She did not take her hand off his shoulder.

"They don't hold tonight," she said quietly. "I'm saying it. You can touch me. You can say the word."

He did not move.

The lamp hissed.

"Those were your terms," Caelen said. His voice was rough. "You made me agree to them in a wardrobe."

"I'm throwing them out."

"You can't just throw out a rule."

"Watch me," said Willa.

She pulled him down by the back of his neck and kissed him, and the whole house tilted.

He caught her around the waist and lifted her off the floor.

She wrapped her legs round his hips and her arms round his neck.

He walked them up the narrow stairs with his mouth on hers and his good shoulder knocking the wall.

The bed was under a slanted roof, with a quilt and a window full of stars.

He set her down on it and knelt between her knees.

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