Chapter Nine
Ella
At Caleb’s words, emotion hit me, so hard I almost lost my breath. All the loneliness, all the grief, all the everything I had stuffed away inside rose, clamoring to be free. Tears pricked hot at the backs of my eyes. I could hardly catch my breath as I stared at him. “I missed you too.”
The words were entirely insufficient to express what I really felt. I lifted a finger to trace his brows again, dragging it down the other side of his face. When my thumb traced his lip, he caught it in his teeth, sucking it lightly. Need barreled through me, my channel clenching, and my body aflame. I didn’t know what to do other than tumble into the fire. I started to lean toward him again, but his hand dropped from my cheek, gently gripping my shoulder and holding me in place.
“I d
