Cassian’s POV
I walked into the bedroom and shut the door behind me, leaning against it for a long moment as the silence hit me like a hard fist in my gut.
"f**k," I muttered as I dragged a hand down my face and exhaled, low and hard.
My chest felt tight, like I couldn’t breathe, and I hated it.
What the hell was I doing?
I hadn’t meant a damn word I had said to her back in the kitchen. Calling her naive? That was bullshit. Arielle was many things, but naive wasn’t one of them. To me, she was bright, smart, very beautiful, and a little stubborn. But being very close to her was what scared me more than I could admit.
If I let her in past my carefully closed door, I wouldn’t be able to shut it again.
I very much knew what would happen. She’d own me. Every part of me I’d kept locked do
