Free A Debt Repaid (1) by N. Isabelle Blanco, Nyddi

doctor. So, she had no choice but to grab the glass from him.
    The shaking in her hand was so bad, that the water almost sloshed out of the glass as she brought it up to her mouth.
    “Easy there.” Chase’s free hand came back up and wrapped around hers, helping her steady the glass.
    There was no way she was going to be able to drink that water. She couldn’t breathe, how was she supposed to swallow?
    Chase hadn’t stopped stroking her face. His other hand was still wrapped around her own, dwarfing it and the glass.
    She looked into his eyes, finding them dark and so close. His lips, too. They were right there. All she felt was heat, everywhere, infecting her with the oddest urge to lean further into his touch. Turn her head and nuzzle his palm—kiss him. She was still dying to kiss him, had been since that day back in the soup kitchen.
    It’d never gone away. For days, she’d pretended it had, but it hadn’t.
    Chase shifted, leaning closer and his movements once again reminded her of a lion. “Aria…”
    The way he trailed off made her clench deep down. The fuck if she knew why, but she couldn’t help it. His lids lowered, his thick lashes hiding his eyes from her. It didn’t matter. She knew where he was staring. Felt him looking at her lips.
    “I’m starting to think,” Chase paused, swallowing heavily. When he looked up, he did it slow, real slow, hitting her with the full impact of those eyes.
    The air around seemed to vibrate with the force of the hunger she was feeling.
    Horror and need. Aria was starting to think that she would never be able to be around him without feeling both.
    “I’m starting to think it’s not the water you need.”
    “Huh?” Blinking, she stared down at their hands and the glass.
    “I’m starting to think it’s not the water you need.”
    Oh, hell no. It was one thing—a very hellish thing—to feel the way that she felt. Him knowing put the situation on a whole other level. Glaring at him, she jerked her hand away from his. She didn’t even care that some of the water landed on both their hands. Nope. Aria was too focused on her goal. She swallowed back the water in two large gulps.
    Chase tried to reach for her when she handed him the empty glass and jumped to her feet.
Probably because she was coughing so hard that she wheezed.
    Aria waved Chase away. “I’m fine. Thank you.” He stood, eyeing her fist as she coughed into it a few times. Those wheels were turning. She knew what he was contemplating: either her ass meeting the couch again, or it sitting in a doctor’s office, waiting for an emergency check-up.
    The fact that he cared registered. It registered just long enough to hit her like a punch to the abdomen. She almost didn’t move. She couldn’t.
    Almost.
    Logic, her absent friend, reared its head long enough to come to her rescue, reminding her of all the reasons why what she wanted was wrong.
    It didn’t matter that the highly emotional, female part of her was starving for more of what Chase did to her. That it was somehow convinced that what he erupted inside her was right.
    It was all so wrong.
    “Thank you for the water… it was exactly what I needed. I have to go now, and pick up Adam.” Aria forced herself to turn around after that, and was rewarded by her nerves shrieking like a banshee.
    So stupid.
    Shaking her head, she walked over to the door. Except, she couldn’t leave. She was standing in front of the door, her hand right on the door, but her body wouldn’t turn the knob. Not without thanking him. She’d thanked him for the water, something she hadn’t needed, but she hadn’t thanked him for what mattered.
    It was silly. Idiotic, considering he hadn’t done her the favor, but she didn’t feel right leaving without letting him know.
    “Aria?”
    She tensed at the sound of his voice. Her hand tightened around the doorknob. Even the cold discomfort wasn’t enough to distract her, and she hated herself for it. “Th–thank