Free Breath of Innocence by Ophelia Bell Page A

sleeping.
    It was all he could do to avoid touching her, so he just watched for a time, settling back and enjoying her amusing little sounds. Soft snores that shifted in tone as the frequency of movement under her eyelids changed. What he wouldn’t give to be in her head right now, to see what she dreamed. Would he find himself there? Or some fantastic universe he couldn’t even imagine.
    He was chuckling to himself over the idea when she sat up abruptly. “Eben? What are you doing here?”
    “Watching you sleep, dummy.” He couldn’t help but smile a little at her bewildered, sleepy expression.
    “Oh.” She fidgeted with her pencil and notebook, making a show of reading. Her eyelids blinked rapidly. She was still avoiding him.
    “Camille, we need to talk. We should’ve talked a hundred times already, but I guess I was too stubborn to make the first move.”
    Her expression drew in at that and she hunched over her notebook.
    Eben placed a hand on her shoulder, letting his thumb caress the bare skin of her neck.
    “I love you,” he whispered.
    Her eyes clenched shut, and that subtle barrier between them broke his heart.
    “Do you, really?” she whispered back, her voice barely audible even in the near dead silence of the place they were in. Before he could answer she said, “Because you seem pretty intent on making me miserable lately.”
    He blanched at that. She didn’t understand, but it was his fault. He decided to lay it all out.
    “I don’t want kids. Never did. We never got a chance to talk that detail out, so there it is.”
    “So you hate children”
    “I never said that.”
    “You just did!”
    He grimaced and hung his head. “I don’t hate kids… I just…Jesus, Camille, I know you want them so I want to make you happy, and I will gladly do that, but I fucking hate the idea of losing you to more needy souls. I still need you. Christ, I hate to admit it, too.”
    She reached up and caressed his cheek, the touch almost reflexive. He gripped her hand and leaned into it.
    “I don’t even know you, Eben. I never realized it until now, though. I mean, I know you intimately, but you’ve held back, haven’t you?
    He could only nod against the soft brush of her hand.
    “Tell me.”
    So he did. He told her everything. He told her about his early life, the child of a single mother in a small town. One he did everything to get out of as quickly as possible. He told her about his experiences afterward, his failures in college before he’d met Erika and she’d inspired him to turn things around. It all seemed completely natural and somehow cathartic to let it all out. So much that he wondered why he hadn’t already. None of his past had seemed remotely relevant to what he shared with Roka and Camille now. But it felt so good in the telling that he knew he had to sit down with Roka when they were reunited and talk.
    His chest tightened with a pang of longing when he thought of Roka. As private as this exchange had been with Camille, it still felt like an element was missing. The big white dragon was the missing piece of their puzzle. He had no idea how his conflict with Camille would resolve, but he knew without a doubt that Roka’s presence would have made a difference.
    “You don’t want kids because you had a crappy childhood?” Camille asked, tentatively.
    Eben thought about it, but the true answer was obvious.
    “I don’t want kids because I want you more. The laws of physics say that two bodies can’t occupy the same space simultaneously. You two fill my heart. That doesn’t leave enough room for anyone else. You and Roka are my world right now. Maybe it’s selfish of me, but I’m just not ready to give that up.”
    Surprisingly, she smiled and leaned in to kiss him. “You have room, trust me,” she said. “But we can wait.”

Chapter 6
    E ben collapsed to his knees and buried his face in Camille’s linen-covered lap. His arms snaked around her hips and gripped her tightly. The