Love Among The Ruins Chapter 36

NADINE’S P.O.V

It was raining.

I stood on the porch of our current abode and watched the rain drops hit the ground in awe. I hadn’t seen the rain in well over a year, a part of had forgotten the exact sll of rain, the sll of the damp grass, the chilly breeze.

I heard the back door open as Caine made his way out. He leaned against the doorway, watching silently. It had been three days since we started moving and I wasn’t sure how much ground we had covered. The plan for today was to find a map of the area but the sky had darkened considerably and we took shelter in the first place we could find.

We were seated in the living room when he suddenly announced that since it was raining, it was the best ti for to brush up on my knife skills.

The last thing I wanted to do was drag myself out of the comfort of the house to train but Caine didn’t take no for an answer and that was how we ended up here.

He had drawn a bull’s eye on the tree in front of . "Hit the mark."

"You know I can," I crossed my arms over my chest. "Why are we doing this?"

"Hit it while sparring with ."

My brows furrowed. "Excuse ?"

"You’re not always going to be lucky enough to et just one monster. Sotis they move in pairs. I need to know that you can defend yourself. Now, defend yourself."

I didn’t know a lot of things for certain, but I knew that Caine was holding back or my sake.

His movents were fluid and easy and his expression was almost bored as he dodged all my moves. He didn’t touch once, but he made sure to let know all the tis he could have.

A tap on my lower back.

A brush of his fingers against my throat.

A hand lightly wrapped around my throat.

I would have been dead at least five different tis.

The only positive side of it all was that I had sohow managed to hit the target every single ti.

"So you’re good with distance fighting but once they’re up close¸ you’re dead."

I rolled my eyes and pushed my wet hair out of my face. "I’ll just stay away from them then."

"It’s not always that easy. They are sneaky and can be quiet when they want to be. If you don’t know how to keep an eye out for them then-"

He trailed off, not needing to finish the sentence for to understand.

I let out a sigh and retrieved my knives from where they were embedded in the tree trunk.

"Do we try again?"

He thought about it for a mont before shaking his head. "We’ve been at it for an hour now. Your clothes are soaked. You should rest."

I should have taken the dismissal, should have gone in and peeled off my clothes but I didn’t. Instead, I just stood there staring at the dark sky.

"When I was little, I used to play in the rain," I began softly. "Father hated it. He always said that it was unbecoming of a young girl. I didn’t stop though, I would sneak out of my room and stand under the pouring sky. It was the only place I could breathe."

"The rain usually ant that I was sleeping in the cold. The basent was always fucking freezing but I loved the sound of the rain coming down on the roof. It was calming."

I turned to him. "You never got to play in the rain? Not even as a guard?"

He shook his head once. "I have been out in the rain as a guard before. It’s actually so of my best tis because we rarely see monsters."

"They don’t like the rain?"

"I don’t know," he shrugged. "I think they just go into hiding until it passes."

I hesitated before making my next move. Yes, we were having sex but I wasn’t sure what that ant for our personal relationship. There was always the chance that he would snap and remind that it was just sex and I had no right to butt in but it was a risk I was willing to take right now.

I grabbed his hand in mine and tugged.

For once, he didn’t fight . The wind roared, the trees bowed from their raging force and lightning marked the otherwise dark sky but it all seed to blur around as I tipped my head back, my eyes closed and my hands stretched out.

I exhaled deeply. "It almost makes forget that the world is a fucking ss."

I heard him chuckle beside and I peeled my eyes open a little to find him watching . He had his hands crossed over his chest while the corner of his lips tipped up. His hair was flat against his head and his muscles bulged out of his soaked t-shirt but he seed more relaxed than I had seen him in a very long ti.

"You’ll catch a cold," he warned but I shrugged, unable to care.

"It’ll be worth it."

I grabbed Caine’s hand, forcing him to spin with . He rolled his eyes and mumbled sothing about being a spoiled princess but I could see the small smile that he tried to hide. He loved it as much as I did.

He tugged closer, his hands finding their footing on my hip while mine splayed across his chest. I could feel every hard inch of him through his clothes.

His fingers tangled in my hair, brushing it out of my face before leaning down to kiss slowly.

"We have to go in soon," he whispered against my lips but he didn’t make an effort to move. "It’ll take a few more days of rain before we can finally start moving again."

I just humd as his lips brushed against my forehead. "What are we going to do in the anti?"

"Everything we can’t do without the rain."

There was nothing sexual about his words and yet, my stomach flipped over on itself.

"Do you think that if we t outside of this epidemic that we would be friends?"

He laughed. "We would hate each other. I would think you’re a spoiled princess and you would think that I-"

"That you’re an ass?" I asked and he shrugged. "I still think you are one."

"And I still think you’re a spoiled princess but you’re tolerable."

I smacked his shoulder and his lip quirked. The dimple on his left cheek popped out against his otherwise smooth skin.

"So there is a chance that we could have been friends."

"Maybe," he agreed. "Unfortunately, we will never know for sure."