A few minutes? Her eyes widened a fraction, searching for any sign he was joking. She was expecting 30 seconds perhaps, or a minute max, but a few minutes of him searching in her head was…enough to make her heart rate accelerate. It didn’t help when his fingers found hers and she felt his hand encompass hers. Against her will, she found herself gripping his hand already and immediately relaxed to focus on his explanation. The explanation about his father.

His father had done something like that to him? With his hand in hers, she wanted to draw his hand up and search for any sign of scars he’d made. She was only stunned by how this portrait of his father had started out. But this was hardly time to have a heart to heart about his family. Rowan watched his hand raise in front of her, determined to meet his gaze without trepidation. But then her hand did something automatic, and she ran her thumb against the knuckle of his own. Something inside her settled, and she exhaled. Her shoulders dropped. She closed her eyes and took another deep breath.

Put yourself in a state where you're practically begging for me to see inside your mind.

Trust him.

“Do it.”

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