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Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Wolf.
Can't Take My Eyes off You
Chapter Two
Lydia watches from her breakfast bar as Stiles moves around her kitchen with practiced ease as he makes them dinner, occasionally consulting the yellowed and frayed pages of the cookbook he had brought with him. He's facing away from her and she can't help but trace the hard lines of his broad shoulders and back all the way to the curve of his ass. Her gaze moves up to appreciate the muscles of his arms exposed by the short sleeved t-shirt he wore and her heart beats a little harder in her chest as he inadvertently flexes to grab the spoon from where it sits on the counter next to him.
After that night at Scott and Kira's house almost two weeks ago, she had spent restless nights unable to sleep, Kira's words plaguing her thoughts as she listened to Stiles' even breaths filter through her open bedroom door from where he slept on her couch. A part of her vehemently denied the thought of her liking Stiles but another told her that she did and was too scared to admit it to herself.
She drags her gaze away from him to look out the window, watching the rain pellet the glass relentlessly and soak Beacon Hills. Sometimes she wonders why she even came back after college. The town was full of horrors and certain death at every corner and once one problem was dealt with another would inevitably appear sooner than later. But then she remembers that Beacon Hills was home and no matter how bad things got they always got better as long as she had her pack – her family – by her side.
"Lydia!"
She blinks and tears her gaze away from the window. Stiles was standing beside her stool, practically invading her personal space as he towered over her. "Lydia," he repeats, taking her cool hand in one of his warm ones as the other reaches up to tilt her head so that he could meet her gaze. "Are you okay?"
Mutely, she nods as his hand moves to cup her face in his palm. "I'm fine," she finally tells him once she's able to find her voice.
"Are you sure?" he asks, his thumb gently sweeping against her cheek in a soothing manner.
Lydia rolls her eyes at him and nods as she tightens her grip around his hand. "I'm sure, Stiles. And before you ask, I wasn't having a banshee episode. I was just thinking."
Stiles pulls away and sits on the stool beside her. "About what?"
"About how you should have left last week when your dad told us that they'd caught the guy." She raises a brow at him in challenge with a smirk.
Amber eyes narrow at her. "I would have if somebody didn't wander out of her apartment in the middle of the night barefoot and dressed in nothing but her short little nightie to find a dead body!" he quickly shoots back, glaring at her.
She glares back at him and tightly crosses her arms. "We've had this conversation hundreds of times, Stiles! Every time I find a body like that, you don't need to practically move in with me afterwards. I don't always have control over this, but I can take care of myself."
Stiles frowns at her, his lips forming a perfect pout and Lydia's mind starts to drift and wander as she imagines herself kissing him. She quickly pushes the sudden fantasy away as she notices his mouth moving as he spoke. "I know that, Lydia, but that doesn't mean I don't worry about you. If something were to happen to you…" he trails off and they both know what he's thinking.
I would literally go out of my freaking mind.
Lydia sighs, the anger seeping right out of her, and reaches out to take his much larger hand in both of hers. She brings it to her chest and presses his palm against her heart. It's beating so erratically fast she's sure he can feel it and she should be embarrassed but she isn't. He's seen her at her worst and when's she's been at her lowest and she him. There were few secrets between them these days and very little to be embarrassed about.
"Do you feel that?" she asks, looking up to meet his intense gaze. He nods mutely. "As long as it's beating, I'm alive and moderately okay, considering the town we live in. As long as you can feel my heart beating, Stiles, I'm okay." She watches him watch her and she sees something that she doesn't understand flicker in his amber eyes before disappearing.
He nods again and gathers her into his arms. Stiles squeezes her tight against his chest and Lydia melts into his touch. "Okay," he breathes into her ear, tickling the sensitive skin and sending a shiver down her spine. "Okay," he repeats and then he presses a kiss against the crown of her head, whispering something that she doesn't catch, before pulling away.
"But don't think for a second that I'm going anywhere until we've dealt with this shit," he throws over his shoulder as he walks back into the kitchen and just like that they're back to normal.
She rolls her eyes at his back and flips her hair over her shoulder. "Fine," she snaps back, gathering up her laptop and stack of bridal magazines. "Call me when dinner's ready, I'll be in my room."
"'Kay." He sends her a little crooked smile at her over his shoulder that makes her heart beat just a little faster and a blush to redden her face that she's quick to hide behind her long hair.
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