The evening wore on, and despite Riley's best efforts to keep her walls firmly in place, she found herself more and more caught up in Zayden's orbit. His words echoed in her mind, and the steady pressure of his hand over hers seemed to be slowly unwinding the knots that had tied her insides in tension for so long.
She pulled her hand back when she realized what was happening, and immediately, Zayden withdrew, his eyes narrowing slightly, as though he had known exactly what she was doing. Riley could feel the air shift between them, thickening with unspoken words.
"You don't have to pull away," Zayden said, his voice uncharacteristically soft. "It's okay to feel something. It's okay to let your guard down once in a while."
"I don't know how," Riley muttered, her voice so low she barely recognized it as her own. "I've spent so long building this wall, it's hard to even imagine what it would feel like to take it down."
Zayden leaned in slightly, his eyes intent on her, as if trying to draw her in without saying a word. "You don't have to take it all down at once. Just let me in a little bit."
Her chest tightened, and Riley looked away, focusing on the half-eaten dinner in front of her. She hated how vulnerable he made her feel, but she couldn't ignore the part of her that wanted to trust him, to believe in something different than the lonely, guarded existence she had carved out for herself.
"I'm not good at this," Riley confessed, her voice a mix of frustration and vulnerability. "I don't know how to be… open. I don't know how to be anything but what I've always been."
Zayden's gaze softened, and he gave a small, understanding nod. "I know," he said quietly. "But that doesn't mean you have to keep pushing people away. I'm not asking for anything from you, Riley. I just want you to know I'm here. Whenever you're ready."
The sincerity in his voice made Riley's throat tighten. She blinked rapidly, trying to ward off the lump that had appeared there.
"You make it sound so easy," she said, a bitter edge to her words. "But for me, it's not. I can't just forget everything I've built up. I can't just… trust."
Zayden sighed, leaning back in his chair, studying her with a quiet intensity that made her heart race. "I'm not asking you to forget anything. I'm not asking you to trust me right away. I'm just asking for a chance. To be someone you don't have to shut out."
Riley wanted to argue, to push him away before he got any closer. But the rawness in his voice stopped her. She had always been the one to push people away first, to keep them at arm's length, but now… now she wasn't so sure.
Zayden's sincerity was disarming. It was like he was peeling away at the shell she had hidden inside for so long, and with each layer, it felt like a new part of her was being exposed. The thought terrified her.
"I don't know if I can do this," she said, her voice barely above a whisper.
"You don't have to," Zayden replied with a shrug, his tone light but still holding that deep current of understanding. "But I'm not going anywhere, Riley. You don't have to do anything you're not ready for. Just take it one step at a time."
The tension that had been hanging in the air lifted slightly, but Riley still couldn't shake the feeling that everything between them was shifting.
"I've never been good at taking things slow," she said after a beat, her lips curving into a small, self-deprecating smile. "I don't know if I can handle that."
Zayden chuckled softly, his eyes twinkling with a hint of mischief. "I think you'll surprise yourself."
Riley didn't know how, but for the first time in a long while, she believed him.