“My apartment,” he replies.
My heart kicks again, harder this time. I thought he’d take me…somewhere else, but he brought me to his home.
I turn slowly, taking it all in. There’s no mess. No softness. No space for anyone but him…and now, me.
I set my bag on the floor by the couch. He opens a closet hidden in the wall by the front door. He hangs my coat and his.
He turns to look at me as I gaze at him in confusion.
“You’re safe now,” he assures me.
I laugh. It’s a broken sound. “Am I?”
His eyes darken. “Yes. Come, let me show you around.”
There isn’t much to see. An open-plan living-dining-kitchen, a bedroom with a bathroom, a room that is a gym with another bathroom. That’s it. That’s his whole apartment.
There is only one bed, Calista, the witch who lives inside me says, a little gleeful, I think, to share a bed with Lucian.
There is a couch, I counter.
“Sit,” he instructs, and I do at the kitchen island.
“Lucian, do you have any painkillers?”
His eyes widen. “Are you hurt?”
It surprises me to see the concern on his face. He usually shows nothing, but it’s evident he cares about me.
The witch preens!
“I’m getting a migraine. I have a prescription, but it’s at home.”
He nods and then walks away. He comes back a few minutes later, a bottle of pills in hand. He sets it in front of me. The label says:Sumatriptan. It’s the prescription I use.
“How do you have this?” I ask, confused.
He sets a glass of water in front of me. “Take your medicine, Calista.”
A shiver runs through me. It’s the first time he’s said my name. I like the way it sounds in his voice—low, rough, like two packs of cigarettes and a few shots of whiskey ground into gravel.
I swallow two pills.
“Good girl,” he says.
I arch both eyebrows. “I’m twenty-seven. Haven’t been a girl in a long time.”
He chuckles, and his entire face lights up.
This is the most handsome man I have ever seen, and when he smiles?Apparently, I get wet between my legs.
10
GIVE ME SHELTER
CALISTA
“Take a shower,” he suggests. “It’ll help with your migraine.”
