I swallowed. “Do you… um… have a lot of those?”
His brow dipped. “A lot of what?”
“Tattoos.” I traced one of the lines of ink that curled over his knuckles.
“Basically my whole body.”
I winced. “That sounds painful.”
His breath deepened just slightly.
“I could never get a tattoo. Just the thought of it feels like medieval torture. And think of the fashion limitations. Everything would have to goaroundthe tattoos. It’s a logistical nightmare.”
He huffed a quiet laugh under his breath.
My gaze dropped to the silver chain resting against his collarbone. It shone faintly under the red emergency light.
“Why do all Crows wear those?” I blurted, then immediately froze. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have asked that. I get nosy when I panic. You can askmequestions instead. That’s probably safer.”
His eyes flicked down to where my legs were folded under me, knees pressed together through the slit of my dress as I tried very hard not to flash him.
“Can you even breathe in that dress?” he asked.
I glanced down at the black satin, skin-tight.
“No.”
His mouth twitched, the closest thing to a smile I’d seen in the last few minutes.
“We’re likely going to be stuck in here for a while.”
“Hours?” My heart lurched. “Wait. The air. Should we be preserving it? Should we take shallow breaths? Oh my God, I’ve beenwasting air?—”
“Madeline.”
I shut my mouth.
“We aren’t running out of air. There’s ventilation. The flow doesn’t stop just because the car does.” His voice was so calm.
I took a shaky breath in… then out. He waited until he was sure I believed him.
“You want my shirt?”
“What?”
He gestured at my dress. “We’re stuck in here for a while. That thing doesn’t look comfortable. We’re going to be sitting on this floor for a bit.”
My brain short-circuited at the idea of him taking off his shirt in the dim elevator with me.
“Oh—I’m fine,” I hugged my arms around myself. “Completely fine. Very comfortable. I could run a marathon. In this. Skin-tight. Dress.”
He didn’t bother hiding the disbelieving look he gave me.
“Right. You look very comfortable.”
“I am.”
He dragged his gaze down the length of me, taking in the too-tight bust, the way the fabric didn’t actually allow for real oxygen intake.
