“I don’t want you to disappear,” she says.
I meet her eyes then. Really meet them. “I don’t plan to.”
She smiles, looking relieved.
“I’m going to check the south cameras,” I say, because I need movement before emotion settles in.
“Okay.”
As I pass her, she reaches out and touches me lightly on the arm.
I keep walking, but I don’t shake the feeling loose.
During my rounds later, I detour to the workshop. Atlas is there, recalibrating a piece of comms equipment, and Grizz is cleaning a weapon.
“I’m not stepping away,” I say.
Both of them look up.
“Even though this is going toget complicated.”
Grizz lets out a low snort as he wipes his hands with a rag. “No shit.”
“If it falls apart, it won’t be because I refused to show up,” I tell them.
Atlas studies me, then nods. “That’s all any of us can promise,” he says.
Later, back at the house, I pass Kira at the base of the stairs that lead to the main floor.
There’s a question in her eyes, but I don’t answer it with words.
I stop and stand there with her.
I don’t retreat. I don’t disappear.
When her eyes soften, I brush my hand along her jaw, touching the smooth skin there, before I cup the back of her neck and bring her in.
Today, kissing her is about exploration instead of desperation. I take in her taste, the fullness of her lips. I listen to the way she responds.
She puts a hand on my side with a light touch, and I bring her closer for a moment, breathing her in.
When I pull back, I look her in the eye, and then we continue on our way.
CHAPTER 41
ATLAS
Kira's a different woman than the one we found that night in the snowstorm. The changes in her are small, but significant.
She no longer hesitates in doorways. She leans into touch instead of bracing for it. And now that she's come to a new understanding with Silas, she moves through the house like she belongs here.
As she should.
Because she does.
Kira spent last night with Silas, and unless my hearing's playing tricks on me, I'd swear the man was humming in the kitchen this morning.
Tonight, she's with me, the sweet sounds of her pleasure making me feel like I’m twenty years younger.
