I go cold. Glacial, in fact.
“Don’t talk to me like that.” I step into his space.
He laughs like I’m adorable. Then he touches my hip. Because he doesn’t care what I think or how I feel. I’m an object. Something to possess. Nothing more. Nothing less.
That’s it. I need out. Now.
“Excuse me,” I say brightly, smiling the way women smile when they’re two seconds from committing arson. “Bathroom.”
I walk. Fast. Heartbeat roaring. Stomach twisting. Vision tunneling.
I turn a corner, and a hand grabs mine, pulling me into a side corridor.
“Jesus,” I gasp, slamming into the wall of his chest.
He’s in black. No tie. Hair slightly messy, but it’s his eyes that make me gasp. They burn like he’s Orpheus, and he’s walked through hell to reach me.
“Hi.” His hands still hold my arms to steady me.
“What are you doing here?” I whisper, breath hitching.
“You really thought I wouldn’t show up on your birthday?” He brushes his thumb over my wrist like he’s soothing sparks under my skin.
I want to cry.
Instead, I pull him down and kiss him like drowning people grab air.
He grins against my mouth. “Come on.”
“Where are we going?” I let him tug me along the hallway.
“Away from here.”
We sneak through the kitchen, then make our way through the staff doors. The next hallway we walk through is dim and narrow, but it’s not long before we are outside. We dash acrossthe garden, then across the lawn. My dress whips around my ankles, but I don’t care. I’m desperate to be far away from that damn party.
The tightness in my chest doesn’t dissipate until we reach the boathouse.
Lorenzo flings the door open, then walks over to the corner, grabbing the blanket I stored there, and lays it down.
I stride over to him and don’t wait for permission, no. I throw my arms around him, and he holds me like he’s never letting go.
We sink to the floor, bodies pressed together, breaths tangled.
Then his lips brush my temple. “You looked like you were suffocating in there.”
“I was,” I breathe.
He presses his mouth against my skin. “You’re not alone, Little Bird. Not anymore.”
I kiss him again. Like this is the one place I still belong.
For a second, I forget how to breathe.
The moonlight streaming in through the dirty window casts a glow across his handsome face.
I shift closer to him, needing there to be no distance between us.
Lorenzo’s eyes seem darker than usual, intense and bottomless.
