After a long moment, she pulls back slightly, eyes glassy, lips swollen. The anger is still there, simmering under the surface, but it’s softer now, mixed with something raw and unguarded.
She reaches for the door handle without a word, sliding off my lap on unsteady legs. The loss of her heat makes me hiss. She smooths her dress down, not looking at me.
I watch her, chest still heaving, cock slick and spent against my stomach.
“This doesn’t change anything,” she says quietly, voice hoarse.
“It changes everything,” I answer.
She doesn’t reply, just opens the door and steps out into the cool garage air, closing it softly behind her.
I sit there for a long minute, staring at the fogged windows and the faint outline of her handprint fading slowly on the glass.
She can tell herself whatever she needs to.
But her body just told me the truth.
20
AURELIA
Nadia doesn’t askwhere I’ve been.
She’s in the sitting room when I walk through the front door, pretending to read a magazine, but her eyes lift the moment she hears my footsteps. She takes in my state—my wrinkled dress, the lipstick I don’t have anymore, the way I’m holding my heels instead of wearing them.
Three seconds of silence.
Then she turns a page. “The boys are in the back yard.”
“Thank you.”
I head upstairs before anything else needs to be said.
The shower runs cold before I’m ready to get out. I stand under the spray trying to wash away the feel of Cassian’s hands on my skin, the taste of him still in my mouth, the way he looked at me when I left, like he knew I was lying about something.
It doesn’t work. I can still feel him everywhere.
The twins find me two hours later.
I’m in the library pretending to read when Finn barrels through the door like a small hurricane. Liam follows at his usual careful pace, taking in the room before committing to entering.
“Mam!” Finn launches himself at me, climbing onto the sofa without asking. “We built a fort outside, and Nadia said we could have cookies in it but only if you said yes first.”
“Did she?”
“Yes! She said, ‘ask your mam,’ so I’m asking.”
Liam settles on the arm of the sofa. “It’s a good fort. We used the patio chairs and some blankets.”
“Sounds impressive.”
“It is,” Finn says proudly. Then his face shifts into something more serious. “Mam, when are we going to meet Da?”
The question hits me like cold water.
“Someday,” I manage.
“But when?” Finn presses. “You always say someday, but you never say when.”
