She looks at me like she knows I’m lying but doesn’t call me on it. Just heads down to the playroom and I hear the twins’ excited shouts when she mentions cookies.
I’m alone in the hallway with an armful of towels when Cassian ends his call. He walks around the corner and stops when he sees me.
We’re maybe six feet apart. Close enough for me to see the muscle jump in his jaw. Close enough to smell whatever soap he uses.
I open my mouth to ask if everything’s okay with his call, but he moves before I can speak. Three strides and he’s in front of me.
The towels drop from my arms and hit the floor between us.
His hand slides around my waist, fingers pressing into the curve just above my hip. The other hand cups the back of my neck, thumb against my pulse point where my heart is trying to break through skin.
Then his mouth is on mine.
Not gentle. Not asking.
Just taking.
I kiss him back before my brain registers what’s happening. My hands find his shirt, fist in the fabric, pull him closer even though there’s no space left between us. He backs me against the wall and the impact makes me gasp. He uses it, deepens the kiss, and I taste whiskey and want and six years of everything we’ve been burying.
His hand moves from my waist to my hip while mine slides up to his hair, tangles in it the way I’ve wanted to since he walked through the door.
We break apart just long enough to breathe and then we’re kissing again, desperate and consuming. His mouth moves to my jaw, down my neck, and I tilt my head back to give him access. My eyes close. His teeth scrape against my throat and I bite down on my lip to keep quiet.
The boys are thirty feet away in the kitchen. Nadia’s with them. Julian could walk past any second.
None of it matters.
His mouth comes back to mine and I meet him halfway. One of his hands is in my hair now, fisted at the base of my skull, holding me exactly where he wants me. The other is still on my hip, thumb pressing against bare skin where my shirt has ridden up.
Footsteps on the stairs.
We break apart so fast I nearly lose my balance.
Cassian’s across the hallway before I catch my breath, leaning against the opposite wall like he was just standing there the whole time. His chest rises and falls too quickly. His hair is messed up from my hands.
Nadia rounds the corner. She stops when she sees us.
“The boys want to show you their frosting masterpieces,” she says to Cassian. Then her eyes move to me. “You okay? You look flushed.”
“Fine. Just warm.”
She doesn’t look convinced. Her gaze moves between us, taking in details I can’t hide. My hair is probably a mess. My shirt is definitely crooked. Cassian looks like he just ran a mile.
But she doesn’t say anything. Just nods once and heads back toward the kitchen.
Cassian and I stay in the hallway.
My lips burn. My pulse hammers in my throat so hard I can see it in my peripheral vision. His hands left heat everywhere they touched and my body wants more.
“That was stupid,” I say.
“Probably.”
“We can’t do this.”
“You already said that.”
“I mean it.”
