“Both.”
Her mouth twitched, almost smiling. “Fair enough.”
The sight of it hit me low in the gut, a punch of want so intense my breath stuttered.
Lucian appeared at her door and opened it, offering a hand to help her out. She hesitated for a long moment before taking it, and I watched something flash across his face when her fingers touched his palm.
She let go as soon as she was standing.
“Come on.” Lucian’s voice was rougher than usual. “I’ll show you around.”
I followed them inside, staying far enough back that she wouldn’t feel crowded. Far enough that I couldn’t reach out and touch the small of her back the way I wanted to. The way I had during the forgotten week, guiding her through doorways, my palm pressed to her curves.
The cabin looked different through her eyes. I watched her take in the high ceilings, the exposed beams, the stone fireplace that dominated the living room. Percy had turned on every lamp he could find, flooding the space with warm light.
The furniture was old. The kind of pieces that belonged in a different century, because they did. I’d brought most of it through the portal from Veyndral, unwilling to sit on the flimsy human approximations.
“This is beautiful,” she said quietly.
Percy appeared from the kitchen with a glass of water. “Solomon built most of it. The man’s basically a lumberjack with commitment issues.”
“I don’t have commitment issues.”
“You’ve been working on that back porch for eight months.”
“The angles are complicated.”
Mira looked between us with an expression that might have been amusement. “You two argue like brothers.”
“Worse,” Percy said cheerfully. “Goes deeper than that. We’re stuck with each other.”
Lucian cleared his throat. “Your room is upstairs. Best one in the house.”
She followed him up the stairs, and I followed her. Close enough to catch her if she stumbled, far enough that she wouldn’t feel my presence as a threat.
I was very aware of the distance between us. Of the inches separating my chest from her back. The way her hips swayed as she climbed each step, the curve of her ass visible even beneath the loose scrubs.
My mouth went dry. My hands ached to grip those hips, pull her back against me, feel her body pressed to mine from shoulder to thigh.
I kept my hands at my sides, counting my breaths. Reminded myself that she was traumatized and exhausted and the last thing she needed was to feel my erection pressing against her from behind.
The room we’d chosen for her was at the end of the hall. Big windows overlooking the forest. An attached bathroom with a bed large enough to disappear in.
A bed I’d imagined her in more times than I could count. Spread out on those sheets, copper hair fanned across the pillows, reaching for me with soft hands and softer sounds.
And a door with a lock.
Lucian crossed to it immediately. “This is how it works.” He demonstrated, sliding the deadbolt into place with a solid click. Then unlock it before locking it again. “No one can get in when this is engaged. Not from outside, not with a key. You’re the only one who can open it.”
Mira stared at the lock then at Lucian again.
“You can leave whenever you want,” he continued. “No one will stop you. No one will follow you. If you decide tomorrow that you want to go, we’ll drive you wherever you need to be. No questions asked.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
The question hung in the air. Lucian’s jaw tightened, and I knew he was fighting the urge to explain everything.
The bond. Our forgotten week. The desperate, consuming need to keep her close that made every word out of his mouth feel as if it was a lie of omission.
