I huff out a surprised laugh. “How could we even manage that? Your apartment is tiny. There’s no room for the three of us there.”
“Then we’ll move, find a bigger place. Or we’ll put your mother there and you, Saela and I will live here. We’ll figure it out, kitten. But I’m going to protect you, and I’m going to protect your sister. Let me.”
The tears are falling now, hot streaks down my cheeks in the cold winter air. My chest tightens and suddenly it’s as if I can’t breathe. How long has it been since someone genuinely wanted to help us? Since someone saw my situation and offered me a way out?
No, it’s more than that—offered, and then insisted I accept.
Where did this man come from, who has the power to melt my heart so thoroughly? I’d trade sun and sky and light itself to know I’d never have to lose him.
I wrap my arms around Lee’s neck and pull him toward me, desperate for his mouth on mine. He moves me backward, around the corner, into the alley that runs perpendicular to our street. There are no street lanterns here, so we can fade into the shadows. The closest we get to a private spot.
I stumble breathlessly back into the wall behind me, pulling Lee with me until he’s flush against my body, his heat and hard muscle pressing me back into the hard stone.
When our lips connect again, it isn’t soft this time, but demanding. I lose myself in the needy tangle of our kiss, circling my hands around his waist, dipping a few fingers into his waistband until my chilly fingers meet his hot skin.
Lee growls into my mouth, pressing me roughly into the wall, and his arousal is hard and insistent against me. I move my hips into him, relishing the sounds he makes. He yanks the edge of my tunic from where it’s tucked into my pants, anchoring one hand to my hip as the other slides up over smooth skin to cup my breast, only thin layers of cloth between his hand and my nipple.
Heat surges through me, and I break our kiss to look at him. Both of us look like we’re daring the other to take things further.
“We’re not done talking about that,” he says.
“No,” I agree. “Later.”
His mouth slams back onto mine, drawing my bottom lip into his mouth, sucking on it until I moan.
My wandering fingers find what they were looking for, Lee’s arousal heavy and thick in my hand through his pants. I stroke him, and our mouths part, Lee’s forehead resting against mine as he breathes heavily.
“Come back to mine?” His tone is half-question, half-order, andgoddess, I wish I could. I’ve taken my monthly contraceptive drought that I pick up alongside mother’s medicines at the apothecary. But…
I haven’t wanted to leave Saela alone overnight, not since Leesa was kidnapped just a few short blocks from here.
Even the thought now is dousing the flames inside of me.
His face is still flushed from our kissing, hair mussed, and a stab of regret goes through me, but I know I won’t be able to think of anything else until I check on Saela, reassure myself that all is well.
“Another night. Look, you should head out, but I’ll start thinking about your proposal and… we’ll figure out a way to make it work.”
“Good,” he says, giving me a last parting kiss.
I let myself back into my house, latching the lock firmly behind me, and move swiftly toward Saela’s and my room. Opening the door to our room, I shiver in the cool breeze.
That’s strange—there shouldn’t be a breeze.
My eyes dart to the window, which is shoved open, letting in the icy air. Heart pounding, I run over to Saela’s bed.
There’s nobody in it.
Saela is gone.
CHAPTER FOUR
This can’t be happening.
I stare blankly at the empty bed, mind turning in circles as my body floods with ice.
Saela.Saela.
I squeeze my eyes shut, counting to ten, and then open them again, but the empty bed remains, along with the cold draft coming from the open window.
