stance between window and door in three strides. He stopped just short of collision range, close enough that s

don't do this. Casual relationships. Dating for the sake of dating." His hands came up, hovering near her shoulders, not quite touching. "If we're doing this, it's with purpose. With intention. With-" He

es

ontrolled it. Kiera forced herself to breathe, to moderate her tone, to remember that she was playing a role even as s

rist where his pulse hammered. "I want that too. The purpose. The intention." The lie tasted strang

from her lungs, his face buried in her hair. "I'll protect you," he murmured, the words muffled against her scalp. "I swear to you, Ch

nce. She thought of Kayden's casual cruelties, the way he'd never quite said the words even when he'd been saying everyth

d, because it was easier than responding

everent. "Sorry. I'm-" He laughed, the sound startled and young. "I'm not good at this. The talking. Th

said, and was horrified

ht fading to gold around them. Then Ethan checked his watch-a military habit, she w

ck first. To-" He paused, and she saw the question in his eyes, the realizat

old, too far from the embassies and museums where someone like Chasity Cantu would naturally reside. She couldn't ris

to be plausible, anonymous enough to be safe. "I'm staying there. Temporarily.

ling back over his features as he transitioned from lover to officer. But his hand found hers as they walk

tracing patterns against her palm that made it difficult to think. At stoplights, he looked at her-long, searching l

said at one point, the question c

mptons. We don't see each other as much as I'd like." Truth and fiction, woven together. Her parents were dead, had been for years

meet them," he said. "When they're back.

oss teeth that wanted to chatter. "Of c

h the windshield like a judgment. Ethan parked illegally, hazards

r, his hand cupping her jaw, his thumb tracing her lower lip. "Tomorrow I want to see y

teased, because it wa

," he corrected

linging to his shoulders. When he finally released her, his eyes were dark, his breathing ragged, and she f

re I forget every reason I s

through the tinted glass. She didn't look back until she was through the revolving doors, until she

atched his truck merge i

ssed to the cool marble, and tried to remember how to breathe. Her phone buzzed in her purse-a mess

ok. Couldn't

. She gave her real address, the one no one in Ethan's world knew existed, and watched the city transform around her as th

that Ethan's sterile quarters had never been. She kicked off her heels, letting them li

words, all caps, punctuated by enoug

ID YOU

type, the story spilling out in fragments and half-truths, the con

id something stupi

ore she could think about what she was asking

A time. A demand for explanation that

n she left again, the city had fully surrendered to night, and s

ith Chasity,