dshot she'd used for her gallery's website, composed and distant, not

it, the satin exterior catching minimal light. The phone inside began t

t rigid beneath

tched her crawl, making no move to stop her, his expression unreadable in the dimness. Her fingers found th

n. Ca

m her fingers as easily as taking candy from a child. She reached for it-"Don't, please, he'll know"-but Julian

b swept across the glass, accepting the cal

m, compressed and tinny through the p

ine hit the bedpost. Julian followed, his naked body moving with the casual confidence of

rpened. "I can hear you br

the soft flesh above her hip, digging in with precise pre

sounded almost genuine, layered over som

ords against her ear, h

She swallowed, tried again. "I bumpe

Justen

ward, tracing the curve of her ribcage, and Kloe's voi

pticism was audible. "Which

. Kloe's knees buckled. She grabbed his shoulder for support, her nails digging

sound like-"

desperate and transparent. "I ran into so

ollege friends weren't invited, Kloe.

inst her skin. He sucked, hard, and Kloe's head fell back, a sound escaping her that she co

ormative concern, raw with suspicion and something that

nd broken, and in the same moment Julian's thumb

responding to his mouth, her mind racing through the implications of what had just happened. Just

isfied, almost smug. He set her phone o

ing the hotel. Calling security, perhaps." His hand cupped her face, thumb brushi

who'd taken her apart and put her back together as something unr

r future had been, and the strange, terrif