fore she heard the front door, and her s

her skin felt raw. Changed twice. Practiced her own face in the bathroom mirror until the panic sitting behind

in his hand, posture loose against the back of the couch like he'd been there all day with not

nt door

people watching him. He came around the corner already smiling, suit jacket slung over one shoulder, looking

id for one terrible second be

ng at her waist like it belonged there. She had to remind herself it did belong t

er face with a tenderness that should have felt nice and instead felt like static

lie came out smoother than she

her to the couch. "Luc

bored, nothing in it that hinted at anything that had happened in that house ov

nd gone, there and then smoothed over before M

t

en moving between them that Marlowe couldn't read, old and tangled and cle

ng back into place like a switch flipped. "D

d felt Lucian's eyes land on her from across th

of a man who'd never once questioned whether a room belonged to him. "I want to take you to dinner

laining what she'd actually like, which was several hours

, easy and charming, telling stories about deals he'd closed and people he'd outmaneuvered, and Marlowe nodded in the righ

check came that th

rian said, signing the receipt wit

ired. L

ething underneath the casual concern, something with edges. "I don't like watching y

linked. "

taking them back. "Your father's situation. Money's been tight for your family for years, hasn't i

afford his medication. Every job she'd worked through college to keep the lights on. The casual cruelty

fair," she s

ld have felt comforting and instead felt like a hand closing around something it intended to keep

wanted to, not wanting to give him the sa

tion before she said something she couldn't take back. "Which airport? I tri

is eyes did, a flicker too quick for most people to catch

ettable thing, if she let he

. There hadn't been a single

n wearing all day, and let him pay the check and lead her out to the car

e lamp in the living room, where Lucian still sat exactly where they'd le

ound Marlowe's first, holding there for one

tly level, nothing in it that gave aw

eading toward the stairs, pulling Marl

living room. Lucian hadn't moved. He was still watching her, steady and

edroom they were supposed to share for real this time, she realized she had abso