m, the knuckles swollen with age, and they held on with surprising strength. She looked at Zara for a long moment, studying her face the way a jeweler studies a stone."You're thinner than your pic

breath caught. "Nana, I-""I'm not asking you to explain. I'm telling you what I see." The old woman's eyes were wet and fierce and very kind. "Whatever that boy tells you, whatever he says about contracts and rules, he is looking at you like a man who has been starving his whole life and just smelled bread."Zara laughed unsteadily, to cover the sudden sting behind her eyes. "It's a contract, Nana.""Contracts break," Nana Odessa said. "Hearts are stubborn."* * *Damien walked his grandmother to the elevator that evening, one hand beneath her elbow, and she let him, which meant she was tired."I like her," Nana said."It's temporary.""Mm.""Nana. It's a contract.""So you keep telling me." She stopped at the elevator doors and turned to look up at him, the way she had when he was a boy with scraped knees and a lump in his throat. "You are your father's son, Damien. But you are also my daughter-in-law's son, and she was the kindest woman I ever knew, God rest her, and God forgive the fool who drove her away."He went rigid. They did not talk about his mother. They had not talked about her in twenty-five years."Be careful with that girl," Nana said softly. "She's the first real thing that's walked into your life since you were nine years old. You will either love her, or you will ruin her. And I would hate to see you do the second.""I won't," he said, because it was the only answer he had."Mm-hm." She pressed his cheek with one cool palm. "Eat something, baby. You're too thin."The elevator doors slid shut. Damien stood alone in the hallway, jaw tight, and listened to the silence of the penthouse behind him. Then, because he could not help himself, he went back in.The kitchen was dim. Zara was washing the teacups, her back to him, humming that same off-key song. He stood in the doorway, watching the line of her shoulders, the lamplight caught in her hair, and he felt something he had not felt in a very long time.A wanting. Dangerous and terrifying."Your grandmother is incredible," Zara said, without turning around."She's a menace.""She's wonderful." She dried her hands and finally faced him.