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She gave him a puzzled glance. “Are you feeling okay? I realize this morning has been a bit traumatic, one way or another.” Which was definitely an understatement.
Not only had they solved the mystery this morning of who was deliberately damaging Casper’s car but they had also located Martyna Morozov and her lover.
Yep, busy morning.
And all done while Casper had a broken arm and numerous cuts and bruises. He could be forgiven for becoming a little muddled regarding his current location.
The lines beside Casper eyes crinkled as he smiled. “You’re now my home, Persephone.” He sobered. “Just the thought of returning to the estate without you, sleeping in my bed without you beside me, is completely anathema to me.”
Heat coursed through Persy’s body just hearing those words. That heat was followed by that deep sense of belonging. Something she hadn’t felt since her family was shattered by tragedy a year ago.
But a part of her was still afraid to trust the feelings Casper said he had for her.
That perhaps he was only speaking to her this way because they had spent the night together.
She feared that whatever Casper claimed to feel for her now wouldn’t last beyond this forced proximity.
She was just afraid, damn it.
Casper was known for being a player, not a stayer. His sexual conquests were legendary and often the subject of the conversations amongst the people who worked at Kingston Security.
He—
“Only time will show you how sincere I am,” Casper told her gently, alerting Persy to the fact she must have spoken her fears out loud. “I am, and will remain, one hundred percent invested in our relationship.”
Her cheeks warmed. “I don’t mean to doubt you. I just—”
“Doubt me,” he finished ruefully. “That seems fair,” he accepted. “Penance for my never taking anything seriously in the past.”
“I’m not being deliberately difficult.”
“I know that.” His arm about her waist drew her to him, the arm without the sling lifting so that he could cup his palm against her cheek. “Can I stay in your apartment with you for the rest of the day and tonight? Just to be together and sleep in the same bed, if that’s what you decide.”
Persy wasn’t so naïve as to think that if Casper was in bed with her, the two of them would just fall asleep.
Not when she was aware of and wanted him as much as he claimed to want her.
But neither could she turn down the opportunity to spend more time with him. “Okay,” she agreed huskily.
Tomorrow, as one famous literary heroine had once proclaimed, was another day.
Today Persy intended spending with the man she knew she was falling in love with.
The day and night that followed pulled Persy even deeper into that intense feeling of belonging she now had whenever she was with Casper.
The two of them made brunch together in Persy’s apartment before Casper persuaded her to join him for an afternoon nap. And it was just a nap, as Casper had said it would be. He held her tightly in his arms for all of it, as if afraid she would disappear while he slept. But there was no lovemaking.
That came later, after Casper woke and persuaded her to take another shower with him.
If anything, it was more perfect than the first time. Probably because they were more familiar with each other’s bodies now and knew some, if not all, of the sensitive places that gave them the most pleasure.
Persy knew—now hoped—that they would have weeks, months, years together to become even more familiar with giving and receiving that intensity of ecstasy.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
“I know who you are.”
Persy stilled when Casper murmured those words against her throat, the two of them still intimately entwined after their lovemaking.
