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“Are you getting in?” one of the men asked, a polite smile on his face as he held the door open. I sawhim—Nate—in the stranger. The way the muscle flexed in his neck, the way his head tilted, and the scent of his cologne. It wasn’t fair, but there was my ghost…invading another man.
I parted my lips to speak, but no sound came out. My fear and my sin caught my voice in a trap. The hold he had over me tightened around my throat. I shook my head.
The man nodded, the doors closing.It was only the fifth floor…I could take the stairs.
I made my way to the exit, my routine flipped on its head. I had never feared elevators before, but as I took the steps, listening to the echoing thump of my heels, the thought dawned on me. It wasn’t the elevator. It wasn’t the fact I saw Nate. It was the lack of control.
I craved the control that he took from me. I now searched for it in every situation.
I shook the thought away as I made it to the lobby’s double glass door.
Kai loitered, switching between leaning against the wall and scrolling on his phone. He stood there unassuming, his black hair stuck up, and a blue button-up doing nothing to hide what lay beneath. His black jeans hung low on his hip. As he ran his hand through his hair, his shirt pulled upward, revealing the hip V that had me drooling.
Get yourself together,I warned myself. But Kai was alluring, safe, and offered a sense of control I hadn’t had with anyone since…
“Hey,” I said, doing my best to smile.
Kai glanced up, wide eyes. A grin grew on his face, showing off his teeth. “Hey, ready to go?”
I nodded.
He held his arm out for me. The cockiness of his posture gave way to the joke. “M’lady.” A giggle escaped my lips as I wrapped my arm around his and let him lead me from my apartment building. “So, Santora?” He lifted a brow.
I rolled my eyes, the joke falling into place. “It’s a namesake, nothing more.”
“Au contraire. Santora mean a lot to this town,”
“Sure, if a lot means the high-end rooms, discretion for high-up businessmen and their desire to cheat on their wives, oh, and how could I forget the liquor?”
Kai stared at me, a flash of confusion rolling across his features. It was so fleeting I thought I made it up, except for how he gripped me just a bit tighter. “The Santora Hotel means more than that to some people. It issanctuary,”he said as he opened the door to his jeep.
“Sanctuary?”My stomach twisted at the word. “I’ve never known that place as a sanctuary.”
Kai began driving us toward the pier, the wind blowing against my face. The small feeling of flight took over me as I danced my palm against the air, riding it like waves.
“Even the worst of the worst deserve a place where they can be safe,” he muttered.
“Where are we getting coffee?” I asked, wanting to dismiss the conversation about my family. There was nothing I loathed more andplentyI wished to get up to with Kai.
My attraction to him was surprising and overwhelming as I drew my stare across his body.Could I…after?
“It’s a surprise,” he said, pulling into a parking spot overlooking the water. The splash of the waves did nothing to help the memories, but as Kai gave a gentle squeeze of my hand, they diminished. “Unless you want to go somewhere else?”
I thought of the elevator, my ghost getting the best of me. I didn’t want to change the way I lived because of some man’s decisions. No, I wanted to continue living my life—the life I fought tooth and nail for. I glanced at my palms; the bloodstains were long gone, but somehow their weight was still there. “No.” I shook my head. “This is fine,” I said.
We walked down the pier. Children’s soft laughter filled the air, along with the scent of popcorn and cotton candy. “So, Audry…what do you do for fun?”
“Fun?” I asked as we passed the booths of games offering brightly colored stuffed animals as their prizes.
“Yeah, like, do you knit? Jog?”
“I don’t really have time?—”
“Nonsense!” Kai smiled wide. “Everyone has something that they need to do to refill. Some small hobby that brings them joy.”
“Well, I tend to go out a lot.”
“That is work. Social-work. What do you do with just you?” he asked, the words so serious, like he actually wanted to chew on my answer and understand it.
