Page 163 of The Encore’s Crown

“No one is pressuring me, I want this done.”

That isn’t entirely true. Julian is. He’s pressing from every direction without even being in the room, banking on the idea that protecting Kiri will matter more to me than punishing him. He’s right. I hate that he’s right, but I know what I’m choosing. I sign once, then again where the lawyer points, and one final time beneath the page that makes the entire thing official. The pen barely leaves the paper before Stefan exhales. He looks like a man watching a fire that's finally stop spreading.

“That’s it?” I ask.

The lawyer gathers the pages. “Once Julian’s side executes the agreement, yes. The matter is closed.”

Closed. Such a clean word for something that feels anything but.

On the plane back to Seattle, the whole morning already feels unreal. The penthouse. The lawyer. The signatures.

Kiri. Especially Kiri.

Kasia settles into the seat beside me and pulls the blanket over her lap. “Well, at least it’s over.”

I look out the window as the ground begins to fall away beneath us. “Yeah.”

“And now the boys are never going to leave you alone at a party again.”

A smile threatens as I think about one boy in particular. Beneath my clothes, my body seems determined to remember every place Kiri left his hands. Every mark and kiss. Every slow drag of his mouth over skin that still tingles beneath my hoodie. Memories come back in quick flashes I can't stop. The shower wall. The kitchen island. The bed. The other bed. The couch. The floor, on that ridiculous throw that felt like velvet beneath us while our bodies slid together. Everything had been soft and hard at once. The blanket beneath my back, his body above mine, his mouth gentle until it wasn’t, his hands tender one moment and completely desperate the next. The way he looked at me before he—

I snap myself back before I start drooling in public.

Kasia is still talking about what she and Rafe are going to do when he gets back. Dinner plans. A house viewing he sent her. Whether Mama is going to insist everyone come over Friday even though we’ll both be exhausted. I nod at what seems like the right moment, grateful she hasn’t noticed I checked out of the conversation several minutes ago.

I look down at my phone. There are two messages from Kiri, sent before takeoff.

i can’t get you out of my head

My stomach flips.

and i don’t want to

I read them again, then once more. By the time I lock my phone, the smile has already spread across my face. I turn toward the window before Kasia can see too much. I look down at the screen again, his words still glowing there. My body remembers him all over again.

Kasia gives me a long look, then goes back to talking. Beneath the edge of the blanket, I open the messages and type.

So, business as usual, then. I was starting to worry last night had cured you.

I bite down on my thumbnail and lock my phone before the heat climbing my neck reaches my face.

The second I get upstairs, I drop my bag beside the vanity and text him.

Home.

My phone rings before the message has even settled on the screen.

I laugh as I answer. “Were you staring at the chat?”

“Yes. You made it okay?” His voice is low and rough, and it moves through me like he’s still lying beside me instead of a thousand miles away. I sit on the edge of the vanity and close my bedroom door with my foot.

“Not really. Kasia spent half the flight talking about Rafe and houses while I pretended I wasn’t replaying every terrible decision we made in that penthouse.”

“Terrible?”

“Very. I'm having withdrawals.”

“I should probably remind you how terrible so I can assist with that.”