Page 95 of Devil in Her Details

“I can consider trusting you if you tell me why I’m not allowed to face that villain.”

Dagger sighed. He rose up off his heels, bracing his forearms on the bed on either side of her, until his face was a breath from hers. “Because he doesn’t get to face you.”

Her lips parted, and she leaned back slightly. “That’s not reason enough.”

His body chased after hers, eyes narrowing. “Is the fact that I don’t want him to catch even the smallest sight of you enough?”

Her look turned doubtful. “Are you, perhaps, jealous?”

Jealous? “Christ, Lilly. I don’t even know what that means.”

She scoffed, but he could tell he’d won.

For now, at least. The challenge of winning against Lilly Trenton was that it never felt entirely set. He wouldn’t put it past her to have kept a secondary argument in a hidden pocket, ready to be deployed the moment he lowered his guard. Or the moment she didn’t like his answer. He must have given the right one, though for the life of him, he couldn’t say why a gruff answer had been exactly what she wanted to hear.

“You’re going to be insufferable about this,” she said. “Aren’t you?”

“Yes,” Dagger said bluntly.

“There’s no room for negotiation?” she questioned.

“There will always be room, but no.”

A sigh blew past her lips, but brightness returned to the depth of her gaze. “So impossible. What will you do with Calvington now?”

“Let him stew for a bit.” The man had pissed himself when they’d locked him in, so there was that. Which was another reason he didn’t want Lilly near the man. The sight would be too vile for her pretty eyes.

“Are you not scared of the consequences?” she asked softly. “The blow back for this could be quite big.”

“We’ve managed worse.”

She stared at him a moment before nodding. “Then I suppose we can return home now.”

We. Home.

Dagger fought against shutting his eyes in pleasure. He added those to his other two favorite words. His. Woman. We. Home. She’d said it so damn easily. Like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

We can return home.

The tavern had been many things over the years. A stronghold, a place to eat and sleep and live with his brothers. But home had always been a cold word. Didn’t mean all that much. Family, on the other hand, family meant everything. Home was where family was. Simple. The word certainly didn’t have same warmth as it did when it came from her lips. It occurred to him that this “home” they had established together existed neither in her world nor in his. It existed somewhere in between.

And if it only existed somewhere in between, did it even exist at all?

Not a question for today.

And as much as he wanted to return home, “I don’t think that’s possible.”

“Why?” she asked, a pout forming on her lips.

“Not sure what that fool told his entourage.” A few inches closer and he could kiss her. And Dagger wanted desperately to kiss her. “But they might know where you’re residing.”

She pulled a face. “Which means I may have some unwanted callers. So are we staying here, then?”

Dagger shook his head. As much as he’d prefer not to leave his chamber for the rest of the day, and night, that wasn’t an option either. The rats he had beaten had already been set free. “We’re not certain if Calvington knows who we are and where we operate from, so it’s best not to say here. We’ll be heading to Peregrine’s.”

Understanding dawned, and she nodded thoughtfully. “Well, an inn does solve a lot of problems.”

Dagger agreed.