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I didn’t believe in crystal balls, tea leaves, or love lines. I guess that meant I didn’t believe in fate. I wasn’t sure. I had created my own fate. I didn’t have a choice—it was thrust upon me when my father died. As I looked at our open palms, it was more difficult to reject the idea that our lives were supposed to intersect. We were meant to cross paths and repeat the pattern. Five years ago, I never would have told him that he was part of my fate. I didn’t tell him or let myself believe it. Not before he left for France. Not when our fathers kept us on different continents. Soulmates? Fate? Those words and fantasies were for people who had time for dreaming and romantic cliches. I’d never been that girl. I wasn’t that woman now.
And yet, I didn’t know how to explain why every time our bodies touched my breath quickened and my heart raced. I couldn’t put into reason that the nearness of him undid me. That the slightest whisper from his lips breezing against my shoulders, my back, or my neck could make me feel as if he was about to melt into me in a way no man had. Maybe after five years of denying it, I was ready to accept that Knight was my fate. He had always been a running line on my palm, as clear as a tattoo. Our love lines were always going to bring us back to each other. Why was it messy and complicated? Why didn’t the pain just go away?
“I don’t want to go, but I have to.” He glanced at me. “Seraphina.”
I folded the towel over the bleeding cut. “I know. Get all the information you can.”
“And dinner. I’ll bring you something.”
My stomach rolled at the thought of food. I hadn’t eaten since the kidnapping. I looked at the limp pillow on the bed and the thin quilt.
“I might try to sleep.” I wasn’t sure that was possible. I was seized by too much adrenaline coming and going from my body.
“You should. It will be quiet. You’re safe.”
“My phone doesn’t work here. You can’t text and neither can I.” I’d given up on walking the corners of the room, searching for service.
“No texting?” He seemed alarmed.
I twisted my lips together. “Or phone.”
“There used to be a land line in here.” Knight walked the small perimeter of the cabin. It only took a few seconds. He rubbed the side of his square jaw. “We’re not going to be able to communicate here, are we?”
I shook my head. “No. This won’t work. If you’re going to lock me away, I have to be able to use my phone. And what about Kimble? He’s going to text when he lands at the airport. What if he gets in early? He has no idea where I am.”
“Damn it.” His short-term plan was already falling apart. “I don’t like that you can’t call me if you need me.”
“I don’t either. Hide me in the trunk?” I teased. “Then I can text you all through dinner.”
He huffed. “Funny. It won’t be for long. Just an hour. Two at the most. I promise. I’ll get back as soon as the Castilles tip their hand.”
“You could get roped into drinks. Business that has nothing to do with Crew,” I argued. I didn’t want to stay in the cabin.
“Let me go to dinner. I’ll be back with food and then we’ll figure out where we go next.”
“Together?” I pressed.
“Yes. Together.”
He circled his arm around my waist. “I know this isn’t where you want to be. I’ll be back. I swear. I wouldn’t leave you here.”
I nodded, willing myself, pushing myself to trust him. To believe him.
His thumb stroked the side of my cheek. I didn’t think I could feel excitement today. But Knight had unearthed it from a dark place. Exhumed a sliver of happiness when I thought it had been extinguished. He summoned it to the surface as his mouth covered mine. If I could just breathe him in maybe the world would be okay again.
Chapter8
Knight
Her kiss was still on my lips. Her voice in my ear. I had to clear my head.
I checked my phone again before walking into the Castilles’ restaurant. I didn’t want to be glued to it over dinner, but the fact that it had remained silent all afternoon was starting to make the uneasiness in my chest expand. Who had Crew? What kind of a sick game were they playing?
I wasn’t about to give in to my sister’s worry, but her instincts weren’t off. That was hard for me to admit.
“Knight, what a surprise.” Margaret Castille air brushed a kiss on each cheek before turning to my sister. “Seraphina, you never bring anyone to dinner. This is a treat.” She greeted us outside in the restaurant’s portico. A valet had taken my car. The archway was covered in ivy and long ferns dangled around us.
“I hope you don’t mind, Margaret.” I took her hand. “Seraphina mentioned she was meeting everyone, and I thought I’d tag along. It’s nice to see family.”
