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“Thank you,” I repeat, my voice dropping.
“You’re… welcome,” he says stiffly.
“I know you didn’t want to have anything to do with me at first. I know you hated me,” I whisper. “And I know it’s been hard on you to have me here, in your space and in your home, but I’m still so grateful for everything you’ve done. And at least it will be over soon, right? I’ll be gone before you know it, me and Chloe both.”
“You’ll be gone soon.”
Something flickers over Logan’s face as he speaks, and it seems almost like he’s just now realizing that I’ll be leaving with Chloe as soon as Maddoc gives us the okay. That my time in this house is almost done.
I’m not sure which one of us moved this time, but we’re standing closer together now than we were before. We’re so near to each other that I feel each breath he exhales flutter over my cheeks. Close enough that his ice-blue eyes are all I can see, staring into mine like he’s trying to pull me apart with his gaze. Dissect me in a way only his mysterious brain can ever hope to understand. Figure out what makes me tick, the same way a curious little boy might take a watch apart to figure out how it works.
A shiver runs through me, my breath catching in my throat, because I have to wonder…
If he takes me apart, would he be able to put me back together again? And should I be scared that I’m not sure I care?
A part of me wants him to do it, even if it hurts. Even if there’s nothing left of me afterward.
It’s the part of me that’s born of darkness but drawn to that eerie intensity of his like a moth toward a blazing flame, compelled to move closer to what’s guaranteed to make me burn.
“You’re leaving,” he whispers. “You’ll be leaving us.”
His fingertips skim down my wrist and drag over my palm, a touch so light I shouldn’t even be able to feel it.
But I do.
I feel it everywhere.
His gaze dips to my mouth, and my stomach swoops. He’s not quite holding my hand, but it almost feels like he is, and it makes my chest feel suddenly too tight, my breath catching in my throat. My tongue darts out to wet my lips, and I sway toward him without meaning to.
“Logan…”
My voice is barely more than a whisper, but he jerks as if I shouted his name. The shutters fall over his face again, and he steps back so abruptly that I almost lose my balance.
“Get out,” he says, his voice raspy.
I take two quick steps back, my heart thundering against my ribs, then turn and leave his room without looking back.
What the hell is going on?
As insane as it sounds, I can’t escape the feeling that Logan almost just… kissed me.
And even more crazy than that?
I wanted him to.
41
RILEY
I dart downthe hallway away from Logan’s room, heading toward the door to my bedroom, but when I reach it, I pause. Chloe is probably sleeping by now, and I’m feeling too ramped up and off kilter after what happened with Logan to try to join her.
Now that I’m not distracted by adrenaline, worry for my sister, or the strangely arousing feeling of Logan’s fingers on my skin, the full pain of the newly stitched up wound in my side is beginning to set in. A dull throb radiates outward from my waist, pulsing in time with my heartbeat.
So I detour to the bathroom to dig up some aspirin, swallowing them and then staring hard at myself in the mirror. I left the bullet proof vest in Logan’s room when I left, and the blood staining the dark shirt I wore on the mission tonight is starting to dry, making the fabric tacky and stiff. I pull up the hem of the shirt and check out the stitches Logan gave me, unsurprised to find that they’re as tight and neat as if they’d been done by a machine.
Did he really almost kiss me?
I feel a little insane for even thinking that, given how clear he made it that he disliked me when I first arrived here. But things have changed between me and all three of the men during my time living under their roof, and I can’t deny it. Even though I still get nervous around Logan, it’s not for the same reasons I used to. The fluttering of my heart feels much more like attraction than nerves, and I can’t help but wonder how much more things might change between us if they were allowed to grow and develop.
