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He had seen her naked. She’d seen him naked.
Shouldn’t that cancel itself out? Some kind of quid pro quo?
But no. She was a mess of nerves, and there was nothing to do. No way to calm down. Once, they passed an ice cream shop, and she almost shouted,STOP! I need ice cream to recover from you seeing me in my birthday suit.
Instead, Val grabbed her phone and dialed her sister’s number. Again. For the millionth time. She didn’t expect Lilliane to answer.
Yet when she got to voicemail, her heart sank anyway.
“Lil. Me again, I don’t know what is happening right now. I don’t know if you lost your mind or if someone is manipulating you. I’m not trying to insult you. I just want to understand why you won’ttalkto me.”
A thready breath escaped her lips. It sounded like a sob, and it might as well have been, but her body relaxed a bit when Nero placed his large, warm palm on her thigh and gave it an encouraging squeeze. “Please just talk to me. I am so worried. Just give me a sign of life. Anything. If you don’t want to tell me anything, just tell me one word. How about Cupid? If you’re in trouble and you need me, just call me or text me the wordcupid.Get it? Because my name is Valentine? It’s cheesy, but you like cheese. I likeyou, Lil. You’re my sister. I love you. Don’t forget that.”
She blew out a breath and closed her eyes to keep breathing. If she didn’t, she would cry, and the last thing she wanted was to cry in Nero’s truck.
“That was a good message,” he said softly. “I like the codeword idea.”
“What if she doesn’t want to be my sister anymore?”
He squeezed her leg again and shot her a smile. “Impossible. You two will never stop being family, even if she is a little distant now.”
She arched a brow at him. “Distant? We don’t even know where she is!”
“We will figure it out,” he swore with so much fierceness that she couldn’t help but believe him.
“Thanks for coming on this insane journey with me. I still don’t super understand why you decided to do it. Are you as crazy as me?”
He nodded dramatically. “Crazier. Sometimes, I howl at the moon.”
She snorted, trying not to laugh, and failed. He grinned at her, pleased to have made her smile. He even chuckled when she said, “You’re a wolf. I would think that howling at the moon comes with the territory.”
“Well, sure, but it’s a bit of a cliche. Most wolves don’t like to howl.”
“Wouldn’t want to be a cliche,” she teased, feeling more relaxed and like herself thanks to Nero.
A man who had seen her nude.
“Nope.” He reached out and took her hand in his. “Definitely wouldn’t want to be a cliché.”
She thought he would just give it a comforting squeeze like he had done on her thigh, but he shocked her. He brought it to his lips and kissed her fingers.
And then he didn’t let go of her hand.
After at least thirty minutes had passed, she wanted to pull away because it made her heart beat too fast, but it also made her feel like she wasn’t completely alone.
And she really needed to feel like she wasn’t alone. So she held Nero’s hand and didn’t worry too much about what it could mean.
* * *
The Longborn estatein New York was massive. Not as massive as the one near Blackwood and Greenlee, but in the more rural context, it was just that …massive.
There was a big stone wall around the property and a big black iron fence through which cars drove.
Nero whistled low. “This is gonna be a bit tricky.”
“We can’t just drive through,” Valentine agreed. “We could climb over the wall.”
“Are you a good climber?” he asked.
