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“Anything you need you have to only ask.” I don’t want to tell her that I’m certain every word her father said about me is true. I have a reputation, and my hands are far from clean. My family made its name through violence, coercion, and dirty dealings. I’m no different, but I am trying to build something better, somethingreal. I think her father understands that on some level; otherwise, he wouldn’t be dealing with me at all.
She bends down and opens Sassy’s carrier. The fluffy creature slinks out, her eyes surveying the room. Like royalty, she prances forward and hops onto the bed, spinning in a circle before settling down.
“The manners on you,” Cadence playfully scolds her and sits beside her on the bed. “Acting like you own the place.”
I want to sit with her, to spend all my time talking to her. She’s unlike anyone I’ve ever met. Naïve but somehow also knowledgeable in unexpected ways. Not cunning like so many I have come across. Genuine. “While you get settled in, I’ll make some inquiries.”
“About?” She looks up.
“Your apartment. I’ll find out who broke in.”
“Oh.” She wraps her arms around her middle. “Yeah, I feel … I don’t know. I’m happy to be here, but I’m freaked out that someone violated my space like that. And it’s not like I have some valuables in there. Besides, they didn’t take anything. So why break in in the first place?”
Drawn to her, unable to stop myself, I stride over and sit beside her. When I wrap my arm around her shoulders, I get the scent of her shampoo and something sweet underneath. “You’re safe. I need you to believe me.” I take her chin with my other hand and turn her face to me. “Do you?”
She nibbles her bottom lip. “You believe you, so that’s definitely a point in your favor.”
“Hmm?” I don’t follow.
She clears her throat and pulls away from my hand, looking away. “Nothing. I just meant that, I meant that yes, I believe you. It’s safe here.”
“Good.”
With a sigh, she leans into me. “It’s been such a strange day.”
“Has it?” I relish the feeling of her against me, the way she melts, the way she trusts me. I don’t deserve her faith, but I’ll take it all the same.
“Yes, from Ethan to you to art to someone in my apartment–it’s like Sassy and I fell into an alternate universe when we stepped out the door this morning.”
I rest my chin on her head. “Do you like this universe?”
“I like the part where you’re in it.”
I smile. I can’t help myself. She’s so open, her feelings on display. I was raised to never show my hand, never give anyone an inkling of what I might be thinking lest it be used against me. But not her. Even if she’d been warned to hide her emotions from an early age, I don’t think she could. She’s too emotive, beautifully animated.
“I like that part too.” I kiss her hair, then force myself to stand. “The only other person allowed into your room is Mrs. Palacios, my housekeeper. She’s been with my family for a long time, and you can trust her. But”—I hold up a finger—“whatever she says about me, take with a grain of salt.”
She smiles, the gloom that threatened only moments ago wiped clean. “So you’re saying that she’ll be the one who’ll give me the entire truth about you?”
“Her truth and my truth are two very different things.”
Her gaze turns the slightest bit mischievous. “Then I’ll simply have to figure out which truths to add together to make a whole.”
“If you must.” I shake my head. “Settle in, and I’ll see you at dinner.”
“Not till dinner?” Her face falls, and I feel a tug beneath my ribs, an ache in my chest.
“I won’t be late. Promise.”
“Okay.” She scratches Sassy’s head. “I suppose I should look around, scope the place out.”
“You do that. The house and the grounds are open to you. Snoop all you like.”
“Deal.” She nods.
I give her one last look before leaving and heading downstairs. That ache behind my ribs grows the farther I get from her, and I’m sorely tempted to go back, to tell her that I want to show her around as an excuse to stay near her. But I can’t, not when I need to find out who broke into her place.
Pulling out my phone, I send a text to Cat. I hear the notification beep from the back lounge beside my office.
