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“Do you need help?”
“No.” Winnie sent Lark a sharp look that was on the edge of a glare. “You’ve done enough.”
Lark’s shoulders sagged, and I wanted to push Winnie out of the freaking room so she could stop with the nonsense. That small peek of who Lark used to be faded, and I took a step forward, but Winnie let out another loud breath, her expression softening. I hesitated, cautiously watching what Winnie would do next as she stepped toward her daughter.
To my surprise, Winnie wrapped her arms around Lark. Lark tensed, but then she snaked her arms around her mother and hugged back.
“I love you,” Winnie said on a soft breath.
For a moment, I glimpsed that truth on her face. There weren’t many times where I’d seen Winnie act like a mother, but she had real love for Lark.
“I love you too, Mom,” Lark rasped, as if she held back tears.
Winnie let her daughter go, touching her on the cheek before stepping back. “I’m going to bed. I’ll see you in the morning.”
Lark nodded.
Winnie turned, throwing me a true glare as she did so.
Lark and I stood in the kitchen, silent as Winnie’s footsteps faded and the click of her bedroom door echoed toward us.
Lark didn’t move, and I gently put a hand on her shoulder.
“I’m so sorry about that.” She spun to face me. “My mother doesn’t deal with things well. I’m so, so sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it. I’ve dealt with worse things than Winifred Meadows.”
She bit down on her lip. “At least she’s gone now.”
I glanced around the empty kitchen. “So…you want me to stay?”
“Do you want to?” she asked, suddenly seeming concerned that I didn’t.
“Of course I do. As long as you want.”
She let out a breath, a small smile curling her lips. “Okay.”
I returned the smile, but I wasn’t sure what she had in mind. A lot of things had happened in a short time. “Look,” I started, not sure where we stood now after everything. “I’m sorry, you know, for kissing you like that. It just—kind of got away from me.”
Lark’s cheeks flushed. “Did you not want to kiss me?”
I scrubbed the back of my neck with a hand. “I obviously did.”
“Well, then what do you have to be sorry for? I’m pretty sure I was the one who started it.”
I cocked my head to the side. She was right. I looked her over, my eyes pausing on her lips, and my skin heated at the memory of their taste.
Damn, what was she doing to me? I’d kissed girls before. Hell, I’d had a longtime girlfriend in Ruby back in the day, but…never felt so consumed by one kiss before.
“Did you…enjoy it?” I asked awkwardly.
Lark blinked, her cheeks deepening to a crimson. “I did.”
My heart skipped against my ribs, but I still wondered whether she had felt that kiss as deeply as I had. I wasn’t going to ask again, though, even for clarification’s sake. “Good,” was all I uttered with a nod.
I swallowed hard, and she shifted on her feet.
Eventually, she spoke again. “So, this is going to sound weird. But after everything that happened tonight, I—” She took a deep breath. “I don’t want to be alone. I’m also extremely tired and this is probably asking too much too soon and you can totally say no if you don’t want to but…will you sleep with me?”
