And I feel something shift deep in my chest. I’m not afraid. It’s something warmer. Something that leans toward him instead of away.
And he sees that too.
His grip loosens. Just enough.
But his hand doesn’t leave my thigh.
CHAPTER 13
IVY
By the time we get back to Soren’s building, my body feels off. Not drunk or sloppy, but softer than usual. Like someone turned the volume down on everything inside me. My thoughts aren’t as sharp. The tension that’s been living between my shoulders for months has loosened.
It makes me a little uneasy—these days, relaxing feels like complacency.
Soren pays the driver, thanks him, then turns back to me. “Come on.” He takes my wrist, his grip light but certain, and guides me inside.
The city disappears the second the door shuts. The apartment is dim. Quiet. Sealed. I hesitate in the living room, my purse strap tight in my hand, watching him disappear down the hallway. He retrieves my backpack from the hall, carrying it casually over his shoulder like it belongs there.
Something tightens in my chest. “I—” The word doesn’t go anywhere.
He keeps moving, and I follow.
Soren kicks off his shoes.
I do the same, slower.
He disappears into the kitchen and comes back with a glass of water. “Drink.”
I blink at it.
“Water,” he adds.
I take it. Sip. The cold hits my throat.
He watches me as if he’s closely tracking my hydration intake. “Good,” he says. A beat. “Now bedroom.” He tilts his head in the direction of the room at the end of the hallway
My stomach tightens. I let out a small, reflexive laugh. “Bedroom?”
He’s already walking.
I stand there, conflicted and unsure about what happens next. He’s beyond attractive, but I’m tired from the trip, and confused, and it’s late. And I don’t know what he expects from me.
“You need sleep,” he says over his shoulder. “You’re fried.”
Relief hits me.
But then, so does a conflicted sense ofwhat the hell am I doing here?Staying in this near-stranger’s house. About to go into his bedroom.
I stop in the hallway. The hesitation hits me too late. “I… I can get a hotel.”
Soren turns slowly. Looks at me like I just said something ridiculous. “Don’t be silly,” he says.
My chest tightens. “I don’t want to impose.”
The words sound pathetic the second they leave my mouth. The plan all along was to stay with him. But now that seems confronting.
Like I’m at the top of a water slide where they drop the floor out from underneath you, and it’s too late to decide you don’t want to do it anymore.