I didn’t answer. I didn’t need to.
Karl watched me for a moment longer, then nodded once.
“Good,” he said.
And there it was again, that word. A different voice, a different meaning, but just as certain.
“Are you ready?” Stefan stood in the doorway, and I wondered how much of that he’d heard, if any of it.
I let out a slow breath. “I’m ready. Let me grab a change of clothing.”
I didn’t mention the fact that the clothes were already in a bag by my bed. Because I’d hoped.
Karl walked us to the door, said goodnight, and then we went down in the lift and out onto the quiet street.
Somewhere between Karl’s quiet certainty and the door closing, something had shifted again.
Whatever this was, it wasn’t something I could pretend my way through anymore
The evening had settled into a rhythm that was fast becoming familiar, unhurried and self-contained. As we walked towardsStefan’s apartment, what came to mind were his words from earlier.
I just need a little time to think.
They might have been an accurate expression of his state of mind, but they weren’t what I needed at that moment.
Or now.
I grabbed my courage with both hands.
“You surprised me when you asked me to come back with you,” I murmured. When he glanced at me, I added, “I thought you needed time.”
Stefan came to a halt in the middle of the pavement beneath a street lamp. “I do.” He paused. “But I don’t want distance.”
My breath caught in my throat.
“What I said earlier wasn’t wrong,” he continued. “But it wasn’t complete.”
My attention sharpened.
“I’m not going to answer something like that without thinking it through.” His hands were on my shoulders. “You deserve better than that.”
My heartbeat slipped into a higher gear.
“But—”
I felt as if I was balanced on a precipice, awaiting the words that would send my hopes plummeting—or my heart soaring.
I knew what I wanted to hear.
Stefan let out a sigh. “But I’m not walking away from it either.”
I didn’t look away. “What does that mean?”
He hesitated before answering. “It means I want you with me tonight.”
Okay, that wasn’t a promise, but it was unambiguous, and I took his words for what they were—an invitation.
“All right,” I said at last. I reached for his hand, pulling him along the street, connecting us.