the cape in the back of the closet. “If you ever want me to wear it just for you, beauty, all you have to do is ask.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” I remark. “Same goes for my wings.”
I walk to the bathroom, feeling his gaze follow me and warm every part of my being. We get ready for bed and crawl under the covers, fitting our bodies against each other with a silent click that locks us together.
Despite all the changes in our lives, this falling-asleep position has always been a constant—resting my head on Dean’s chest, soothed by the sound of his strong, everlasting heartbeat and the gentle slide of his fingers through my hair.
I shift, pressing my breasts against him. A twinge of discomfort travels up my side, and I wiggle again. I rub the area under my left breast, where the skin is tender and a bit irritated from Dean’s scruff.
“What’s going on, squirmy?” he asks, his eyes closed and his body relaxed.
“You marked me with your whisker burn.”
“Ah. That’s the price you pay when you dance with the devil.”
“Well, you do lure me into places where angels fear to tread.”
“That’s why you should give the devil his due.”
“Oh, I will.” I rest my elbow on his chest and lift myself to look at him. “After all, he does know how to show a girl one hell of a good time.”
Dean opens his eyes, his gaze meeting mine with hot tenderness. “Only when the girl is heaven sent.”
“We are such dorks,” I murmur the instant before our lips touch.
Chapter 4
Dean
November 16
“You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.”
Not bad.
Though Darcy was kind of a dick at the ball, at least he didn’t skulk around longing for Lizzy and never going after her. The guy had a pair.
And I reluctantly admit his confession of love was more poetic than mine had been. Though come to think of it, Liv was the one who said, “I love you” first, when we were staying at a motel in Castleford after visiting her aunt and uncle.
For a second, all I could do was stare at her. Trying to absorb the shockwave right to my soul.
She loved me. The only woman who’d ever brought me to my knees. The woman whose name sounded in rhythm with my heartbeat. The woman who had me at first look.
“I’m really glad to hear that, beauty. Because I love you too.”
No, it wasn’t all that poetic. But nothing could compare to the raw, honest truth that thickened the air in that dingy hotel room. Nothing could compare to the way Liv was looking at me, her eyes filled with certainty, like she was just telling me something she’d known all along. Nothing could compare to the extraordinary realization that this was it. She was mine.
“Hey, Dean.”
The voice breaks me out of my thoughts. I turn my office chair away from the window toward the door.
“Approved.” Jessica Burke, my former grad student-turned-colleague comes into my office, waving a printed sheet of paper. “The World Heritage Center will take five students for a two-week period next April to work on the medieval churches in Kosovo.”
“That’s fantastic.” I put the book on my desk and scan the paper from the director of the WHC.
“Are you reading Pride and Prejudice?” Jessica asks.
“Yeah. Liv got all up in arms because I’d never read it, so I’m correcting my character flaw.”
Jessica blinks. “You’ve never read Pride and Prejudice?”
What is it with women and this book?
“I’m reading it now,” I tell her. Before she can get on my case too, I gesture to the WHC paper. “We should start putting together a call for applications soon. These are the students we should recruit for the World Heritage Studies program.”
“Already done.” Jessica sits in the chair in front of my desk. “And we have three new applications this week. I talked to Britta from the University of Munich, and she hopes she can participate in the ecology program.”
For the hundredth time, I think of how glad I am that the university board took my recommendation to hire Jessica as the assistant director of the new World Heritage Studies program.
In partnership with UNESCO and the World Heritage Center in Paris, the WHS program at King’s University will offer courses in historical conservation, ecology, globalization, cultural change, architecture, geology, and heritage management—with plenty of opportunities to work at sites around the world. It’s a union of everything I’ve worked on