She was only a few steps out the door when she felt Alex coming up behind her.
~oOo~
This day was exhausting and awful. Lia decided nobody, certainly not Professor Gottschalk, would care that she’d dropped out, and she didn’t want to go by the theater and look directly at her dream as it died.
So she went back to the apartment; she had packing to do. Papa had told her he’d have his guys pack everything, but she didn’t want them going through her private things—as private as anything she was allowed to have. Her little apartment was the closest she’d ever gotten to independence.
A pathetic thought to have as her bodyguard accompanied her home.
As always, Alex went first into the building. He checked her mailbox—empty—and led her up to her apartment, where he, of course, unlocked her door for her, disabled her alarm, and checked the bathroom before she was allowed into her own home.
Former home. Whatever.
“Okay, clear.”
She crossed the threshold and closed the door.
Usually, Alex ducked out right away, as soon as he knew she was safe, so she usually left the door open. She didn’t know why she’d closed it this time.
Alex noticed that difference as well; he glanced at the closed door before returning his attention to her. “You said you wanted to pack. You want some help with that? Your boxes are still in the cellar, I think. Should be. I can go down and get them.”
He was acting like he hadn’t kissed her practically unconscious just a couple hours earlier. Since they’d left the registrar’s office, he’d been acting like it hadn’t happened at all.
But it had. Alex had kissed her. He’d kissed her—Lia, not Leah—and he’d kissed her like he wanted a lot more. Right out in public, with an actual audience, he’d kissed her like she’d never been kissed before.
That had happened, and Lia would absolutely not allow it to be erased.
Following that impulse—to just be seen, to be known, to be her, only her for one goddamn minute—she closed the few feet of space between them and set her hands on his chest.
He took in a sharp breath and stepped back at once—just one step, but a mile of meaning. “Lee, no. What I did before, that was a mistake.”
“Why?”
“You know why.”
“Because you’re a Pagano man.”
He nodded. But his eyes … dark and deep, they said something else, something more. It flickered behind his reserve, too faint to make sense of, but there nonetheless.
Lia was exhausted. The room seemed to rock subtly, like they were sailing on a yacht. She didn’t have the energy to try to guess what more there was, if anything at all, in Alex’s eyes. She wanted to know what he was really thinking, what he really felt. She needed that kiss to be real.
So she asked. “If it wasn’t for my father, would you …” It occurred to her how vulnerable she was making herself, how pathetic, to ask this question, but she needed to know. “Would you … want me?”
God, she thought she might cry again. She was so tired.
The flicker deep in Alex’s eyes flared bright, and he put his hand on her cheek. His palm was hot. “Lia …” Her name was more groan than word. But it was hers. Lia, not Leah.
“Please tell me.”
He did, but not with a word. He gave back the step he’d taken away from her, bringing his body to hers so he loomed over her. His hand still cupped her face. He leaned down.
This time, Lia wasn’t crying. This time, she wasn’t surprised. She tipped her head up and parted her lips, and when his mouth covered hers he dove deep right away, joining his tongue with hers.
The first time, she’d been too dazed and surprised to heed more than that riot of sensation inside her. Now, she tried to focus on Alex, to understand what his body was saying, his answer to her question.
His fingers clamped against the nape of her neck, and his other arm came around her waist so that hand grasped her hip. Lia looped her arms around his back, hooked her hands over his heavy shoulders, and held on as he leaned over her, bowing her backward.
He wanted her. Whether it was lust or desire, she didn’t know, but today, at least today, he wanted her. Lia.
And she wanted him.
As Alex held her, surrounded her, filled all of her senses, as he kissed her like he drew life directly from her mouth, a