LOGINI had thought about how to say it.But now that I was looking at him, the words came out smaller than I had planned. I folded my hands in my lap, because I didn't know what else to do with them."Last night," I said, "wasn't supposed to happen.""I know."" You reminded what you had signed."He was very still. "I know.""You took something from me that I hadn't agreed to give.""You took my virginity," I said, "without my consent."The room was so quiet."Yes. I did. I know I did. I'm sorry.""Did you forget what you signed?""No.""You promised," I said. My voice shook. "Not to touch inappropriately without permission.*""I didn't forget it." He drew a breath. "I heard you say it, and I remembered, and I couldn't make myself stop. And I'm not telling you that to excuse it. I'm telling you because it's the truth."I stared at him.Tears had begun to burn behind my eyes. I did not know why. I had not expected the plainness of it. I had prepared for a defense, and I had armed myself aga
Sara Hayes' POVBy the time he was done bathing, I had gotten myself into a robe.It was a soft grey one I'd found hanging on the back of the dressing room door, three sizes too large and smelling faintly of cedar. I'd belted it twice around the curve of my stomach, tucked my hair behind my ears, and arranged myself on the edge of the bed with my knees together and my hands folded, like a woman waiting to be interviewed.The bathroom door opened.He came out fully dressed in a charcoal shirt with the sleeves rolled to the elbow and a pair of dark trousers, with his hair damp and pushed back and a faint pink glow along his cheekbones from the hot water. He had shaved. The shadow on his jaw was gone. He looked rested, and clear-eyed.I have always said he was a handsome man. But I had never seen him like this, and I did not understand it. He wasn't any different. The same sharp features, the same dark eyes. And yet he looked, to me, finer than he had the day before. Happier. Lit from i
Sara Hayes' POVI woke in pieces.First came the weight. It lay warm and heavy across my waist, and I lay still beneath it, trying to work out whether I was dreaming. Then came the ache, a deep, soreness in my lower muscles. I felt so tired that my eyelids felt like they had been sewn shut. I tried to open them and failed. I tried again.And I finally opened my eyes, looking at the room, the memory of last night arrived all at once, like a wave. My face went hot from the roots of my hair to my collarbone.I turned my head, slowly, on the pillow.He was awake.Damian lay on his side, close enough that I could feel his breath, propped on one elbow with his head in his hand. His hair was a ruin. His eyes looked so energetic and they were fixed on my face with an expression I had never seen on him, a kind of hushed, anxious attention, as if I were something that might vanish if he blinked.I don't know how long he had been watching me. Long enough that when I opened my eyes, he was stil
Sara Hayes POV I looked at the clock at the wall, feeling anxious. Lucan had promised to return within thirty minutes with a fresh change of clothes.I shifted on the edge of the silk sheets, the fabric sliding against my skin. I wore a white lace bra that hugged my swelling breasts, the underwire straining slightly against the fullness of my pregnancy. Matching lace panties clung to my hips, the sheer fabric offering little more than a suggestion of coverage over my rounded belly. I felt exposed."Where is he?" I whispered to the empty room.Why was Lucan taking so long?A sharp knock echoed through the room. I bolted upright, my heart hammering against my ribs."Lucan? Is that you? Do you have the clothes?"Silence followed. No voice answered, only the heavy, oppressive weight of a presence on the other side of the door. Then, the metallic click of the handle turning sounded. The door swung open with a slow, deliberate creak.I gasped and lunged for the nearest duvet, dragging the
I stood where I was, with an empty glass in one hand and a full one in the other, and watched him go. My heart was pounding so hard I could feel it in my teeth. I raised the second glass and took a small, slow sip, and the wine was dark and warm and tasted of cherries and nothing else, and I looked at him over its rim like a woman at a play.He did not get far when a business associate drew him toward a table at the edge of the floor, and sat him down, and began to talk.I sat too.I chose a small gilt chair half hidden by a screen of potted palms, with a clear view of his table and a good, dim shadow to hide in. I arranged my skirt. I sipped my wine. I kept my eyes on him, quiet and still, and I counted.“Ten minutes,” my mother had said. “Perhaps fifteen.”Eight minutes later I saw him picked up a glass of water and drank. Set it down.At exactly ten minutes, his hand went to his collar.He did it with one finger, absently, like a man easing a tie, and then with two, tugging, and I
Sarai Vance's POVThe moment Lucas turned the corner with her on his arm, I bowed my head to the women and excused myself."Poor thing," the lady said."Accidents happen," I said, in a small, grieved voice, and pressed my gloved fingers to my lips. "I feel dreadful. Please, excuse me. I need a moment."They patted my arm and let me go. I walked away across the stone floor with my head lowered and my shoulders curved in perfect remorse, past the round tables with their white flowers. I did not hurry. I did not raise my eyes. I held my glass of red wine, now empty and slightly smeared with my lipstick, and I walked like a woman on the edge of tears.I made it to the far corner of the atrium, behind a tall column wrapped in ranunculus and eucalyptus, where the lantern light thinned to a soft grey dusk and nobody could see my face.And there I laughed.I did not laugh loudly. I'm not a fool. I pressed the back of my wrist to my mouth and bent forward over it, shaking. My shoulders quivere







