The Love I Paid For
He turned his head, pressing a kiss to her palm, quiet and unguarded, the city lights blurring gold behind him.
"I love you," he said, like the words had been sitting behind his ribs for days, finally given permission to exist out loud. "I don't know when it stopped being part of the arrangement. I just know it isn't anymore."
"I know," Claire said softly, and found, to her own quiet astonishment, that she wasn't afraid of it the way she'd once promised herself she'd be. "I love you too. God help us both."
Her phone rang before either of them could say anything else — Vivian's name lighting the screen, unexpected enough that Claire almost let it ring out.