He let me go then, gently loosening the cuffs of his fingers and letting me slide my wrists free.
But his hands lingered near my waist a moment longer, and I felt the current of his pounding blood through my clothes. And for a fleeting moment, I imagined his hands sliding beneath them, running up my sides, around to my stomach. My breath sounded like a gasp. “I thought I’d already picked a side,” I said. My voice was someone else’s.
There was a moment of hesitance, and then his hands abruptly fell away. A careful distance resumed. “Perhaps out of necessity.” It sounded strained. Guttural. “But soon, you’ll be enlisting for the cause. I’ll make sure of it.”
As soon as our feet found the cobbles, I felt Patrick’s hand at my forearm. Without breaking stride he fitted my arm into the crook
