Just a housewife.
Long enough to pull her attention.
The words hit like fists, one after the other, in the same place.
So when he'd looked at me across that table with those dark, attentive eyes, when he'd told me he was my fan, when he'd called our meeting a small piece of fate, when he'd let his knee press against mine under the table and I'd told myself it was the wine, every single second of it had been choreography. A distraction. A favor he was calling in from his friends.
"Kate." Darius's fingers brushed my elbow. Gentle. Careful. "Let's come back. If it's urgent, I can tell him directly."
He was still half a step behind me. He couldn't see my face. He didn't know I was a designer. He didn't know what Damon's promise of fandom had done to me. Small mercies.
I swallowed everyth
