The door clicked behind Luke, and he softened at the neat coziness within Agathe’s home, at the elegant, off-white decor and splashes of color. The easy design and the classic red-brick Victorian didn’t match the hardened woman she pretended to be.
The real Agathe had class, kindness, character, all hidden behind a thick layer of prickly defenses. Tonight was his chance to break past her stony walls.
She pressed into him, fingers raking through his hair, while her lips found his. They shared a string of languid, blissful kisses, his mind constantly flicking back to her desperation at her front door. That this moment right now felt like their last.
Maybe he was wrong. She had asked for warmth, for gentleness, for what he’d wanted to give her all along; maybe there was still hope.
He sco
