Chapter 10
And her heart, already high, came all the way up into her throat.
The interior door stood open, as though it had been left that way for her specifically.
Lily breathed in and put a hand flat against her chest without meaning to. The hard shape under her palm gave her enough to keep walking on.
She carried the bag up the steps and stopped in the open doorway.
The room was as bare as ever.
The only difference was that this time there was a person in it.
He was still in the white silk robe she’d seen from the balcony, and the cold white of the fabric made his skin look emptier.
If not for the pale gold hair standing out against all that white, he could have dissolved into the room entirely.
He’d been sitting with his head down, in the only chair.
At the sound of her he looked up, and the second color on him showed — those green eyes, dark and opaque as cat’s-eye stone.
He tipped his head slightly. He didn’t speak. He looked at her, faintly amused.
Lily stayed where she was, picking at the handle of the paper bag without noticing she was doing it.
She made herself breathe. “You said if I came, you’d tell me why. I’m here. So tell me.”
He settled back into the chair, entirely comfortable, as though she had arrived for an appointment he’d made. “You’re planning to have this conversation standing in the doorway?”
Lily took a breath and walked in, and stopped at the table.
She made a point of stepping sideways twice, putting distance between them.
She set the bag down beside the one Kevin had brought at lunch, which hadn’t been touched.
“Now. Tell me.”
Ethan nodded and didn’t circle it. “Do you like cake?”
Lily’s brows pulled together. She had no idea what cake had to do with anything.
He ignored the confusion and kept going. “Especially the kind that’s just come out of the oven. The top gone golden. Soft all the way through, so you can see it’s soft. When you see something like that — don’t you want to bite it?”
He leaned forward, put his elbows on the table, and rested his chin on his hands to look at her. “That’s what you are to me. Something that looks very good. From the first time I saw you on a monitor, I wanted to find out.”
The directness of it took her voice away entirely.
In all her years, she’d never heard anything that bizarre.
“I think you should see a psychiatrist.” She worked to keep her voice level. “I’m a person. I’m not food. I’m not dessert.”
She steadied her breathing and delivered the thing she’d rehearsed. “I was clear last time. Whatever it is you want, the answer is no. Please stop.”
She looked at him when she’d finished.
Their eyes met briefly. There was nothing in his — no anger at anything she’d said.
So she found more nerve. “What you’re doing is affecting my life. If it continues, I’ll call the police. Maybe the police can’t touch you. But I’m a Mexican citizen. I’ll contact my consulate. And then it stops being something between the two of us.”
She stopped.
Ethan’s expression hadn’t moved. When it was clear she was done, he asked, evenly, “Finished?”
Lily faltered, then nodded. “Finished.”
Ethan stood up and came toward her.
She locked up and took a step back, watching his hands. “What are you doing?”
He didn’t stop. He came on at the same unhurried pace, a small smile on him. “The bread the other day. How was it?”
The turn threw her.
By the time she’d caught up, he was in front of her.
He put one hand on the table and leaned down into her space, and those green eyes took hold of hers and didn’t let go.
“I don’t give things away.” His voice was quiet and completely certain. “You ate what was mine. Shouldn’t there be a price?”
Lily went hot with anger, and most of it was aimed at herself, for having taken food out of a stranger’s hand on a public street because he had a face and good manners.
Nothing in this world is free. She had known that since she was a child, and apparently she had needed reminding.
She stepped back and lowered her voice. “I’ll pay you for it.”
“No.” A small shake of his head. One hand braced on the table, the whole of him draped against the edge of it, nothing left of the tall cold shape from the night before. “I don’t want money.”
It put her in mind of the men in stories who are polished on the outside and something else underneath.
“Let me bite you, and the debt clears. Well?” His tone was mild, with something coaxing under it, as though he were content to wait while she chose for herself.
Lily hesitated the way you hesitate at the edge of something. “One bite. Really.”
Ethan nodded.
She pressed her lips together and moved a very small step forward, and her voice came out low. “Where.”
His eyes went down her, unhurried, from her hair to her feet, and stopped at her mouth.
He raised a hand and pointed, without touching. “There.”
Lily’s hand flew up over her mouth and her face went red. “That’s kissing. Don’t call it biting.”
Ethan came a step closer, watched the color come up in her cheeks, and something began to surface in his eyes.
“Kissing requires the tongue.” His voice dropped. “Biting doesn’t.”
The look on him put ice down her spine. She shut her mouth tight, half wanting to hide it.
She turned her face away. “Not my mouth. Pick somewhere else.”
At that, something impatient crossed his face — but he let it go.
His eyes moved over her again, slow, comparing, as though working out which part of her would take a mark best.
Honestly, every inch of her invited one.
But if he had to choose one place—
His gaze settled on her chest and stayed there, and it had weight to it.
Ethan lifted his chin slightly. His voice was low and perfectly clear. “There.”
The blood came up in her face, and this time it was pure rage.
Her arms crossed over her chest and her eyes came up burning. “I thought you were just obsessive. You’re a filthy, disgusting pervert.”
He didn’t take offense. He smiled wider. “If I were as filthy as you say, you wouldn’t be standing here in one piece. I’d touch whatever I wanted. Would I be asking?”
He straightened. The hand came off the table and went behind his back, and he gave her a small smile with no warmth in it.
“Don’t you think I’ve been very patient?” The tone was reasonable, almost aggrieved. “I haven’t forced you into anything.”
Lily nearly laughed. She had never in her life met anyone who could invert reality that smoothly.
Patient. It wasn’t patience. It was something much worse wearing patience.
She held it in, and held it in, and then didn’t. “If any of that were true, you’d let me leave.”
