Chapter 20
MAV
After dinner, Quinn and I were alone again in our room. She stood near the bed, shoulders tense as her fingers fumbled with the ties of her dress.
“Could I call upon you once again?”
“The laces?”
She nodded once, sweeping her dark hair forward over one shoulder, exposing the pale line of her neck.
I swallowed—hard—and bridged the distance.
I’d helped her with the corset earlier, but loosening it felt far more intimate.
The laces began at the nape of her neck, a crisscross of ribbon trailing to the small of her back.
Her scent wrapped around me, subtle and disarming: lavender and linen tangled in summer warmth.
I loosened the first knot.
She released a near inaudible exhale.
The second knot slipped free, then the third.
My hands moved with measured care, but my thoughts were chaotic.
I tried to focus on the rhythm—undo, loosen, pull.
But every quiet breath she drew was a distraction, every small reaction a secret only she and I knew.
Her stillness disarmed me. It was trust, raw and unspoken. I didn’t deserve it.
Don’t think about how soft her skin looks.
Don’t think about what it would feel like to let your hands drift lower.
Don’t think about what you want.
Finish the laces, Bassiano.
The final loop came free.
“All done.” I retreated a pace, as if distance had a chance of smothering desire I wasn’t supposed to be having.
Quinn gathered her nightdress and vanished behind the privacy screen.
I rubbed my hands together, as if I could scrape the ghost of her from my skin.
Changing into the clothing I intended to sleep in, I pretended that thin panels of wood didn’t separate me from a disrobing Quinn.
Pretended I wasn’t imagining the shape of her silhouette or the pale shimmer of her skin. Pretended I wasn’t burning for her.
She rounded the corner of the screen to reveal a pale green nightdress. It brushed the tops of her feet as she crossed the room. She looked like some untouchable dream—except she was standing close enough to touch.
I forgot how to breathe.
“You can take the bed,” I said, the words tripping over themselves. I gestured toward it like an idiot, as if she couldn’t easily find it herself. “I’ll, uh…take the floor. Or the chair.” I glanced at the corner by the glass balcony doors, where an armchair leaned against the wall.
Her brow furrowed. “Do not be ridiculous. You should sleep with me.”
My heart stumbled, and my jaw dropped. I fought the instinct to say, “Yes, please,” and “thank you.”
Her eyes widened as she realized what she’d said. “I meant, you can share the bed. It is plenty large enough. We slept in closer proximity on our bedrolls.” Her blush deepened as she tucked a stray curl behind her ear. “If you do not want to—”
“I want to,” I blurted, wincing at the tone of desperation in my response.
Her finger shot up, accusatory. “There shall only be sleeping.”
I gave her a mock salute to cover the mess of my fluttering heart. “Yes, princess. Only sleeping.”
She shook her head, but there was heat beneath her fluster. “You know I am not a princess.”
“You keep saying that,” I said, circling to the far side of the bed.
She slipped beneath the covers with a rustle of fabric, shoulders tense. I did the same. We lay on our backs, the weight of everything unsaid pressed thick between us. I counted my breaths.
One.
One beautiful woman.
Two.
Two hands I needed to keep to myself.
Three.
The number of seconds I’d hesitate before giving her anything she asked me for in this bed.
Her breathing slowed, smoothed out. I rolled carefully to face her.
Sleep smoothed the lines of tension from her forehead.
The faint glow of the window caught silver in her hair, transforming her into something luminous and otherworldly.
My fingers begged to reach out, to trace the curve of her jaw, to memorize the map of her so I would always be able to find my way back.
I watched her for a long while, my apprehension fading with the steady rhythm of her breath. And in that fragile quiet, a tide of truth crashed over me.
I had fallen for her.
Harder than I meant to.
Faster than I should.
And I had no idea what would happen when she learned the truth of my feelings.