Chapter 32
Daniela slipped into the guest bedroom next to the one Cormac’s sister had put her in. “Tell me again why we’re in two separate rooms?” she whispered as she shut the door behind her.
Though she shouldn’t have bothered. The place was huge and they were on the third floor of the mansion. Yes, mansion. Berkley had renovated the huge Victorian that had belonged to a famous jazz singer and the place was incredible.
“To screw with Berkley.” His grin was tired as shut the closet door, still in his towel, hair damp.
She would never get sick of seeing him like this, with his guard down, clothes mostly off. This was the man she’d fallen for, the one with no artifice, the one who made her feel safe.
After the events from last night—which felt surreal—they’d come back here. No one from her life knew who Cormac was, so even though staying with his family felt somewhat dangerous, it was the smart choice.
She was in a weird sort of limbo with nowhere else to go.
Her brother was still in the hospital, Edith staying with him.
The cops hadn’t reached out to her about Julian, and even Detective Levitz had stopped playing phone tag with her.
Maybe because the Feds had taken over Greg’s murder investigation?
She didn’t know why and didn’t even care.
She just hoped their plan worked and those dirty cops flipped on Logan.
God, she hated that man. And she had no doubt he’d been the one to shoot Julian.
“You and Berkley have an interesting relationship,” she said to Cormac.
“Interesting?”
“Well, I didn’t want to say weird. Or maybe it’s normal, I don’t know. My family certainly isn’t normal.” She crossed to him, stepped into his embrace as he opened his arms for her.
She had absolutely no idea what they were, but while they were still under the same roof—however many times they had to move somewhere—she was going to savor every second with him.
And she didn’t care if it sounded cheesy, life was way too damn short.
The last week was proof enough of that. If she didn’t make it out of this insanity alive, or if she ended up in witness protection, she didn’t want any regrets.
“My family isn’t normal either,” he murmured with a laugh, stroking a gentle hand down her back.
Sighing, she enjoyed the feel of him holding her, of the sensation of actually feeling safe.
It was a fleeting thing and he was the only one who’d ever made her feel like that.
“For the record…in case I need to say it, I’m not angry at you anymore.
” She leaned back to look up at him. “I feel like the fact that I’m sleeping with you makes it obvious, but I wanted to say it out loud.
If you’re holding on to any residual guilt, please don’t.
You’ve gone so above and beyond what anyone else would do to help me…
” Her throat tightened, the words catching as she tried to stop the tears that wanted to fall.
He cupped her cheek, his callused thumb catching one of her tears. “Dani—”
“You don’t have to say anything.” It would only make this worse.
She hated crying in front of people, mostly because her father had used her tears against her.
Had seemed to relish making her cry. So she’d learned not to at a young age.
She’d held everything in, covered her pain with a mask of neutrality.
“I just wanted you to know. In case… Just in case anything happens to me.”
“Nothing’s going to happen to you,” he growled, the sound sending a shiver spiraling through her.
As he leaned down, thoughts of all the bullshit in her life started to dissipate—until there was a knock at his door.
Before he could answer, it flew open. “Hey—oh god, sorry!”
“Berkley! When you knock, you wait for someone to answer,” Cormac called out as the door slammed shut.
“Sorry, sorry!” Then, “I knew you were sharing a room! Also, Krystal’s on her way over. I think she’s got news. So meet us in the kitchen. You don’t have time for other stuff.”
“Other stuff?” Daniela laugh-snorted because… “I kind of love your family. They’re so invasive but I don’t even care.” Because it was clear they all loved each other with a protective fierceness. “Part of me keeps wondering if we’d have met if our moms…”
“I know. I keep thinking it too. Like all the time in between all the other shit we’re doing.”
Sighing, she went up on her toes to brush her mouth over his.
Even if she wanted to deny it to herself, he owned her heart now.
And no matter what happened after this, she didn’t think she was ever getting it back.
“I’m going to head down now while you get dressed.
Because if you drop that towel, I won’t be responsible for what happens next. ”
In response he ripped his towel off, so she turned away.
“Not looking!” As she shut the door behind her, something in her chest eased at his trailing laughter.
She loved the sound of him laughing, loved seeing him smile…and she really, really wished they’d met under different circumstances. That they’d had a real chance together.
Because not so deep down she already knew how this was going to end. Or maybe that was the pessimistic part of her. Or realist, thank you very much.
Either way, she was too afraid to hope for more than this stolen time with him. If this was all she got with Cormac Knight, she was going to take every second of it with eyes wide open.