Page 59 of Pretty Little Thing

I turn my lips down in sympathy. “No,” I answer truthfully.

“Count your blessings, Nora,” he says, pinching my chin. He leaves a kiss on the corner of my mouth. “Go home. Get some rest. Start thinking more about your limits.”

I scoff. “Yeah, like I can sleep after that.”

“You don’t have to sleep,” he says. “But you can’t stay here.”

I raise a brow. “Oh, really?”

He shakes his head. “No.”

“Why not?”

“Because I don’t want you to play with anyone else.”

His voice is hard and strong, just short of an order, but I like it all the same.

“Are you the jealous type, Mr. Snow?” I ask.

“No, just possessive.”

“What’s the difference?”

“You don’t want to know.”

Okay, that sounded a little scary. I must have turned pure white or something because Clive exhales slowly and relaxes his face.

“I just don’t want you to be taken advantage of,” he says. “You’re new around here. There are plenty of people down there who would try something outside of your comfort zone.”

I nod. “All right.”

He leans in again to kiss my cheek but I turn toward him at the last second to steal a kiss on the lips. We let it linger much longer than the quick peck it was meant to be, breathing each other in.

Clive breaks away from me. “Come on,” he says, striding to the door.

There are a few people quietly chatting in the hall by the stairwell and they give Clive a quick nod as we pass.

My chest tightens. “Wait,” I whisper to Clive, “they couldn’t hearus in there, right?”

He smiles. “No, the whole floor is soundproofed.”

I sigh. “Thank god.”

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