Page 233 of By His Rule

“Would you like to watch TV?” I offer, unsure what else to do.

She shrugs.

I hesitate, not wanting to do something she doesn’t want.

I never second-guess myself. It’s weird.

In the end, I choose to put some soft music on instead of the TV.

“Thomas has secured your apartment. He’s going to drop new keys off here for you.”

She swallows thickly but still doesn’t say anything. Instead, she sips her wine.

“He’s waiting for the authorities to come and look at the damage. We’ll get whoever it was, babe. I promise you that.”

Finally, her lips part and her voice fills my apartment. “You don’t have to do that. You’ve already done more than enough.”

“Lorelei, I’ve done nowhere near enough.”

“I’ll go to Tate’s tomorrow. I don’t want to cramp your style.”

My heart squeezes at the thought of her leaving.

“We’ll deal with everything tomorrow. Tonight, just relax.”

We fall silent again, losing ourselves in our own thoughts until the buzzer goes off, announcing the arrival of our dinner.

Despite requesting it, Lorelei barely eats anything.

I offer to order something different in fear she doesn’t like it, but she refuses.

She’s shut down both physically and emotionally.

After she’s pushed her tagliatelle around the plate for the fourth time, I finally take it away, suggesting that maybe she should go to bed.

She gets up and shuffles down to my bedroom without question.

I follow only a few minutes later and find her curled up in the middle of my bed.

Looking back over my shoulder, I debate going to crash in one of my guest rooms, but that’s about as chivalrous as I get, because I push those thoughts aside quickly and step into my bedroom, closing the door behind me and shutting the rest of the world out.

After cleaning up, I strip down to my boxers and slide into bed with Lorelei.

She moans as I join her, and the second I wrap my arm around her waist, she wiggles back until she’s tucked tightly against my body.

She’s sleeping and isn’t aware of what she’s doing. But it doesn’t matter. Nothing does while I’ve got her in my arms.

“Goodnight, Lorelei. Sweet dreams.”

I drop a kiss on her shoulder before snuggling down behind her and willing myself to drift off and put today behind me.

55

LORELEI

Iwake to a very large, very cold and empty bed.

I don’t need to stretch my arm out to confirm what I already know. Kian isn’t here.

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