Page 19 of Deadly Oath

“I’m sure you will,” I tell him tartly, then hesitate, biting my lip as I reach for my purse. “Thank you,” I add. “For dinner.”

“It was my pleasure, princess.” He grins, and before I can say anything else, he strides back around to the driver’s side, jumping in and closing the door.

I watch him for just a moment, feeling that shiver of desire still prickling over my skin. Then I turn, opening my front door, and slipping inside.

The moment it’s closed behind me, I lean back against it, letting my eyes slide shut briefly. Nothing about this evening went like I expected. I’d gone to tell Kianthank you, and?—

And, what? Had I really thought that nothing else would happen? That I’d walk halfway across town just to thank him and leave? That he wouldn’t follow up on what had almost happened in my kitchen earlier today? I hadn’t expected him to be shirtless when I walked in, looking likethat—but still, had I really been that naive?

Maybe—or maybe I just hadn’t wanted to admit what I was really hoping for.

Either way, I got it. And now I have to decide what it is that I’m going to do with it.

—

The next morning,Marie calls me to ask if I want to grab coffee with her, after she drops her kids off at school. “Cindy and Daphne are meeting me there, too,” she lets me know, and I hesitate. Marie is the only one that I still feel entirely comfortable with. But I’m supposed to be ‘getting out more,’ according to Caldwell. And with all of this happening with Kian, I know that the last thing I need is to isolate myself even more, so that all I have is time to think about it.

I can’t let him become an obsession. All of this is new to me, and I have no one, really, to guide me through it. If I let him overtake all of my thoughts and time, I’ll be in even more trouble than I already am.

“Sure,” I tell her. “I’ll see you in?—”

“About twenty minutes,” Marie says. “I’ll swing by and grab you!”

I grab a pair of dark blue jeans and a yellow knit sweater with a sunflower pattern, putting my hair up in a messy bun. By the time I quickly eat a bowl of cereal, forgoing my cup of coffee to wait until I get to the cafe with Marie, I hear the sound of her minivan pulling up outside.

She smiles brightly at me as I get in, brushing a few loose Cheerios off of the seat. “Cindy is already there. Daphne said she’s running a few minutes late. I’m so glad you said you could come!”

“Why not?” I smile in return, wishing I didn’t always feel so awkward trying to make conversation. I never had this much difficulty with my friends in Chicago—but we lived the same lives, had the same futures, liked the same things. I never know what I might say that would change Marie’s opinion of me, that would make her look at me with the same estimation that the other women do, and as much as I haven’t wanted to admit it, I want her to like me. I like that she, out of everyone I’ve met here, seems to genuinely enjoy my company.

Her—and Kian, now.

Although—I’m not always entirely sure that hedoeslike me. I can’t tell if it’s just lust, or if it’s more. If the way he teases me is part of some bigger feeling. I don’t know enough about men to know for sure.

Marie sings along to the radio as we drive to the coffeeshop,pulling up in front of it and parking. I see Cindy already sitting in the small cluster of chairs in the window nook as we walk in, a mug of coffee sitting on the round table in the center, and she waves at us.

“Hi, Marie! Oh—hi, Sabrina.” Her voice drops a little as she sees me, and my chest squeezes. There’s nothing overtly rude in her tone—no one here would ever come across asactuallyrude, but there’s something in it that tells me she’s hiding a bit of disappointment that I’ve come along. “Daphne will be here in about five minutes.”

“It’s like a miniature book club meeting!” Marie says with a laugh, and Cindy shakes her head.

“Oh no, don’t suggest that to Daphne! I’m already behind on my chapters for the week. I’ll have to rush to catch up before the actual meeting.”

“I’m behind too,” I offer hesitantly. “So—right there with you.” I give her a small smile, and to my surprise, she grins at me with a raised eyebrow.

“Hot date?”

I almost lie, reflexively. But at the last second, I think—why the hell not? Why not tell the truth? There’s nothing wrong with what’s going on with Kian and me, not like there would have been in my old life.

“Actually—yes. Kind of,” I hedge, biting my lip as I glance over at the line for coffee. My heart is suddenly beating a quick patter in my chest at the thought of telling someone about this. It makes it feel more real.

I never gossiped about boys with my friends before. A couple of them looked forward to their marriages being arranged, mostly for the freedom of having their own household away from their parents, and the future children they would have. But we all had some level of dread about the husbands that would be picked for us. Love, desire, compatibility—none of that was taken into account. Our fathers chose who we would marry based on how that match would increase their own power and the wealth of the empire they were building, not on what we wanted or hoped for.

This feels as new and uncertain as my actual budding relationshipwith Kian does. And there’s a measure of excitement to it, too. I feel—a little more normal.

Or, at least, what I think normal is supposed to be.

Cindy’s eyes go round in the same instant that Marie’s do. “Okay, I want to hear all aboutthis,” Marie says quickly. “But let’s go order our coffee, first.”

We put in our coffee order—a maple iced latte with caramel cold foam for me, and a hot pumpkin spice latte for her—and I decide to splurge a little, as well. There are homemade cinnamon rolls covered in thick icing sitting in the glass case of pastries, and despite the bowl of cereal that I ate earlier, my mouth waters a little just looking at them.

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