Page 113 of Leather & Lark
I set Lark on her feet with a disappointed sigh. “Christ Jesus. Let’s get the hell out of here.”
“Deal,” she says. She presses a kiss to my cheek before she steps away. With a devious little grin, Lark shrugs on her jacket and grabs my hand.
We leave Leander untouched as we head upstairs and out the door. A message dings on my phone as we slide into the Charger, a text from Rowan. I start up the car and let it warm up as I tap out a reply. I feel Lark’s eyes on me as I pocket my phone and shift the car into drive.
“Everything okay?” she asks.
“Yeah, just Rowan asking about Christmas morning, if we want to do their place or ours.”
“Maybe ours for Bentley, since he’s still feeling sorry for himself. He’s really milking this ‘injured savior’ bit.” Lark fiddles with the hem of her jacket, unspoken words hanging in the air. “Do you think Fionn will come?”
Even though I knew that was what she was going to ask, it still feels as though she’s reached around my heart and squeezed. “I don’t know,” I reply as I keep my focus on the winding driveway. When I don’t glance her way, Lark lays her hand over mine where it rests on the gear shift. “I hope so.”
“Me too.”
We don’t talk much for the rest of the drive home. Though it would normally be a comforting quiet with Lark, my heart beats too quickly for me to feel relaxed. It only gets worse when we park. I try to take a deep breath as I walk over to the passenger side to open her door. With every step we take, I think she’s going to notice the way I hold her hand just a little too tightly, or the way I can’t seem to stop biting my bottom lip. But if she does catchon to those details, she never says so. She’s seemingly content to walk up the stairs side by side in silence. By the time we get to the landing, I’m nearly vibrating with nerves and anticipation.
“I got you something,” I say. I barely give us time to greet Bentley and take off our jackets before I tug Lark along to the living room. She looks at me with scrutiny and I shrug. “Early birthday present.”
“My birthday is in February. We haven’t even made it to Christmas yet.”
“Extraearly.”
Lark’s gaze pans across the room before it lands on me. “Where?”
“Gotta figure that out for yourself, duchess.”
“Do I get a clue?”
I tap my finger against my lips to draw out her suffering before I finally say, “What kind of conduit is universal?”
A crease appears between Lark’s brows. She pivots on her heel, her focus roaming toward the kitchen until her expression suddenly clears. With the most feckin’ adorable grin, she grasps my arms and bounces on her toes. “Water.Constantine.”
And then she’s gone.
I trail in her wake as Lark heads to theConstantineposter and lifts it from the wall to reveal a safe. The smile she beams my way lights up every dark crevice in my heart.
“I don’t need to pry out an eyeball to open it?” she says as she spins the dial.
“Appears not.”
“What’s the code?”
“Go with the theme.”
I watch as Lark thinks on this for a minute then tries a few options. Her frustration mounts when nothing seems to work. It’s a valiant effort, and she seems determined to keep going until she finally lets out a dejected sigh and looks to where I stand with my hands shoved deep in my pockets. “Give up yet?”
“No,” she says with a scoff. She tries three more combinations before her shoulders fall. “Yes.”
I saunter up behind her, only stopping when my body is flush with her back. With a lingering kiss to Lark’s neck, I reach over her shoulder to spin the lock. “Well, well. Look who’s more up on theirConstantinetrivia now. Three, three, nine, three. The number on the back of Chas Kramer’s taxi.”
With the final number in place, I unlock the safe and stand back.
“Don’t gloat yet, Batman. I …”
Lark trails off as she opens the door, revealing her trophies. The snow globe. The coaster. The maracas were trickier to salvage, so I made her a new pouch from cowhide for the teeth of the broken one. There are a few other things I found hidden in the apartment, like a bookmark made of charred fabric and a beaded bracelet made of bone. And behind all those trophies, there’s something she’s never seen before.
“What’s this?” she asks as she pulls a cube of clear resin from the safe. She twists it side to side, examining the heart suspended in gold wire, frozen in time.
