Chapter 34

“He is.”

“You don’t look fine,” she repeated.

He said nothing.

“You haven’t slept…was that you? I felt someone puttering about outside at dawn.” She didn’t mention that she had heard Alicia outside, too, just hours before that, not wanting to add salt to the wound. “You haven’t slept at all. You were busy guarding me and Yu.”

“Maybe I was just waiting for you to invite me in.”

The words had heat simmering in her belly, a gentle nudge that threatened to flourish. She noted the teasing in his tone, one that didn’t align with what had transpired earlier.

“You always joke around when you feel vulnerable. But you can’t fool me, Brian.”

The teasing faded and he frowned down at her. A hand went up, fingering her hair and parting it so he could see her face more clearly.

“Can you read me now,Mabel? Do you know what I’m thinking about?”

Her cheeks flushed. Like a switch flicked again, the heat spread until she was throbbing from it, intensified when he leaned in to sniff her hair. When he back