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“You don’t have to tell me what happened,” Kir says eventually. “But if he hurt you?—”

“He didn’t.” I cut him off before he can finish. “It’s not like that.”

“Then what’s it like?”

I shake my head. “I can’t explain.”

“Can’t or won’t?”

“Uh… both?”

He exhales. “Fair enough.”

I finally look at him. His gray eyes—so like his father’s, but warmer in all the ways that matter—are watching me closely.

“I’m okay,” I tell him. “Really. I just had a moment.”

“Hell of a moment.”

“Yeah.” I force a weak smile. “Hell of a moment.”

He shifts and sighs next to me, leaning against the inner wall. Then he clears his throat. “You know, I’m glad I found you,” he says. “I owe you an apology.”

I blink at him. Did I hit my head when I ran out of Lukas’s office or something? This turn of events does not compute.

“… What?”

“For that night in the office.” He runs a hand through his dark hair. “I was out of line. Way fucking out of line.”

I don’t know what to say. This is not what I expected from him. Not even close.

“I’ve been going through some shit lately.” He’s not looking at me now; he’s looking at his hands, like there’s something on them he can’t see. “That’s not an excuse. Thereisno excuse, truthfully. But I just… I need you to know it wasn’t about you.”

“What was it about, then?”

He laughs. It’s a sad sound. “Everything. Nothing. My father. This company. The fucking mess my life has become.” He shakes his head. “I took it out on you and that was wrong.”

I study his profile. The angular jaw. The tired eyes. He looks far older than thirty right now. He looksexhausted.

“What kind of mess?” I ask, curious despite myself.

“The kind I can’t talk about.” He finally looks at me. “Can’t—or won’t. Not yet. Maybe not ever. But I’m working on it. Trying to, anyway.”

“Okay.”

“Okay?”

“Yeah.” I shrug. “Okay.”

He frowns. “That’s it? I basically assault you in my office and you just say, ‘Okay’?”

“You didn’t assault me.” I pause and amend. “Almost, maybe. But you stopped.”

“Because my father walked in.”

“Still.” I pick at the continually fraying thread on my sleeve. At this rate, I’m gonna unravel the whole coat before the month is out. “You stopped. And you’re apologizing now. That counts for something.”

He stares at me like I’ve grown a second head. “You’re a strange person, Rae Everett.”