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Her hands pressed against my chest. She wasn’t pushing me away. She was holding on.
Two men moved closer.
“They came down here.”
“Check the doors.”
Adriana’s fingers tightened in my shirt. I shifted nearer, sealing her between my body and the wood. There was no space left between us. The fabric of her coat did nothing to conceal the heat of her body. Her breasts pressed against my chest with every shallow breath. My thigh settled between hers.
A man stopped three feet from the recess. His shadow stretched across the pavement beyond the column.
Adriana lifted her eyes to mine. The market faded behind the sound of our breathing. Her pulse beat against my ribs. Her mouth hovered inches below mine. Near enough that I felt every breath. Far enough to test what remained of my control.
I lowered my head until my lips almost touched her temple.
“Don’t move.”
Her fingers pressed into my chest, the touch searing. My body responded before conscience could intervene. I shifted my hips away from hers. The narrow recess refused me even that mercy. Her eyes widened as she felt the hard evidence of what she did to me pressed against her thigh.
A man walked past the opening.
I turned my face into Adriana’s hair. Her breath caught against my collar.
He stopped.
Her heart hammered against my chest. My hand tightened around her waist, fingers spanning her curves. One sound would expose us. One step would bring him within reach. I slid my free hand beneath my coat and closed it around the knife at my back.
If he entered the recess, I would cut his throat before he could draw breath to warn the others.
His shadow shifted closer.
Adriana’s fingers pressed into my neck. I lowered my mouth toward her ear.
“Close your eyes.”
She obeyed.
The man took another step.
Then a voice called from the far end of the street.
“They crossed toward the river.”
The shadow remained. I felt the moment stretch thin. Then his footsteps retreated.
The second man followed.
We waited. Five seconds. Ten.
A vehicle pulled away from the end of the street.
Adriana didn’t release me. Her palm remained against my neck. My hand still curved around her waist. The danger had moved on, but our bodies had not. She swallowed. The movement brushed her throat against my mouth.
“Adriana.”
Her eyes opened. They dropped to my lips. For one reckless moment, I forgot Lucia bleeding out against me. I forgot the man lying in the alley and the others searching the streets.
I forgot the collar I no longer wore and every promise I had made while wearing it.
