Page 100 of Reckless Seduction

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I don’t respond. I don’t trust myself to.

“Can we sit?”

The question catches me off guard. I glance at them again, trying to read their posture, their tone.

They aren’t advancing or crowding me. They’re just waiting for permission.

For my answer.

I nod.

They move with a quiet sort of control, lowering themselves without closing the distance more than necessary. One settles on the edge of the mattress, leaving space between us. Theother leans back against the wall, her presence there steady but unobtrusive.

They don’t touch me.

“Just breathe,” Yelena says after a moment, her voice softer now, as though matching the rhythm she wants me to follow. “In and out. Slow.”

I almost resist.

But my chest still feels tight, the lingering panic refusing to fully release its grip.

So I try.

I draw in a breath, hold it for a second too long, then let it out in a shaky exhale.

“Again,” Miranda’s voice murmurs, calm and patient.

I follow the instructions.

In.

Out.

The tension begins to ease, just a fraction. Enough that my shoulders drop slightly, that my breathing evens out by degrees.

“You’re safe right now.”

The words settle over me in a way I don’t quite understand. They shouldn’t mean anything. They shouldn’t matter.

And yet…

Something in me loosens.

Not completely. Not even close.

But enough.

Enough that when exhaustion creeps back in, heavy and insistent, I don’t fight it as hard.

My head dips forward, my body swaying slightly as fatigue pulls at me.

A hand lifts, hesitates.

“Can I?”

I don’t ask what she means. I don’t have the energy.

I nod.

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