Page 34 of One Forbidden Moment

Only then did Moe exhale, low and shaky."We need to move.Now."

She nodded quickly, and he pulled back onto the road, following her directions through familiar streets that felt strangely foreign after everything she'd lived through.

When they finally turned onto her block, her chest tightened with hope.The small blue house sat exactly the way she'd left it.

Home.

Except she didn't feel like the same person who'd left it.

Moe parked the bike in the shadow of a tree by the side of the house and killed the engine.The sudden silence rang in her ears.She had no idea how she felt about bringing Moe home to her safe spot in the world.But she pushed her worries aside for the chance to be here again.

She slid off the bike, and her stomach dropped."I don't have my bag that has my key and phone.My ID."

Moe's brows pulled together."Where is it?"

"When you—" She swallowed."When you took me.I dropped my bag.Everything was in it."

"Okay.Then we get inside another way."He looked away and nodded."Keep an eye out."

"For what?"

"Anyone watching."

Her heart thudded.She turned toward the street, scanning the quiet neighborhood.A dog barked somewhere down the block.Mr.and Mrs.Honaka across the street had their living room curtain closed.They must be away from the house.

"Window's open," Moe said.

She spun.He stood beneath the small kitchen window, the one above the sink.He'd slid it up just enough to create a narrow gap.

"It's small, but you can fit."He crouched, lacing his fingers together to boost her."Step up."

She hesitated a second before placing her foot into his hands.He lifted her easily, steady despite the cuts on his face and the dried blood along his jaw.She braced her palms on the windowsill and wriggled through, landing atop the sink.She slid to the floor with a soft thud.

She turned back toward the window and hesitated.

Moe held onto the sill, too big to follow her."Are you going to open the door for me?"he asked quietly.

It wasn't a question about the door.It was a question about trust.About whether she'd leave him outside.Whether she'd lock him out of her world.

Until he asked, she never gave it a thought that she could stay locked in the house and away from her kidnapper.She could call the police.

Somewhere between holding his hand at night and coming through the veil, she stopped thinking of him in that way.Everstill wasn't normal.It had opened her mind up to a different way of life.Different people.And the unimaginable.

"Of course I am," whispered Jillian.

His shoulders eased, and he nodded, stepping back away from the open window.

She hurried to the front door, unlocked it, and pulled it open.Moe stepped inside, ducking his head as if the house itself might reject him.

It wasn't like that here.He was safe.She wasn't going to kick him out.

The moment Moe stepped inside, he swept his gaze over the living room, the shelves lined with her mother's old knickknacks, the framed photos, the mismatched throw pillows.Things that meant nothing to anyone but her.Personal belongings hadn't existed in Everstill.It was one of the first things she'd noticed.

He didn't touch anything.He just looked.Quiet, careful, and almost reverent, he acted as if he hadn't seen the inside of other people's houses before.

He didn't belong here.Jillian's throat tightened, unable to take her gaze off him.The veil had tried hard to keep him from being here, and he was trying to understand her world.

She tore her gaze away before the emotion in her chest could spill over and hurried to the bathroom.She grabbed a stack of clean washcloths, a towel, and the small first-aid kit her mom had always kept under the sink.Her hands shook as she soaked one cloth in warm water.