Page 44 of A Violet Obsession

I wait until we’re in the elevator before I share my plan. “We’ll go to Elite for the night. There are safe rooms on the top floor.”

Lily is staring at her cat. Finally, she lifts her gaze to me. “Hey, Finn.”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks for coming back for me.”

I don’t have a name for the sensation that floods me when she looks at me like that, so I just nod.

14

LILY

Finn kills the engine when we get to Elite’s underground parking garage, but doesn’t move right away. He sits with both hands on the wheel, staring at the concrete wall in front of us. With a heavy exhale, he gets out and comes around to my side to open the door.

“I’m not carrying her,” he says, looking at a sleeping Hera in my lap. One of her back paws twitches against my thigh like she heard him.

“I’ve got her.” But when I awkwardly maneuver out, his hands find my waist before I can hop down. He lifts me as if I weigh nothing.

For a second, I’m standing between his arms, my face level with his collarbone, close enough to feel the heat radiating through his T-shirt even with my cat between us. His chest is rising and falling in a rhythm at odds with the calm expression on his face.

Our eyes meet over Hera’s head, and the butterflies in my stomach riot. The moment stretches, my pulse galloping as his head dips toward mine… His hands drop, and he takes a huge step backward.

Like, embarrassingly huge.

“I’ll get your bags.” His voice sounds strangled.

I follow him past the sofa where I fell asleep earlier, to a room full of computers. Fishing in a drawer, he comes back with a black bag. “Phone.”

I frown. “But you already turned it off.”

“That will only work for so long. The Faraday bag will keep anyone from accessing it. Where’s your E-reader? I need anything that connects to the internet.”

After dropping the tablet in, we climb the open staircase to the top landing. Finn punches a code into the panel beside the door. When it beeps, he opens it and gestures for me to go in.

The safe room is nicer than I expected. Decorated in neutral colors, the common room consists of a sofa, a coffee table, and a small kitchen along one wall. There are three doors leading off the main space, one standing open to reveal a bedroom.

Finn walks to the open door and sets my duffel on the floor. I follow, but when he closes the door, I’m immediately aware of how small the room is with him in it. The bed takes up most of the space, and Finn’s presence seems to fill the rest.

Hera jumps from my arms and begins investigating the room with her tail held high, sniffing with focused intensity before finding where Rhodes has already set up her food and litter pan in the adjoining bathroom.

“It’s late. Do you need anything to eat?”

I shake my head. It feels strangely intimate standing here with him.

He rubs his jaw. “Right. I’ll make sure someone brings you breakfast. Does eight work?”

I nod. Then register the word. Someone.

“You’re leaving?”

“Yeah.” His voice is gruff. “Leo’s on duty downstairs, and there will be other operatives who come and go.” He must have seen my flinch, because he hurries to add, “You’re safe here. No one will bother you while you’re sleeping.”

Right. Like there’s any chance of me sleeping now.

I have no claim on him—no right to ask him to stay—but I want him to stay. It might not make sense, but he’s familiar.

I’m not going to beg.