The elevator doors closed behind me and I leaned against the wall, letting out a breath I didn't realize I'd been holding. My phone buzzed again.
Mera: Did you kiss her?
Rome: Maybe.
Mera: That's a yes. Details when you get home.
Rome: You're insane.
Mera: You love it.
I did. That was the problem.
Marco waited at the curb with the Mercedes idling. He didn't ask questions when I climbed in. Good man. The drive back to the penthouse took fifteen minutes through light traffic, and I spent most of it staring out the window at the city lights blurring past.
Aurora wanted time. I could give her that.
The real question was whether I could give her anything else. My life had become a tangle of obligations and relationships and supernatural contracts that made even the simplest decisions feel like chess moves in a game where I couldn't see all the pieces.
Six heroines claimed. One pending.
