Page 43 of The Dark Before Light

Too late, Stirling. Far, far too late.

“Tell me what you mean.” My voice snaps with command, but unlike every person who’s heard this tone from me, she doesn’t back down. Her spine straightens instead, fire kindling in her eyes.

Something inside me bends. Breaks. Before she can shut me down completely, I whisper, “Put me out of my misery, Talia.”

She blinks rapidly. I must imagine it when her eyes look glassy for a second.

After a hard swallow, she says, “I haven’t been a paid dominatrix for four years. Two years ago, I stopped working as a kink educator and took a break from the lifestyle to… figure things out.” She picks up her plate and stands. “That’s all I’m going to say. Good night, Kieran.”

I watch her walk away. Her head held high. Elegant and magnetic despite her exhaustion, despite the sagging chaos of her hair and my too-big clothes.

Slowly, I become aware of my harsh breathing and tense body. I relax in increments—legs, stomach, shoulders, neck. Finally, hands and feet.

Then I close my eyes and smile.

Chapter 13

Talia

Mia stares at me, eyes showing white, the end-piece of a croissant stalled halfway to her mouth. Leo, conversely, sips his coffee sedately, pale blue eyes thoughtful.

I just told them what happened last night and how it led to the drastically out-of-character behavior of me ringing their doorbell on a Saturday morning wearing my client’s sweatshirt over wrinkled slacks. From their reactions at the door, I look exactly how I feel. Like I got four hours of shitty sleep and am in the midst of an epic personal crisis sans underwear.

“My bad,” Leo says finally. “When we talked last, I should have warned you to never, ever get in a jacuzzi with a client. Or hot springs. Basically, water is a bad idea.”

I make a face at the reminder of their first, disastrous sexual encounter. Mia sputters and chucks her croissant, which smacks him in the chest. He grabs it and shoves it in his mouth, then gives his wife a look that pinks her cheeks.

“Guys,” I whine.

Mia winces. “Sorry. Pregnancy hormones are out of control.”

I push my fingers into my hair, then give up when they hit knots after a few inches. “Don’t apologize. I’m the one who barged in here. I’m sorry—I should have called. I wasn’t thinking straight.”

“We’re glad you’re here,” she protests.

“Your timing, though…” Leo grumbles.

Mia punches his arm. “Talia, we love you so much we made you the godmother of our unborn son. You’re family, and you’re always welcome here. Selfishly, I’m thrilled you’ve come to us. I was starting to worry about you.”

I frown. “You were? Why?”

She shrugs, glancing at Leo. Apparently, they have telepathy because he says, “She’s referring to the fact that we have similar temperaments. We don’t open up easily and usually only share our problems in the rare instance a situation spirals out of our control. Basically, she thinks you’re a control freak like me and that it’s kept you from being happy.”

I don’t know whether to laugh or scowl. “Seriously?” I ask Mia.

She nods. “I’ve never seen you like this.”

“A hot mess?”

She smiles slightly. “Some chaos every once in a while is good for the soul. It shakes things up. I think you should fire your client and date him.”

My insides twist. Groaning, I palm my cheeks. The skin is too hot. Fuck, I’m blushing.

She continues, “It’s painfully romantic. I’m going to daydream all day about when he realizes you’re the girl from the graveyard.” She sighs dreamily. “Kismet.”

While I didn’t share Kieran’s name or the reason he’s seeing me, I did recap the overlap in our histories for her.

My gaze swings to Leo. He blinks back at me, expression bland. “She’s been reading a lot of romance novels.”

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