Page 99 of Beautiful Exile

My eyes burned, filled. “I’m not crying.”

“Okay.”

Tears slipped down my cheeks, and Linc wiped them away.

“That’s water from the shower.”

“All right.”

“Why do you have to be so perfect?” I asked, a mixture of warmth and annoyance filling my tone.

“Because I live to piss you off.”

I laughed, the sound sending vibrations through us both.

Linc cursed. “Are you trying to kill me?”

“Sorry.” I pulled off him, wincing slightly.

Linc was on me in a second, hands gently cupping my face. “Are you okay? Was it too much?”

“It was perfect. You gave me exactly what I needed.”

He bent and brushed his lips across mine. “Always will.”

Linc shut off the water, but he wasn’t done caretaking. Hewrapped me in a towel and dried every inch of me. His hand ghosted over my face again. “Are you okay?”

I knew he meant so much more than what we’d just shared. My fingers traced his tattoos,truthover one pec,trustover the other. The first time I’d seen them, I didn’t know they were the things Linc valued the most. The two things he never got growing up. I might not be able to give himI love you, but I could give him those two words, the same way he’d given them to me.

“The lights went out, and my flashlight wouldn’t work. I left my phone in the studio. It was so dark. And it was like I was back there, seeing it all over again. I freaked.”

Linc wrapped his arms around me and pulled me against him. “I’m so sorry. It was a trigger. And with everything that’s been going on, it’s completely understandable.”

“I miss her,” I whispered. “Him, too. Even though I should hate him.”

Linc pulled back. “He’s your dad. He made mistakes, but that doesn’t erase all the good.”

My throat constricted, but I managed to nod. “I don’t want to be scared anymore.”

Linc’s expression hardened, a coldness settling into his features. “I don’t want you to be either. We’re going to find this monster, and he’s not going to hurt anyone else. Not ever again.”

35

LINCOLN

I wantedto wake up to lazy sex and make Arden breakfast in bed. Instead, I woke to loud, incessant knocking.

Arden rolled over and pulled a pillow over her head. “Make them go away. It’s not even dawn.”

It was well past dawn, given the sunlight streaming in through the half-open curtains. But my girl was dramatic when it came to mornings. Glancing at the clock, I was relieved to see the power had come back on sometime during the night.

I tugged the pillow off her head as the knocking continued. “Where’s your phone?” Given everything that had happened over the past couple of weeks, checking her camera feeds wasn’t a bad idea.

Arden scowled at me, trying to take the pillow back. “I dunno. In the studio, I think. Remember? If you ignore them, they’ll go away.”

“Or they’ll break down the door because they think you’ve been kidnapped.”

“Whatever.” Arden pulled the covers over her head.

---