Page 54 of Carved in Ice (Made of Steel 3)

Until his lips were a fraction of an inch from mine.

I turned my cheek at the last moment and his lips brushed against my skin instead.

“Sadie.” He inhaled deeply and it felt like he was inhaling all of me. “I meant what I said the other day. I do love you.”

His words were a knife to my heart. “Stop.” I stepped away from him. “Liza really likes you.”

“I know.”

“So…you should try and work things out with her.” I took another step away from him.

“There’s nothing to work out with her. We’re just friends. It’s you. It’s always been you. I told you that.”

“And you also told me that you didn’t love me just a few months ago. Remember that?”

“I’m asking you to believe me now.”

“Then take off your mask. Show me who you are.”

“I need you to love me before I take off my mask. It’s the only way to know if this is real. It’s the only way.”

He was hiding something big from me. Something monumental. And scary. I took another step away from him. He’s Don. The realization slammed into me hard and it was suddenly hard to breathe. He had to be Don. Why else wouldn’t he want me to see his face?

“Stay away from me,” I said when he took a step closer.

“Can we please just talk for a few minutes? If you would just give me a chance to explain.”

I ran into Eli’s room.

“Sadie, don’t…

I slammed the door in his face and locked it. V had laid Liza down in bed like he truly cared. He treated her tenderly. He was kind and sweet.

It was the opposite of how Don would have behaved. He would never treat another human that way. He would have left her to sweat it out in the hall.

But not V.

So who was he? I couldn’t deny the fact that my stomach had butterflies when he'd leaned in to kiss me. But I hated that it did. I felt gross. I looked around Eli’s room. I didn’t deserve to sleep in here tonight.

I pressed my ear against the door. There wasn’t any noise. Hopefully V was gone. I slowly opened it. The coast was clear. I tiptoed down the hall to my room and quietly opened the door and walked in.

I saw the form in my bed. Before I screamed, I realized that I knew who it was. The shape of his broad shoulders. The familiar hood. It was V. He was facing away from the door, but it was definitely him.

The room hadn’t felt stale earlier. My bed had magically been made. Had V been sleeping in here for a while?

I slept in Eli’s room because I missed him and I loved him. Was that why V slept in my bed?

It felt like my heart was shattered in a million different pieces, just like V had said. I wasn’t sure if that was what made me close the door and walk to the bed. Or if it was how alone I felt. Or guilty. Or lost.

I pushed back the covers and climbed in beside him.

He immediately rolled over, wrapping his arms around me. It was like he knew I would come

. Like he had been waiting for me. How many nights had he hoped I would come?

Neither one of us said anything because there was nothing to say. This wasn’t some momentous occasion. Right?

I was just drunk. And I wasn’t thinking straight. But God, it really felt like home in his arms.

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