Renna Rose Lancaster is the girl people stare at like she belongs in a glass case, a life airbrushed into unattainable perfection.
But Renna knows her life is nothing but a golden prison coated in pretty lies that keep her muted and small.
Her day...
"He was more than human to me. He was a phantom of delight."
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I kept my palm pressed there longer than necessary.
Not because I didn't know what I was doing. Not because I was unsure. But because the heat beneath my hand was steady and solid and annoyingly distracting, and because Aadam had gone very still in that way he only did when he was pretending not to be affected.
"Do not move," I warned, voice low, lethal.
"I'm not moving," he said. "I'm standing like a statue. A deeply traumatised statue being groped in public."
My mouth twitched. I didn't look up. Couldn't. If I looked up, I'd laugh, and if I laughed, this would go wrong, and if this went wrong I would lose my mind because I wanted this perfect. I wanted it centred exactly where his pulse thrummed beneath my touch, that raw power barely leashed.
The night air pressed cold against my bare arms, but his raging vitality bled straight through the thin fabric of my gloves. The streetlights flickered somewhere behind me. Leaves scraped along the pavement. Somewhere nearby, someone laughed too loudly.
Normal night. Normal world.
My hands were still very much on Aadam Alaric Callahan.
"This is taking an alarming amount of time," he muttered. "People are going to think we're doing something illegal."
"We are," I said serenely. "Against your will."
He snorted. "That tracks."
I adjusted my grip, fingers splayed, holding him steady.
I am being professional. This is an art project. This is not foreplay. Stop it.
"I swear to God, Renna," he went on, voice dropping into that lazy, dangerous register he used when he wanted to get a rise out of me, "if this is another one of your 'trust me' moments-"
"Shut up," I said softly.
He did.
Not because I was loud. Because I wasn't.
I peeled the corner carefully. Slowly. My nail caught the edge and lifted it with agonising care. The faintest sound of adhesive releasing filled the space between us. The thin backing lifted away with a faint whisper, and the night air kissed skin that had been hidden a second ago.
