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"You’re staring," he said

Oh, she was doingso hard that she was pretty sure the ie of hi up hazy i to the roots of her hair, she forced herself to look away "I’ at aze flew to his and she saw him smile There was a predatory twist to his lips, the kind that al she was the prey

He slowly crossed his ar you heard the footsteps"

Finally re why she was actually out in the hallway, she found her voice "You heard them, too?"

Lucian nodded

She wanted to ask if he planned on checking it out or was he just going to stand there and serve as eye candy She decided against that Stepping around hiroan when he followed

"What are you doing?" she asked

"I’m here to protect you"

Julia tilted her head to the side "From what exactly?"

"You never know"

She rolled her eyes as she tugged the ends of her sweater together and she continued down the hall "I’ fro as a protector"

"You wound ht frown at the flickering wall sconce

Lucian fell in step beside her "You didn’t coht"

She hadn’t

"You didn’t co use of the groceries Livie had picked up for her during the afternoon of her second day here, she’d hts After her brief introduction to Devlin’s fiancée, she really didn’t want to face the potential of having to sit through a dinner with her She didn’t trust herself to remain polite if the wo you’ve been avoiding me," he said as they climbed the stairs

Yep

Which was also another reason why Julia hadn’t attended their dinners After what he said to her and how she reacted to his honesty about what he wanted from her--how her body had been ready to board the Hell Yeah train--she figured it was s the day, she took the outside staircase to avoid walking past his rooms Around the ti a lunch, sheher lunch in her room And when he arrived to spend time with his sister, she used that as a perfect moment to slip away and check in with her parents

Or pretend to do so

But she had talked to her otten her new number Neither of her parents kne and she knew they wouldn’t lie over soain and, up until this veryjust fine

He was quiet, blissfully so, as they made their way to his sister’s room

Of course, they found no one in Madeline’s roo Careful not to disturb her, they left the roo to check her room every time you hear footsteps?" he asked once they were back out in the hallway

"Yes" Holding the edges of her sweater together, she started back down the hall The set back to her room and in her bed Alone "It’sher in the ht beside her, easily keeping up with her with his long-legged pace

She didn’t want to suggest that it was Madeline, but at this point, anything was possible "I just need to check on her"

Lucian was quiet for a moment "You take your job seriously"

"Why wouldn’t I?"

In the middle of the hall, he stopped and stood in front of her "I like that about you"