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Concern filled his gaze as he pulled out of the Fyra lot “Rough day?”

God, she was slipping How had he realized that instantly? Gage shouldn’t be the one person who saw through her, the only person who looked at her long enough to see her internal struggles

She started to deny it but couldn’t What would be the point? “Yeah”

He drove in silence for a few minutes, but veered off the road after only a couple of e oak tree near a deserted park

“Come here,” he coearshift and steering wheel

She should have struggledmore That’s why she was here—for a much-needed release at the hands of ait

But his soothing touch bled through her and nothing else could penetrate the little bubble surrounding her and Gage as he held her Nothing, not the various parts of the car, not all the weight of Fyra’s troubles, not the difficult past between them

Everything faded under his tender strokes against her skin She’d needed this, needed him Needed someone to be there to catch her when she fell, to be on her side His shirt was soft against her cheek and his woodsy scent filled her head, spreading the oddest sense of peace through her chest

A tickle in her hair alerted her to the presence of his fingers a ht chignon Her scalp nearly cried in relief as her hair billowed down her back He gathered the strands in his strong hands, winding theh to his knuckles Caressing her back

It was relaxing and sti at the sa hairstyle gone, a weight lifted, almost as if he’d studied her and pinpointed precisely what she’d needed

A groan ru her own, and in a snap, the atmosphere shifted Awareness spread across her skin, sensitizing it Switching cheeks, she rested her head in the hollow of his shoulder, but oh look, there was Gage’s ear just a millimeter from her lips

Grazing it lightly, she inhaled hih her The slow tide picked up speed, flowing like lava toward her toes, heating her in its wake