"Ours," Nicholas said. Simple. Final. "Not a transaction. Not a contract. Ours."
"That's not an arrangement. That's a....."
"We know what it is," Sebastian said. Something moved in his dark eyes. "We're not pretending otherwise."
She looked at her hands. At the towel wrapped around her. At the room that was already starting to feel familiar in ways that terrified her.
"You tried to kill me," she said quietly. She wasn't looking at Nicholas when she said it but she felt the shift in the room.....the particular stillness that came over all three of them.
"Yes," Nicholas said.
Just that. No excuse. No explanation.
"And you're asking me to live here."
"Yes."
She finally looked at him. Those silver eyes steady on hers.
"It won't happen again," he said. Not a promise exactly. More like a fact he was stating. A decision that had already been made.
"How do I know that."
"You don't," he said. "You choose to believe it or you don't."
