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over her shoulder, afraid of her father’s enemies, afraid of

what they might do to her if something happened between

them and her dad.

“N-no,” she whispered, her voice thin like a thread drawn

too tight, rapidly fraying, about to unravel completely.

“Can I kiss you?”

The lump in Cassia’s throat was too big to swallow down.

r /> Her body suddenly felt so heavy that she didn’t think she

could move. The air became as heavy as thick black smoke.

“I’m sorry.” Adalynn leaned back, and the delicate white

column of her throat worked as she swallowed. Was she

nervous too? It was impossible to tell. “I shouldn’t ask

something like that, seeing as I paid to have you here. That’s

not your job. But if you do want me to, I could sit here and say

nothing for the next two hours and wait for that time to run

out, until you can tell me what you want of your own free

will.”

“What I want?” Cassia squeaked.

“What you want,” Adalynn repeated. Maybe she thought it

was clear what she wanted, but it wasn’t clear to Cassia. She

had no idea what the other woman’s intentions were. “I called

the escort service because I had no other number for you,”

Adalynn explained, like she could read Cassia’s confusion and

wanted to help her out of the rushing tides of her inner turmoil.

“I don’t want you to think that I stalked you. Or that I was…”

She shook her head. “I don’t know. I just wanted to see you

again. I didn’t know how to do that unless it was this way. I

didn’t want to pay for your time. I just wanted to talk. To ask if

you might want to…”

“I-I can’t. You know I’m an escort. What would be the