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They parted again, Elizabeth eagerly pulling at the fabric of his shirt, her lips swollen from his, her lids heavy and sultry in a way that nearly buckled his knees. He pulled the blasted garment over his head, satisfaction coursing through him at the hunger in her gaze. “I’ve never felt so—”

“I know,” he rasped. “I’ve never felt it either.” He touched a piece of her hair and tucked it behind her ear, her cheek leaning into his hand like his touch was a necessity.

“The bet,” she murmured. “We probably shouldn’t keep going.”

Fuck the bet! he wanted to say, but nodded. Fenmore’s being felt as if it only existed to do her bidding, to fulfill her wishes. “I’ll stop if you want to.”

She shook her head, moisture building in her eyes that mangled his heart. “I don’t want you to stop.”

That was all he needed.

His lips were on her then, everywhere. Her lips, her cheeks, her neck, her shoulders.

The little sounds she was making only spurring him on as he went to grip the hem of her stained white shirt, looking into her eyes before he went further.

She gripped the hem herself and pulled it over her own head, before undoing a clasp in the back of her half-corset, dropping it to the ground, revealing her breasts.

Everything around him was merely noise, his only focus on her. He was on fire. He moved forward and so did she, his arms under her legs, lifting her up to wrap them around his waist. Their lips meeting again as they both breathed a sigh of relief. “Please,” she whispered, “I need you.”

He knew what she was asking, what she wanted as he lowered them both to the sofa. As Fenmore leveled over her he was in awe, pulse pounding. He claimed her mouth before moving his attention to her chest, lips closing over one of her nipples as she gasped and arched beneath him.

The sound snapped something inside him. He moved away to stare into her eyes, a tenderness there he’d never witnessed in the whole of his bitter life. “Elizabeth, I think I—I think I need you, too.”

She gave a tiny smile and pulled him back down to her. They were a tangled haze of hips and arms, and legs. All he knew was sensation when he joined with her, as they moved against each other.

He’d be altered by this. It would change the very material of his being. Whether he’d known it or not, the minute her brown eyes locked on his, she’d revived something in him he’d thought was long dead.

Hope.

CHAPTER 7

B ette had just had sex with her elaborate hallucination.

But it hadn’t been just sex. She’d had ‘just sex’ many times before this, mostly unimpressive, if mildly satisfying. This was different, this felt like her heart was involved, her very soul.

His hand was moving over the back of her head as she lay draped on top of him, naked.

They’d been arguing the day before and now they were stuck to each other like glue.

She pressed a gentle kiss to his chest before laying her hands on him to lever herself up.

His pupils were bigger, eating up most of the blue of his irises.

“I didn’t know that was going to happen,” she said with a smile.

He pulled her up, laying his lips gently to her forehead. “I didn’t either, but I can’t say I’m sorry that it did. I’ve felt an unreal pull toward you since you pepper-sprayed me.”

She nodded earnestly. “That really does it for you, huh?”

He snorted and grinned wide. She took in the sight greedily, hoping privately she could make him do it again. “I am a man of simple tastes.”

She giggled, sitting up to retrieve her clothes, squealing when he pulled her back down. “I was going to get dressed.” She flicked his shoulder.

“A horrid idea, really.” He frowned, but his eyes were full of mirth.

She huffed, amused at his playfulness. “I can’t stay naked forever.”

He leaned them both up, pulling her in for a kiss. She could tell he’d meant for it to start slow, but it ended with both of them clutching at each other, breathless. “You can. I’ll write it into law immediately.”

The full light of day was upon them now, her stomach hollowed and making the most atrocious noises.

“I think that would cause quite the stir during my shift at the restaurant on Saturday,” she jested as she pulled on her clothes.

Fenmore had begun to do the same when he froze, pants over his hips, shirt in his hands.

“You’re returning, then?” He looked grim and it made her panic.

“Of course I am. I have a job and responsibilities and a goldfish that I hope won’t die after one missed feeding.”

His expression didn’t change as he pulled the shirt over his head, hair more tousled than before. The distance between them was becoming more obvious as the silence trickled in.

“I was thinking,” she started, trying to choose her words very carefully. “That when you come for your year’s stint in the mortal world, perhaps you can come to New York? I can show you all my favorite places and then maybe you can show me all your favorite places in your realm.”

The Fenmore that had just been tenderly running his hands through her hair and kissing her forehead was gone. “Elizabeth, I won’t be doing a year in the mortal realm. I won’t ever be going there. You didn’t win the bet.”

She went rigid and pain spiked in her stomach, a thickness in her throat that made it difficult to breathe. “I wasn’t talking of the bet. I was speaking of you and me.”

He gripped the wall, like he needed its support to grit out the next words. “If you return to the mortal world, there can never be a you and me.”

She flinched like he’d struck her, hand closing over her mouth. Fenmore’s eyes widened like the hurtful words had been said by someone else. “Elizabeth…no, that’s not what I meant.”

A white-hot heat prickled up her neck. “Oh my God. You—Oh my God!” She fled to the door, pulling frantically at the knob. “Let me out! I want to leave! Now!”

“Elizabeth, please.” Fenmore’s voice was gentle, his hands on her shoulders as he turned her around, looking like he’d just been dragged over hot coals.

“I’m sorry, that was callously put. I only meant to offer you a place here, in our realm.

I want us to continue together. I want to hear more of your stories and your jokes and see more of your smiles.

I want to spend days laughing with you and nights kissing you.

I want you so badly I feel it in my veins. I think I could fall—”

“No!” she yelled, spinning around and shoving him away. His eyebrows shot up his forehead, hands raised in gentle surrender as she carried on, angry tears burning her eyes. “Do you believe that mortals are capable of kindness?”

He ran a hand down his face, blowing out a harsh breath. “Elizabeth, please, you don’t understand what I’ve always known of the mortals in your realm. I promise I don’t think that of you.”

“You should,” she said, numbness washing over her. “I am just like any other mortal in my realm. I make mistakes. I say the wrong thing. I hurt people. I can be hateful and callous and bitter and so angry I feel like I’ll die .”

Fenmore shook his head but she continued, unable to stop her tirade.

“All mortals are this way, all people, all humans . Kindness and goodness aren’t something someone is born with, it’s a choice that we make every single day and sometimes we don’t get it perfect.

Sometimes we stray and mess up and learn how to be better to each other.

But the difference between us and you? We may be more flawed, but we still try . ”

His lips parted, but no words came out, as if she couldn’t have shocked him more if she’d pulled out a bucket of cold water and dumped it on his head.

“I won’t stay and be with someone who doesn’t understand the power of a second chance. Not when good people exist. Not when my parents existed once.”

His hand reached for her, sensing the distress now coming off her in palpable waves, but he saw her wince and immediately pulled it back. “What happened to them?” he asked softly.

The irony of it all nearly made her laugh.

“They were on their way to look at a cabin for sale in the Poconos. They were driving on the backroads, and they found a sixteen-year-old girl alone and hysterical in her car because her phone died and she had a flat tire. My parents didn’t see who was in the car, they just pulled over when they saw it, because they thought someone might need help. ”

Fenmore didn’t speak, just watched her with an intense expression she didn’t have the will to decipher.

“They were rounding the car to get the jack from their truck when another car came and veered off the road.” She looked him in the eye as she said, “The EMTs pronounced them both dead on the scene. They were hit…”

Fenmore’s eyes glistened.

“By a drunk driver.”

The door to the room cracked open. Bette didn’t hesitate to slide through it before it was fully open. “Elizabeth. I’m sorry, please, I beg you—”

She stalked down the hall, back to the entry, ignoring Jorge’s concerned expression, right to the woman who’d brought her here to peel the scab off, leaving the wound wide open. “I want to leave. Now.”

Louise frowned, not arguing. “Very well, child.” She opened the portal with a wave of her hand. “I’m sorry for the distress I’ve caused you. I merely wanted to help him.”

The glowing light appeared all over the wall and Bette wiped away the tears still burning her eyes. “You cannot help someone who doesn’t want to be helped.”

“Elizabeth!” Fenmore yelled behind her, gripping her arm, not enough to be painful but to turn her toward him. “Please try and see my point of view. It took sixty people for my mother to find you. Sixty people that ignored her on the street before she found one who would help her.”

“You don’t get it.” She smiled sadly, bringing a hand up to his face. His eyes closed at her touch. “Being mortal isn’t about the sixty people who won’t help you.”

She stepped back and Fenmore’s eyes shot open.