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