EMBER’S POV

I slump back into my seat unconsciously, not realizing how rigidly I’d been holding myself until the tension drains away.

Knox lifts our entwined hands to his lips and presses a kiss to my knuckles, his eyes on me.

It slows the tightening in my chest. Loosens the knot that Harrison’s questions had wound so tight I thought I might snap.

I give him a small smile, and he returns it — soft, private, just for me.

He didn’t say yes to Harrison’s question.

But he didn’t say no either.

That was the easiest alternative. The safest escape. A simple “no” would have shut the conversation down, dismissed...