Chapter 271

• Leah's POV
• I knew that look, that rhythm. I'd watched Lucas the same way once, peering through a door crack while I scrubbed floors, my hands raw and my heart bleeding for a man who'd never see me. The memory stung, sharp and relentless, a blade twisting in the soft parts I'd tried to kill off.
• I meant to drive off, to escape before he noticed, but his head snapped up, eyes pinning me through the windshield. Shit. I rolled up the window fast, tires crunching gravel as I swung into the parking lot. My door was halfway open when his hands yanked it wide, and there he was - too close, too real.