14
BLAINE
She stated the words as though the cult I’d mentioned briefly before our lunch together had stuck in her brain.
“You used the word escaped,” I reminded her of what she’d said rather than giving her a straight answer.
“Yeah.” Lily blew out a breath. Her head turned in my periphery, allowing me freedom to glance down at her profile again. “I feel like I’ve done most of the talking.”
“I enjoy listening to you.”
She smirked and shoulder bumped me. “You’re cute.”
“You’re beautiful.”
Our gazes caught, and that sense of her being a kindred spirit I’d felt the first time I’d spoken to her settled firmly in my head. Her dark eyes piercing through to the deepest parts of me as though seeing me like no one else ever had. Although noise surrounded us, silence seemed to swell in a bub
