Chapter 1550:

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His hand closed gently but firmly around her elbow, and Marcus shifted her weight toward him. “Get into the car. I’ll bring you home.”

Even with little strength left, she tried to pull away. Tears blurred her eyes. “I can’t go home.”

For a moment, Marcus said nothing as his throat became dry. “Then I’ll take you to my place.”

It had been a long time since Novalee last stepped inside Marcus’s villa.

𝖱𝖾𝗮𝗱 wіtho𝘂t і𝘯𝘁𝖾𝗿𝗋𝘂𝘱𝗍𝘪𝗈ոs оn g𝗮𝗅𝗇𝘰𝘃𝗲𝗅s.c𝗈𝘮

She lingered in the entryway, one shoulder resting against the wall as the haze of alcohol slowly lifted. But the clearer her head became, the faster the memories closed in. Every corner of the house seemed to hold a piece of the past, dragging her back to what happened between her and Marcus under this roof.

She found herself rooted to the spot, unable to take another step.

Marcus glanced back at her, and one look was all it took to understand. A knowing smile tugged at one corner of his mouth. Without a word, he opened the shoe cabinet, took out the pair of slippers that had always been hers, and set them neatly at her feet. “Having second thoughts? Worried I’ll do something to you?”

Novalee’s gaze settled on the slippers. They were exactly where they’d always been, as though he’d never once considered throwing them away. She slipped off her heels, eased her feet into them, and answered quietly, “No.”

She made her way to the sofa and sat down. A moment later, Marcus returned with a glass of warm water and held it out to her.

As she reached for it, her eyes landed on his hand. The scar stretched boldly across the back of it, impossible to miss. Before she could catch herself, the question slipped out. “How’s your hand?”

“A lot better.” His tone stayed light. “I can move it around now. The doctor says it’s actually good for the joints.”

His fingers were long and striking, their once-smooth pads now marked by the faint calluses years at the piano had left behind. Deliberately, he turned his palm upward and held it out to her. “Want to inspect the results of your rehabilitation efforts?”

Inspect? How? His words were somehow ambiguous, enough to give them a meaning that had nothing to do with physical therapy. Novalee slowly lifted her eyes. The warm glow spilling from the lamps softened his features, making him look almost unfairly handsome. And those hands. Just the sight of them was enough to awaken thoughts she couldn’t pretend to forget.

She remembered exactly how they felt: the sharp sting of his palm against her skin, the way he’d held her, the overwhelming fullness that had left her trembling long after everything was over.

She had forced herself to bury those memories after getting together with Barry. Yet all it had taken was coming back to this house, and one deliberately innocent gesture from Marcus. The cravings she’d spent so long suppressing stirred awake, creeping beneath her skin.

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Message from Noa: We’re in the final quarter of the year, my dear ones, hang in there! God loves you and Noa wishes you all the best. (ɔO‿=)ɔ ♥

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