No wonder it was impossible to walk away from it. To leave this town and the memories of what came before.
Reaching for his hand, I said, “Take me in there.”
He turned his back on it in a quiet refusal.
“Who looks after it then?”
Tending and trimming the hedges to maintain their precise design.
“I have a gardener. Well, I did before you. I only go in there now to find and rescue you.” He winked.
That made me smile.
He looked over at the maze with affection, eyes conflicted with a flurry of emotions. Maybe some part of him was still trapped within. That young man still running along its leafy corridors, turning corners and stumbling around its sharp bends, maybe even unable to find his way out.
“You once asked if I trust you,” I said softly.
“Yes.”
“Do you trust me?”
“I believe I do, Anya.”
Taking his drink off him, I placed our mugs on the stoop and rose to face him again. He looked at me with a curious arch of his brows.
Interlocking his fingers with mine, holding his hand tight, I led him toward the maze.
Anya
I pulled Cassius farther down a hedged passageway to where I believed the center of the maze to be. My free hand ran across the delicate leaves as we turned a corner. I was so ready for what was to follow that my body quivered in anticipation at the intimacy it craved, my nipples beading in anticipation for his touch.
His kiss.
His hand slipped from mine.
Glancing back, I was staring at nothing. Cassius was gone.
Wait.
Seconds ago, he was right behind me.
His voice came from the other side of the hedge. “The lanes that lead through the labyrinth are like the veins that lead through the heart. The more lost you become, the more love will depart.”
“What does that mean?” Because I was lost.
And lost without him.
Heart hammering, I realized this was how Cassius had eluded my father. He’d moved about this labyrinth and defied him and his men. They’d had no idea there were moving parts to this place. Walls that gave way to another side—because that was the only way Cassius had just disappeared into thin air. These leafy walls hid him now just as they had protected him that day.
Stepping back to where I last saw him, I gave the hedge a nudge, but my hands slid between the bush, scraping my palms.
A rustling came from behind me. But there was no one there—like an illusion. I turned and followed the rustling down the passageway.
Then nothing.
Silence.
I tried to shove another hedge to get to the other side, fingers buried deep in leaves. The pressure of a palm covering my mouth. I screamed into a hand, pivoting quickly.
Cassius stood behind me, laughing. A rush of delayed terror mixed with amusement at his playful smile.
“How did you do that?”
“It’s a secret.” He waggled his eyebrows.
I thumped his arm.
Swiftly, I was hoisted up with my legs on either side of his hips and pushed against the hedge behind me.
His mouth was close to mine. But no kiss came.
Caught in what felt forbidden, my arousal spiked. He let me down slowly. My feet touched the grass as I reclaimed my balance.
Turning on his heels, Cassius headed down the way we’d come.
“Where are you going?” I called after him.
“Back to the house.”
“No you don’t.” I hurried after him and grabbed his arm. “Show me the place.”
“Being in here . . .” he said the rest with his eyes.
“This is not a negotiation.” Grabbing his hand, I pulled him back into the heart of the maze. Cassius relented and reached into one of the hedges. Seemingly feeling for a metal catch. The hedge opened ajar. Enough for us to slip through. He led the way, moving into the next space.
This was how Cassius had evaded Stephen all those years ago. That man had stolen everything that was sacred in Cassius’s life. He’d even stolen the joy of this maze. We could reclaim it, here, now, together. If only my guide felt ready to open his heart completely to this, to me, to all the possibilities that surrounded us.
“Ready?” Cassius reached into another hedge, and his hand disappeared into the leaves.
We entered what had to be the center with four walls of green shrubbery. A secret hideout. He didn’t have to tell me this was the exact location where he’d sheltered all those years ago. Where he’d remained silent and waited for those evil men to give up and search elsewhere. That all those years ago it had saved his life.
Pulling the blanket off my shoulders, I laid it down in the center, tugging on the corners to make it a square. Cassius studied me carefully.
“You’re not leaving,” I said firmly.
His back stiffened. “Excuse me?”
“This is me kidnapping you.”
He looked amused. “Sure you want to go there?”
“Play along.” I motioned with a sweep of my hand.
He hesitated and went to say something, seemingly searching for the words his soul couldn’t say. His expression was full of wonder.
I knelt onto the blanket and tapped the fabric. “Down.”
He knew what this was. He also knew why I was doing it. Why it had to be here. Like this . . .
Cassius’s long fingers caressed his jaw thoughtfully. There was conflict in his eyes as he weighed what was being asked.
“This is not a request,” I said darkly.
He was at his most beautiful when his brows met, and his eyes softened, as though that final wall of his was coming down, the final wall of the maze.
The final puzzle was him.
Getting to know Cassius had been just as complex as this place, heading down one way and having to turn and find another pathway to get to this man’s soul. Discovering his depths, pushing beyond his darkness and seeing what lay at the center, a light that reflected so much love but had been hidden for too long.
Whether he saw it as a game or just did it to placate me, I didn’t care. He finally relented and lay on the blanket, his feet hanging off the end because he was so tall.
Leaning over him, my fingers trailed down his buttoned shirt, undoing one at a time, tugging the material open to reveal the fine hairs on his chest. Tracing a path over his toned chest, I admired the curves and the tautness of him. Tugging at his shirt, I helped him shrug out of the sleeves, leaving him bare-chested.
His hand came down on mine. “Careful, I might fall for you .”
My skin tingled with his touch. “Do you want to?”
He exhaled sharply. “Anya.”
His hold slipped from mine in a way to say he was surrendering.
He kicked off his shoes, one and then the other. Helping peel off his socks, I threw him a shy smile.
Moving onto his zipper, I lowered it and dragged his pants down over his hips, taking my time to strip him naked as I pulled down his boxers. A tall, exquisite form of a man lay exposed before me.
“Aren’t you going to take off yours?” he asked curiously.
“This isn’t about me.”
This wasn’t revenge for what he’d almost done to me in The Pontchartrain Hotel. This was him being totally vulnerable to me. This was me showing him how I felt about him. This was what I had needed more than the air itself. This yearning would destroy me if I couldn’t have him like this.