“I lied, gave you a false name, and you still want to help me. Why?”

“Because I want you to find the person you truly are.” I looked at him, the doubts I’d had lessening. “You must’ve had a good reason for what you did. Let me help you figure out what it was. I know you. You’re not a bad person. You’re incapable of hurting anyone.”

“Are you sure?”

“A thousand percent.” I took in the contours of his face, the edge of his chin, the amber in his eyes. My belly fluttered. “I’m still angry about what happened but...I fell in love with you the second I first saw you, and I can’t let you go through this alone.”

“Lily...” he whispered. “I don’t know what I can offer in return.”

“I know, and I understand, but it doesn’t change how I feel.”

The air between us shifted and crackled. It would’ve been so easy to give in to my longing, so simple to put my arms around him, kiss, touch and seduce him under the pretext of trying to get him to remember me, us. My body ached for his, and I wanted him, no question, but it wouldn’t be right. It would make me unscrupulous, something I promised myself I’d never be again after I got out of prison. I moved my leg so it no longer touched his.

“I should go,” Ash said. “Let you get some sleep.”

“I’m not tired,” I said, shaking my head, thinking I’d never been more awake. While my conscience wouldn’t let me seduce him, there was nothing wrong with me spending as much time with him as I could. “I have some wine in the fridge. Unless you’re driving?”

“I walked.”

“That far at this time of night? Are you nuts?”

Ash let out a laugh. “There’s a shortcut and I’ve got long legs, and to be honest, this is the first night in a while I’ve felt alive. Honest to God, sometimes it’s been as if I was drowning.” When he caught my expression, he closed his eyes. “Christ, that was as subtle as a brick, wasn’t it?”

I burst out laughing and Ash joined in, the tension evaporating. As I collapsed on the bed in a ridiculous, giggling heap, for that short moment, it was us again—Jack and Lily—and I wanted it to last forever. I fished the bottle from the fridge and retrieved a couple of paper cups, and as I filled them both, Ash sat down next to me on the bed, which seemed both strange and intimate at the same time.

“A toast,” I said. “To new beginnings.”

“To new beginnings,” Ash replied, taking a sip.