The Forbidden Throb (Emma and Daniel) novel Chapter 144

Chapter 144

Daniel’s POV:

The garden was deeper in snow than I’d expected.

Our footsteps crunched loud in the stillness, disturbing the pristine white coating on boxwood hedges and stone benches. The fountain stood

at the center of its small plaza, ice glazing its surface with a silver-blue sheen under the moonlight.

Emma pulled away from me, fishing in her coat pocket. Three euro coins glinted on her palm.

“The ice is too thick,” I said. “They won’t-”

“I have to try.”

She wound up like a baseball pitcher and hurled the first coin. The coin skittered across the surface, slid toward a hairline crack at the fountain’s rim, and disappeared with the faintest plink.

Emma gasped, spinning to face me so fast she nearly lost her footing. I caught her waist, steadied her. We stood too close, her face tilted up to mine, snowflakes catching in her eyelashes.

“It worked,” she breathed.

I stared at the spot where the coin had vanished, half-disbelieving. The odds of that-threading through such a narrow gap in solid ice-

“It actually worked,” I said, and despite everything, I felt a smile pulling at my mouth. Something warm unfurled in my chest.

Emma turned back to the fountain again, and this time she drew her arm back and threw wit all her strength. The remaining coins arced through the air and dropped straight through a narrow gap in the ice near the fountain’s center.

The sound of it striking water was crisp, clear, triumphant.

Emma’s cry of delight made something crack open in my chest. She jumped, arms raised, then immediately closed her eyes, palms pressed together as if in prayer.

I watched her lips move silently, her face tilted slightly upward, snowflakes settling on her cheeks and eyelashes. Her expression held such earnest concentration-brow furrowed, breath held-as if the entire universe hung on whatever wish she was making.

The sight of her like this, so unguarded and hopeful, made my throat tighten.

When she finally opened her eyes, they were luminous with tears again, but this time they were different. Not grief. Not confusion.

Hope.

I wanted to pull her against me. Wanted to kiss her until she stopped crying.

But I just brushed snow from her shoulders. “You’re going to make yourself sick.”

9:02 am Pppp.

Chapter 144

She lowered her hands, revealing red-rimmed eyes and a watery smile. “I don’t care.”

“I do.” The words came out rougher than intended. I touched her nose with my thumb-cold and pink at the tip. “If you keep crying like this,

your eyes won’t open tomorrow.”

I bent and kissed the bridge of her nose, tasting snowmelt and salt. Her breath hitched.

“Let me take you back to the hotel,” I said quietly. “You need a hot bath. Something warm to eat. Sleep,”

She nodded, but when I looked at her, I saw the mascara smudged beneath her eyes. The way she was swaying slightly on her feet.

All those tears for me.

The satisfaction that twisted through me at the thought was ignoble. Possessive.

I unwound my cashmere scarf and wrapped it carefully around her neck, adjusting it twice to ensure it covered her properly. She let me, watching my face with an expression I couldn’t quite read.

“Come on,” I said, offering my hand.

She took it, and we started toward the exit.

Halfway there, I moved our joined hands into my coat pocket, threading our fingers together.

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify