Starcrossed (Starcrossed 1)

to lie down for a while. Ariadne went into the kitchen to check on

Matt, who was still icing a few bumps and bruises while Noel gave

him a crash course in demigods.

Lucas gestured with his head for Helen to meet him in the next

room. She tried to shake her head no, but he had already turned

away and started moving toward the door. She had to follow.

He led her to an unfamiliar part of the house, the wing directly

opposite his father?s office, one that Helen had never entered. As

they moved through the empty hallways and past the unused

rooms, she could see Lucas tilt his head ever so slightly over his

shoulder, aware of her presence.

As she followed him, never more than a few paces behind, she

could see his shoulders tense and his breathing quicken. She

watched the warm skin of his back moving under his shirt with

every breath, and she had to rub her tight fists against each other

to keep herself from reaching out to touch him. Finally, he entered

the empty solarium on the easternmost end of the compound and

turned around. She had one second to open her mouth in protest

before he was kissing it. The second after that she felt him gently

pushing her down to the floor. The second after that Helen very

nearly gave in to him.

A wave of nausea swept up from her stomach and she clamped

her mouth shut as she turned her head away from him. Lucas

pulled back carefully, thinking he had hurt her in some way. She

braced her elbows against the marble floor and shoved against his

chest.

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?Stop,? she begged.

He shifted off of her immediately, holding his hands up in a placating

gesture. As they both sat up and faced each other, his eyes