Not for the first time, Kieran was struck by it, Jude would like her. Both of them believed that people could change if they were persuaded the right way, or if they had the right information, and — Kieran wasn't sure what he believed. When people asked he claimed it was nothing, but even he didn't think that was true anymore.

He took in a breath, and took another sip of his tea. He knew what he was going to say before he said it, and — there was a part of him that regretted it already. This was going to change things between them, wasn't it? He knew it was going to. He was going to give her exactly what she said other people were afraid of — and he was going to have to hope that it didn't change too much about what she thought of him.

"I can talk to you about guilt," Kieran said, finally, and eyed her carefully.

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