Page 135 of Succumbed

His eyes narrow. “Turbulence?”

“Of a sort.”

“I see.” He regards me. “Is she going to be happy to see you?”

“I hope so.”

“Is she expecting you?”

I cock my head. “We had a meeting with Parker.”

“Uh huh.” He nods, then sighs. “Fine. You can go in. But if you–”

“Hey, Miles?” I interrupt as his voice takes on a hard edge.

He raises an imperious eyebrow, crossing his arms over his chest.

“I fucking love the woman in that office. Save the threats for someone who needs them, yeah?”

He grins. “You got it, Mr. Kelly.”

“It’s Shane.”

“Whatever you say, honey.”

As I turn to Lex’s office, I catch sight of her business partner, Van. He juts his chin toward Miles, then shakes his head with a knowing expression. I return it, my lips curving into a smile. Yeah, we could be friends.

I tap lightly on the door, then let myself in. Lex looks up from her computer and smiles, her shoulders dropping.

“Shane Kelly, you are a sight for sore eyes.”

“So’s the sun.”

“Hm?” she tilts her head, a soft smile on her lips.

“Have you been outside today?”

She glances at the window, then scrunches her nose. “Not exactly.”

“Come on. I’m taking you for a walk.”

Chuckling, she toes her shoes back on and gets to her feet. She snags her bag from the hook by the door, leaning into my space as she does. I slip my arms around her, and she melts into me. I want to sigh in relief. Giving her space for the last week has been torture.

“You’ve been avoiding us,” I murmur, staring into her seafoam eyes.

She threads her arms around my waist, resting her head on my chest. “Seemed like a good idea after the flight home.”

“Lex, look at me.”

She obeys, straightening to peer up at me. Her voice sounded so small, nothing like the warrior I know her to be. I want to chase away the thoughts making her feel like that, want to lift her up and help her see herself the way I do. My fierce, savage queen. I cup her jaw in my hand, soothing a thumb along her cheekbone and wanting to lock the door when her pupils dilate.

“I know we have some shit to work through. That flight was…well, it was terrible. For all of us, but especially for you.” I stroke her cheek again, my other arm tightening around her. “But if we’re going to work through the shit, we need to be together, yeah?”

“Yeah,” she whispers, nodding. “You’re right.”

I press a grateful kiss to her forehead, taking her hand in mine. “Parker’s our guy now, so I’m going to hold this on the way out.”

Her breath stutters as she stares down at our joined hands. “Okay. Speaking of Parker, how’d it go?”

---