Page 44 of King of Deception

Inching forward, I looked down at the beauty in the corner with the walls on either side of her. Her eyes gazed up at me, affectionate… excited. But I was beginning to worry.

“Ella?” I whispered as I dipped my nose under her earlobe, inhaling her floral fragrance. “Is this how you’re trying to forget him?”

I felt her arms around my back, pulling me closer to her as she moaned, “I’m trying to forget the scars.”

My arms surrounded her waist, and I knew that if the corner began to swallow us whole right then and there, I would do nothing to fight it. With my face still hiding in her hair, I said, “I like you too much to live in his shadow.”

“You’re not a rebound, I promise you.”

Pulling back, I stared straight into her eyes. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”

Her thumb ran smoothly and slowly across my lower lip as her gaze followed it. I watched her face as she did it while she slowly parted her lips. And finally, she whispered, “I don’t have it in me to hurt you.”

For a moment, our gazes remained linked through words floating between them without hope of landing anywhere. It felt like an eternity, but then again, not long enough.

“Kiss me,” she said.

And God couldn’t help me resist because I did, and it was better… better than the last kiss. Better than the one before it. Better than any of the kisses we had shared. Whatever it was that was being born between us was determined to come into the world fast and strong. I could feel it in my bones, and so could she, I could tell.

Unexpectedly, she pushed me away, although giggling, pulling me toward the first closed door we saw.

“What’s in here?” she asked.

“Nate’s bedroom.”

“No,” she quickly turned around, pointing to another. “This?”

“I think that’s a bathroom.”

“Curious!” she twisted open the knob, pushing the door. As we stepped inside, she gracefully jumped up onto the marble counter, spreading her legs and tugging on my collar, pulling me in, so I stood between them. “Kiss me,” she ordered.

“Have mercy!” I grunted, devouring her lips while my fingers drowned in her hair.

Painfully aware that if I let temptation distract me, Ella and I wouldn’t see my friends at all for the rest of the evening, I ended our little kissing marathon on the steps of the terrace. Before walking out, an impulse had me push her to a corner where nobody could see her, dipping my hand into her skirt, reaching downward.

“I thought we’re not doing that,” she whispered from between her breaths, throwing back her head in delight.

“No,” I quickly pulled out my hand, squeezing my eyes shut. “What you do to me…”

Her hand slowly descended below the buckle of my belt and along the zipper of my jeans. “It’s only fair, I guess.”

“Abel! There you are!” Armen’s voice prompted me to quickly turn around. “Oh, hello,” he grinned as soon as he saw Ella, who emerged from behind me.

She casually ran her fingers through her hair, flipping it over to the other side as she straightened her shoulders. “Hi. Ella Rose Boraine.”

“Armen Petros.”

She turned to me with furrowed eyebrows before turning back to him, “That sounds so familiar.”

“Armen has a show on the radio—”

“Oh my God, yes! You’re a deejay!”

“That’s right,” he grinned.

And just like that, a conversation about music ensued. Not only did my friends stick to the plan, but Ella seemed to be having a fantastic time.

thirteen

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