Page 58 of Keep Me

I slide my hands into my pockets. “What look?”

“Like you want to take me to bed and never leave.” She steps up to me, tilting her head back and letting me see the heat swirling in her eyes.

I place my hands on her hips and tug her to me, swaying slightly to the music playing in the background. She wraps her arms around my neck and moves with me. “I always want to take you to bed and never leave.”

“The pizza would burn…” she says with a teasing smile, like she doesn’t really care if the whole building burns to the ground as long as she gets what we both want.

I glide my hands up her shirt, her soft skin like an electric shock to my system. She rocks into me, her body rolling against my cock, stiff and hard in my pants. “You’re such a naughty little thing,” I say under my breath before bending down and throwing her over my shoulder.

She screams and giggles, out of breath by the time I toss her onto the couch. Her eyes are wide but daring as she gazes up at me from her back. “This isn’t the bed.”

“You know I like a challenge.” I climb onto the couch between her legs and pull off her pajama shorts. I tug one of the throw pillows under her hips, and she bites her lip as I slink lower, my lips grazing down her stomach and above her bare pussy. “Let’s see how many times I can make you come before we burn the pizza.”

Reggie

The next morning, I wake up to find the spot next to me in bed is empty and cold. I’m not surprised; Roan’s probably been up for hours. I grab an oversized June Harbor School of Medicine sweatshirt from my closet and tug it over my hair, which is an absolute bird’s nest after a night of fucking. My legs are sore in a way that makes me flush with memories of last night.

I open my bedroom door to the smell of bacon and recall the last time I strolled out of this room to the same. I feel much the same as I did then: giddy, hesitantly optimistic, and a little scared. Except this time when I turn the corner into the kitchen, Roan has made two plates.

“Morning,” he says, carrying them to the table, and I change my mind. I’m certain waking up to a shirtless Roan in my kitchen serving me a mouthwatering plate of bacon and eggs is the hottest thing I’ve ever seen.

I sit, tugging my knees under the big sweatshirt and biting a piece of bacon. He pauses before sitting, watching me with a smug satisfaction.

“¿Qué?”

“I like feeding you.” He shrugs with a soft smile and pulls out his chair to sit. It’s such a pure and innocent confession that it makes my stomach swoop, and I look down at my plate feeling my cheeks flush.

“Is the institute reopening?” he asks.

“Yeah, on Monday.” It feels strange that in two days, life will restart like nothing’s changed. Yet everything has.

He pushes a forkful of eggs onto a piece of toast. “What are you doing today?”

“Skydiving,” I say plainly. He drops his fork with a clatter, and his eggs fall off the bread. I look at him with mock annoyance. “That was a perfectly good bite.”

He presses his lips together and cracks his knuckles. “We just got past the whole somebody trying to kill you thing. You’re not gonna start jumping out of planes.”

“Sounds like it’s time for the next adventure.” I wiggle my eyebrows.

“The adventures will have to wait. I’m meeting with my Mexican mercenary contact today.”

My heart leaps, hanging in midair and frozen mid-beat. “Does he have information on Sofia? Let me come, please.”

“I have to meet him alone, but meet me for dinner tonight at the Den and I’ll tell you everything, yeah?”

“Okay.” I chew on my inner cheek.

He slides a bite off his fork and points it at me. “And no jumping out of planes until then.”

I laugh lightly. “I’ll try.”2

The Den is busy tonight, packed with tables with big, boisterous parties. It’s full of chatter and good spirits, but I am growing colder by the second. I check the time again, a ball in the pit of my stomach. He’s almost an hour late with no word.

I down the rest of the pint I’ve been sipping on for the last thirty minutes and stand up from the booth I’ve been waiting in. I’ve been anxious all day, my old wounds coming to the surface while waiting for news on Sofia.

I know Lochlan is here—he sat with me for a bit while I waited—so I head to the back where I remember the office is. I knock on the open door and lean in. He kicks his legs down from where he’s lying on the couch and tucks his phone away.

“Reg, hey.” He smiles warmly, and it only makes this sick feeling in my gut twist more. He reminds me of a sunny version of Roan. “What’s up?”

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