Page 16 of Unlawful Lies

Edward is silent, mulling over my opinion. “It’s hard to say. Alcohol can change a personality beyond recognition.”

I whirl around and glare at Edward. “I suppose you’re the definitive source on the subject then?”

“I know my way around a bottle.” He arches an imperious bow, and my breath hitches. “I’ve been there before. Nowhere near the level of your dad, though.”

I grind my back molars together and stalk past him, terribly aware of Edward prowling the hallway behind me. He’s not here to insult my family. He’s here to save us all. To absolve us.

Right?

A hand wraps around the back of my neck seconds before his opposite palm slaps against my mouth. The one on my neck slips down, a strong arm wrapping around my torso, and my back suddenly pressed to his front. I feel every line of him. Every hard, unyielding, dominating line of Edward Balestra as he bends to my ear and whispers a plea to be quiet.

It’s never been my forte. But my skin breaks out at the sound of footsteps. An ungainly gait toddling down the hall toward the foyer seconds before the front door slams.

“I thought you said we were going to be alone?”

The tone sets my bones trembling.

I bob my head, unable to say anything against his palm. Those rough calluses push against my lips, heat trailing down from the touch all the way toward the center of me. This close to him, the scent of spice and liquor and smoke twine together. Intoxicating.

I arch my hips slightly, and Edward slips his hand from my mouth to rest it at the base of my neck, but he hasn’t moved. Neither have I.

“We’re supposed to be alone,” I hiss. “The housekeeper is usually in bed by this time. I guess today she’s late. Midnight snack?”

“Is she also half blind? Because this armoire is doing a shit job of hiding us from view.”

I smirk. “Something like that.” And because we’re too close and because it’s too easy for me to stay here and draw his scent into me, memorizing it, I push back against him. When that does nothing, I dig my elbow into his stomach until Edward chuckles, and his arm goes slack. Hand slipping away.

“Message received, little fox.”

I feel his touch on my skin like a brand through every step we take away from our hiding place.

The door to the office is open. Arrogantly open because Daddy never expects any of us to go in there. It’s his mess and his chaos, his domain and filled with his possessions. The only time I went inside was for those meetings where he insisted I be present.

If Edward notices how I linger at the door, he says nothing, clamping down on his jaw and bringing its shape to my attention.

He increases the pressure at my back. “You never struck me as a coward.”

I go stiff. “Coward?” I test the word. “How do you figure?”

“You’re staring at the threshold like it’s the line to the underworld.”

Is it not? Considering what happens in this room, how many lives hang in the balance when Daddy sits at his desk…

I clear my throat. “It’s just not the kind of place you go if you want to remember happy times.”

“We all have skeletons in the closet.” Edward says it as if I should remember his own skeletons.

Before I have a chance to engage in the witty repartee I desperately want to use as a smokescreen, his lips press to the back of my neck, and I freeze. His body crowds mine, taller and stronger, and heat blasts through me.

“What are you doing?” I whisper.

“Searching.” His hands land on my hips to steady me as he kisses his way along my neck, first on the left, then the right. Edward nips at my ear before his palms slide down to my thighs, smoothing up to the curve of my ass. He brings his palm down with a muffled spank I feel all the way through me.

“You’re such a tease.”

“In the best possible way.” His voice is a purring growl of sound. “You like it, little fox.”

More than I’m ready to admit.

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