Page 128 of Lamb

As more golden elevator doors passed beside us, I feared I would have to walk another mile before I finally got to stop. I was sure this hotel was wider on the inside than on the outside, and as exhaustion clung to my eyes, my weary limbs growing heavier with each step, we finally stopped.

Another set of elevator doors reflected our tired expressions. They were taller than the others with an ornate frame andintricate details of leaves and ivy welded onto the jet-black doors. It was beautiful, grand, and screamed money, except for a single thing.

There was no button.

I frowned at the metal doors, my eyes jumping up and around, squinting hard as I tried to see if the button was concealed or magnet-activated. I took way too long, invested in my search before his saccharine smile burnt into the back of my neck.

I spun, eyes narrowing as Lamb gazed down at me with a dewy, amused smile. He looked soft and human, and unfamiliar. “Are you having a nice time, Mr.Wolfe?”

“A little,” Lamb mused, his arm flexing against my back.

“Well”—I gestured to the elevator—“I take it you have a keycard or a secret button, or anopen sesame, or—”

A loudwooshcut me off as the two doors began to slide open.

My jaw dropped. “How…?”

Lamb shook his head. He tugged me along as I stared at the door. It closed behind us with a silent whisper, not a single button pressed, and I felt the familiar gravitational shift as we began to rise up.

And up.

And up.

“I am going to die before I get to sleep,” I groaned, my head planted into the crook of Lamb’s neck. I had long since given up carrying my body, allowing my weight to sink into his strong, reliable figure. Bastard did not even look a little tired.

If his hair was not mussed by his helmet, and his shirt a little creased from where my hands had locked around his waist, then you would never have guessed he had high-tailed it across the state at neck-braking speeds. He kept a loose arm around my back. His warm, woodsy scent mixed with leather and sweat sank me deeper into sleepiness.

The car ride was nice and smooth, but all it did was highlight the stiffness and ache of my muscles from clinging to Lamb for dear life.

Apingandwooshpulled open the black doors, revealing the interior of a beautiful, luxurious suite. Everything from the billboards, and movies, and dreams was in a mass open plan modern suite. A fruit bowl, wine, and fresh flowers were presented as elaborate gifts on the centre table, along with a small handwritten note reading, “Mr. Wolfe,” in swirly lettering. But everything was mediocre compared to the view. A vast wall of windows swung in a smooth curve in a single sheet of glass. The black skyline of the city, now sunken in twilight, shimmered and glittered like stars in the night. If not for the reflective glow of the room lights, and my figure staggering forward, hands pressing into its surface, I would have believed there was a hole in the building. Believed if I stepped forward, I would fall into the inky abyss of the city.

“It is stunning,” I breathed.

Despite my origins being old money, I had never seen a penny spent on luxury. Not for me, at least. I had never dreamed of stepping foot into this type of place. Not as a rich daughter. Or as a murderer. Or a washed-up alcoholic.

“I hate it,” I breathed, my fingers pressed flat into the cool glass, a burning swelled behind my eyes. Even though I could not make out the buildings, their shapes were an encompassing dark blur with twinkling lights, it was breathtaking. And for that, I hated it.

“Not the usual reaction.” Lamb slid in beside me, his face manifesting in the reflection of the glass, warm hands sliding around my waist as he fit his body like a puzzle piece against my back. “But I wouldn’t expect that from you either.” He leant down, his wild hair brushing the side of my jaw as his warm lips peppered kisses across my cold skin.

I turned in his hold, my back pressed against the cool glass, his warmth now soaking into my breasts and waist. Chocolate-brown eyes stared down at me with that calm curiosity that always lingered.

“We need to talk.”

“Are we not?” Lamb frowned, the puppy dog ignorance a lost cause. Perhaps if I did not know his nature, I might believe the sweet façade.

“What happened at the club? The FBI?” I stared hard into his eyes. “You knew they were coming.”

To have been absent for days only to turn up like a knight on a chrome steed to steal me away at the perfect moment was impossible odds.

“You never ask for anything until it’s times like these.” Lamb sighed, his tone bitter and disappointed. “Are you not willing to be ignorant? At least just for tonight?” He pulled me tighter into his chest, and I became acquainted with the stiffness in his jeans. “We can get a bath together, and I’ll wash your hair and fuck you till you can’t walk.” He leaned in close, the punctuated words sending trembling shivers down my spine where they pooled at my core. “Then I’ll carry you to bed, and I’ll fuck you again. Then we’ll sleep with you in my arms. No dreams. No nightmares. Just sleep.”

An impossible promise. Lamb was capable of many feats, but controlling my nightmares and dreams was simply out of his reach. Despite how tempting his offer was, regardless of his supernatural abilities, I quashed my libido, her screams falling on deaf ears as I shook my head.

“I have spent most of my life in ignorance.” I considered his words, my thoughts leaking out as I processed them in real time. “But that had never been my choice. If I had been given one …”

As my words trailed off, I saw the understanding bloom in Lamb’s eyes. It had been there from the moment we had walked in. He knew I would ask. He had just hoped I would not.

“The FBI raid …” I prompted, my fingers finding purchase in fistfuls of Lamb’s leather jacket. “It was for me?”

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