Page 90 of Theirs to Ruin

My cheeks flushed, a mixture of anger and embarrassment, and I stepped away from Kage. “Stop referring to me as if I’m not here and like I’m some object,” I said, glaring at them both.

Kage didn’t look bothered.

Ty? He slowly walked over to me and held out a water bottle. Automatically I took it.

“Can’t have the princess getting dehydrated, can we? Not if she’s going to be up for sparring with me. I want you out of here, and by next week, you’ll be only too happy to leave.” With that, Ty turned and jogged down the path leading away from the chateau and toward the adjoining forest.

An hour later, I was still unpacking. I broke the seal on yet another box. Every item I pulled out—books, clothes, that silly trinket from a high school fair—was a piece of the past that felt increasingly distant. Everything felt so trivial all of a sudden—my studies, my clash with Ty, my feelings for Kage and Dante.

Ava was dead.

What if I was to die tonight? My family would grieve but they’d move on. Dante and Kage might be sad for a while, but they’d soon forget about me. Ty wouldn’t even care.

But there was one thing I knew for certain. If I did die under mysterious circumstances, I would hope someone would care enough to find out what happened. I mean, I knew the police and Kage were looking into Ava’s death, but I suddenly felt guilty for not doing my part. Granted, I’d been dealing with my own recovery and the bullying at school but?—

I jumped when I heard a soft knock.

I looked up to see Kage leaning against the doorframe.

"You need to take a break."

I stared at him, at his handsome face and gorgeous body. At his eyes and his talented fingers and his lush mouth. And suddenly I was angry at all the emotions he made me feel.

They weretoo much.

And I remembered what feelingtoo muchfor someone had felt like only to have that someone take those feelings and grind it into the ground.

“I’m fine, Kage,” I said, turning back to the box.

I felt him step into the room, his presence like a physical force, heating my betraying core.

“I said, you need a break,” he repeated. “Did you even have lunch?”

“I’m not hungry,” I said, lifting a stack of books.

Suddenly he was in front of me. He took the books from me, set them down, and gently wrapped his hand around the back of my neck. The world seemed to contract, pulling us into a space that was just ours. He drew me close, close enough to feel the warmth radiating from his body, close enough to see the glints of gold in his light brown eyes.

My mind screamed for me to step away, to reassert the walls I'd been fortifying since Ty left, but my body had other ideas. I felt a rush of desire flood through me, pooling between my thighs.

My breath was a patchy mosaic of quick exhales, each one fluttering through my lips as if trying to escape even as I felt trapped. Trapped by him, by Kage, whose fingers curled around my neck and whose body still crowded my space.

With his free hand, he pushed back my hair. "Come downstairs. We’ll order something to eat. What kind of food do you like?”

“What kind do you?”

He smirked. “If I tell you, will you come down?”

I thought about it. I knew he’d just been teasing, but suddenly, the desire to get to know him better burned through me.

“Maybe,” I said, but I did it with a small smile. “Answer my question first.”

“For take out, I prefer pizza and Chinese. For dining out, I’d pick Italian or Thai.”

“Not Irish food?”

“Have you eaten Irish food?”

I crinkled my nose. “No. Why?”

---