Page 27 of Lost Kingdom

“You bought it?” Misty eyed, she glances up and holds my stare. “I already have this. You didn’t have to spend money on another.”

“Small price to pay to have you here with me.” I go to work shucking my shirt off and stripping down to my boxers. It’s not even a thing she balks at anymore. It’s just us, in our skin—almost—and the love of my life reading out loud until I fall asleep.

The first two Timothy Malones would be disgusted.

“Read to me, Aubree Grace.” I crawl onto the bed and drag her along with me, my arm around her waist, until I place her at the top of the mattress. I make her sit up, her head on the wall, then I set mine in her lap and find my nirvana. “Please. It feels like forever since you were last here. And all we’ve done since the weekend was bicker.”

“We bicker because you annoy me.” But she expels a gentle sigh, and mumbles a muffled, “Fine.” Finally, she opens the book and rests it against the back of my head. But the best is yet to come. Because she slides her fingers into my hair and scratches my scalp in long, slow, rhythmic movements that have my eyes closing.

Odd, considering I was born toalwayswatch my surroundings.

“Everyone would lose their minds if they knew what we do up here. You know that, right?”

Pleasure ripples in my blood. “Mayet would explode.”

“I hate that I love you,” she moans. “It hurts to feel this for a man who doesn’tfit.”

I lick my lips and swallow the ache rising in my throat. But I nod, and respond, “I hate that you love me, too. It’s the worst thing you’ll ever do.”

“Will you be my plus one to my brother’s wedding?”

“Yeah.” Twisting on her lap and reaching around to hook my hand at the back of her neck, I pull her down and press a kiss to the middle of her forehead. “I’ll be your plus one to everything, forever. I promise.”

“Will you stop telling people we’re engaged?”

Choking out a soft laugh, I release her and lie down again. Then I grab her hand and place it on my head.Scratch, woman. Bring me comfort. “It’ll be true someday. When you’re not so angry all the time. I’m just getting a head start.”

10

AUBREE

AND HIS CUTE LITTLE DOGGY, TOO…

Iwalk in to work the next morning and plop a tray of to-go coffees on Minka’s desk, followed by my purse and coat. Immediately, she looks up from her printed reports and searches my eyes, concern brimming in hers so clearly, her thoughts may as well be written on the sheets of paper she sets down. “You okay, Doctor Emeri?” She studies my puffy eyes, then glances down to my hands, as though to check for bruised knuckles in case I beat the crap out of her brother-in-law. “You didn’t come back downstairs before we left last night.”

“I decided to stay.” I snatch up my purse and coat and walk them back through her office door, dumping them both on the back of my chair before I spin around and retrace my steps. “We fight. It’s what we do.”

“Is he alive today?”

I lower into her visitor chair and snag my coffee. A venti vanilla latte with four shots of espresso, four pumps of vanilla, two pumps of caramel, double whip, and salt on top.

Doctor Boring, on the other hand, prefers a standard coffee with nothing extra to give it a little razzle dazzle.

“Aubs?”

I sniff my breakfast and smile behind the lip of the cup. But I think of Tim, too. Of his complete surrender when we’re just us, cooped up in his bed. His head on my lap and his back facing the door.

“Yeah, he’s alive. I left his apartment this morning, went home to shower and change, and now here I am.”

“Are you, like… together?” She struggles with chit-chat and talking about feelings. So I know her question is wrapped up in my wellbeing, and not because she wants to gossip. “In a relationship, or whatever.”

“No. We’re just us. Dysfunctional and shouty. I slept over, because that’s what I do sometimes.” I shrug and sip, enjoying the first shot of caffeine sliding down my throat and into my veins. “He told my family we were engaged.”

She grabs her coffee and uses it as a shield, covering her mouth. But I see her smile. “He did?”

“Like you didn’t hear me scream about it inside the bar.”

“I mean… I suppose I heard a little something. Did he, uh…” She clears her throat. “He announced an engagement?”

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