Page 49 of Lost Kingdom

“You’re always running at a different speed than I am.” She collapses against my chest and uses me to stay up. “I wanted us in the past, and you were busy spinning your wheels in reverse. Now you’re in, and suddenly you’re talking filthy and making promises like this.”

“I promised nothing.” Except love. And forever. And protection. Andme. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You implied it!” she snaps. Too loud, considering we’re surrounded by her family. “I’m not stupid. Your words have implications, and you mentioned a bed.”

“I did.” I nibble along the side of her hand and grin when she trembles. “Being in bed with you is my favorite place to be. When you scratch my hair and read while I doze is my very own slice of nirvana. Butbeing in bed with you,” I enunciate each word, holding her stare to ensure she knows what I’m saying, “is going to be even better. You’re so small, Aubree. And I’m not. We’re gonna make fire, and I don’t give a single fuck if we burn up in the flames.”

16

AUBREE

A NEW WORLD ORDER

“Come on.” He takes my hand and turns to stroll off the dance floor. And though my heart sits firmly in my throat, blocking my air and risking my life, I follow. Because I’m the lamb and, it seems, I don’t mind walking toward my own slaughter.Tell him, my mind screams.Tell him you’re not… experienced.

“Wh-where are we going?”Tell him, Aubree! “Tim?”

I paste on a pleasant smile as we pass my sister and Malcolm, and pretend steam doesn’t pump through my veins just as surely as blood. Because her eyes swing to mine, and her brows drop in concern. She knows when I’m lying, even when words are yet to leave my lips.

“Uh… Tim?”

He grabs the ballroom door and drags it open just wide enough to fit two people through. Then he swings his arm over my shoulders and pulls me in until my hand somehow ends up on his opposite hip. “Bed.” He turns his face and drops a kiss to my temple. “I’m tired. You’ve danced with the groom. I’ve met your entire family, and I’m officially done sharing you.”

“B-bed?” Nerves grow and swell in my throat. Beckoning me toward death and promising it would be more pleasant than telling this man, this experienced, somewhat terrifying man, that I’ve never slept with anyone before. “I mean… I know you were talking about it and stuff. And we were kinda teasing. And I know we kinda agreed to… ya know? A relationship. Andwe’ve known each other a while, and…” Shut up, shut up, shut up! “Tim?”

“I got us a room upstairs.” He leads me across an opulent hotel lobby and toward a triple bank of elevators. Leaning closer after he dips his free hand into his pocket, he taps a card to the sensor on the wall until a door magically opens. “I expected we’d be here kinda late and alcohol would probably be involved. I didn’t wanna drive across the city in the snow, and the forecast is looking pretty shit. So…” He leads me in, pleased when the silver cube is deserted except for us, then he presses me to the wall, my head crashing against steel and a cry of surprise—and delight and terror, all at once—escapes my lips when the doors close and Timothy friggin’ Malone the Third pins me down and buries his lips against my neck.

He reaches out blindly, waving that card around until the sensors read it, then when we start moving, he pockets the plastic and slides his hands along my hips instead. “Has anyone ever told you how fucking perfect your body is?” He nips at the warm space where my neck and shoulders meet. “Your curves are sinful, Aubree Grace. But you hide them behind loud clothes and a big attitude.”

Tell him! Tell him! Tell him!

“I’ve wanted to touch you from the first time I saw you.” Heat burns from his pores and scorches into mine. But he’s unapologetic about his desire. Unrelenting in his hunger. He traces his palms along my thighs and slides his tongue across my uncovered clavicle. “That first night you sat down at my bar, lobbing those heavy textbooks and ordering fries every hour like you thought you had to keep eating or I’d kick you out.” He wraps his palms around to the backs of my thighs, then he lifts, slamming his lips to mine when I squeal out in fright, and crushing me against the solid steel wall until I feel his rock-hard length pressing against my core.

Tell him! I’m a virgin. Tim! I’m a virgin.

“That’s always been your stool,” he groans, holding my weight and turning when the elevator comes to a stop. The doors open over his shoulder, but instead of stepping out into a hall, like I expect, a luxurious room spreads out with a massive bed almost butting against floor to ceiling windows that overlook Copeland City and the snow flurries currently drifting down to cover her.

“Oh God.” I sit tall in his arms, distracted by the opulence of what I know is a five-thousand-dollar-a-night suite. A chandelier hangs from the fifteen-foot ceiling, and a faux fireplace roars and turns what would be freezing air into something so much toastier. “This is your room?” I spy themassive television mounted to the far wall, and a sitting area with couches and a heavy coffee table, no doubt found in an antique dealership. “You have an apartment ten minutes away!” I bring my focus back and look down into his smiling eyes. “This was a completely unnecessary expenditure.”

“Not unnecessary when I knew I wanted to stay here for the night. I saw on Wednesday what you’d be wearing, and I knew approximately six years ago I’d eventually give in and carry you to my bed like a fucking Neanderthal. So I planned accordingly. Stocked the room with things we’d want, had the fireplace started, picked the best suite with the best view, and told them to make sure the bed was comfortable.” He holds me with just one arm, like carrying a hundred and something pounds in one hand is easy, then he brings his newly freed hand up to drag my face down. Nipping at my bottom lip, he grins when my breath comes a little faster.

Tell him, Aubree!

“You want this too.” He slowly crosses the room, stepping down when the living area sinks into the floor, then up again when that space ends and we approach the bed. “You’re panting for me, Aubree Grace.”

Oh God. Oh shit. Oh man! It’s time to pay up or speak up.

“I mean… I am.”Panting for you.“And I do.”Want you. I search his hungry eyes and try to piece a brain cell or two together to come up with what I want to say. But most of the blood in my body pools elsewhere. And hell, it’s not like I don’t want this. I just want… slow. And honesty. And full disclosure. “I just?—”

“Bed.” He tosses me down, my arms and legs splaying absurdly wide and a scream echoing from the base of my throat. Then he crawls onto the mattress after me, his knee stopping between my legs and his thigh touching, barely, teasing, my fiery core. “When you sleep tonight, I want you to know you’re mine.” His shoulders fire up, bulging as he rests on his fists and leans down to press a kiss to my lips. “I need you to know that your future is tied up inextricably with mine.”

“Tim…”

“Love already exists.” He brushes a loose lock of hair off my cheek and replaces it with a kiss. “We both know that. We’d kill for each other. Don’t pretend you wouldn’t.”

“I mean…”

Fire sparks in his eyes, burning me up and conveying approval almost as though he spoke the words out loud.Good girl. “I’ve made myself come every single day for the last six years, and I’ve always,alwayshad you on my mind when I do.”

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