Page 60 of Lost Kingdom

“You took the choice out of my hands.” Exhaling, I press a kiss to her lips and sigh when she kisses me back. “You didn’t give me the chance to do it differently.”

“You mean like how you take ninety-eight percent of all choices out of my hands?” Another kiss. “This was my thing to share, or not. It was my body, and my virginity. I like how things went.”

“I called you a slut and entered your ass without asking.”

She warms under me. Her cheeks. Her thighs. Her core, almost saddling my thigh. “I liked it.”

“I put you on your hands and knees and fucked you like a dog. That would have hurt, Aubree!”

“It was going to hurt whether I told you or not. The fact I didn’t, means you did the things you did with my pleasure in mind. Not my pain. I stand firm: I like how things turned out.”

“You’re a pain in my ass.” I push my face to her pounding chest and groan. “How the fuck did my brothers know?”

“Because Cato overheard me and Minka talking about it. And Minka doesn’t keep secrets from Archer.Omertà, my ass. She tells him everything.”

“Jesus Christ.” I want to tear my fucking hair out. And hell, I want to have her again. Claim her. Own her, knowing I’m the only man who ever will. “Aubree. It wasn’t fair to you that I did what I did without knowing to be careful.”

“I don’t feel slighted.”

“And it wasn’t fair to me that you didn’t give me all the information.”

“Because you wanted to know you were the first?” She drags my head back and smirks when our eyes meet. “There comes a point you have to admit only part of your concern is about my comfort. The rest is about being the only man who has ever had me. You wanted to know, becauseyou’re a controlling, obsessive man, and you’re sad you didn’t get to know in the moment you were the first.”

“What are you?” I slide my lips over hers and sigh. “A mind reader?”

She laughs, shaking her head gently from side to side. “I’m a lot of things. Are you done freaking out yet?”

“I’m not freaking out!” I mean… I am. A little. “I’m expressing my disappointment that you were less than truthful with me.”

“Good lord.” She shoves me one way, and slips off the couch the other way. “Don’t talk to me about honesty unless you want a full and frank discussion about all the things you’re keeping from me.” She turns at the television and folds her arms. “Wanna tell me what was in that envelope Cordoza gave you yet?”

“Uh…”Shit. Fuck no.

“Exactly.” She charges toward the kitchen. “Now I need to figure out how to un-tell those fools about the wedding. Since I’m clearly not planning one with a Neanderthal whose most prominent personality quirk is owning a woman.”

“You make it sound like a bad thing.” I drop to my back and crush the heels of my palms against my eyes. Because Idowant to own her. I want to be the only man she ever thinks about. “You’ll like it when we’re married. I promise.”

“I like not being married, too.” She snags a can of soda from my fridge and cracks the seal so the sound reverberates throughout the apartment. Then she shakes cat biscuits, emptying a pile into Capone’s bowl when the fat cat thunders along the hall. “He left you here all alone. Fending for yourself while he was out getting lucky.”

“He’s a cat.” I count the stars on the backs of my eyelids. “He used to be a stray. Spending a night alone in a warm apartment is hardly something he should complain about.”

“He’s a meanie,” she baby-talks as he starts eating. “All because he can’t control his sexual urges.”

“I was the one who stopped us last night.” Grunting, I drop my hands and sit up on the couch, planting my feet on the rug and leaning forward to glance into the kitchen. “You were acting all brave and shit, ‘Let’s have sex, Tim. Get the condom.’ I didn’t have to know you were a fuckin’ virgin to know you were nervous and not ready. You were the one who woke me up with your tongue on my fuckin’ chest.”

“Crass,” she continues to the cat. “Insensitive. And mean.”

“Mature,” I counter. “Secret keeping virgin.”

“Cordoza’s letter?”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake!” I lean back again and stare up at the ceiling. “It was nothing! The dude is from my old life. We had business to attend to. Not everything is for you to know.”

“Hence…” She stands again, smiling over the lip of her soda. “My virginity. Not everything is foryouto know.”

“You’re the single most stressful person in my life.”

“Can’t be true.” She saunters out of the kitchen and across the living room, only to plop onto the couch and rest her legs on my lap. Already, her body half perched on mine slows my heart and soothes the ache bubbling in my belly. Because I hurt her this morning, and she didn’t give me a chance to be more careful. “You know Felix. And Cato. Their existences are more stressful.” Then she looks at the television and lifts her chin. “The remote being stuck to the screen was genius. But now I want to surf channels. So you’re gonna have to be a good boy, get up, and take care of that for me.”

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