Page 86 of No Longer Safe

Ace took a long sip out of his drink as he watched Carina. “No.”

I leaned against the bar beside him and nodded. “Okay.”

We waitedfor them as they stumbled out of the club. We’d watched them dance for an hour before they looked exhausted and we knew it was only time. My shoulder ached and I wanted nothing more than to take a shower, but my body needed Audrey. My mind needed to know she was safe. My hands needed to touch her, grasp her curves. My mouth needed to taste, lick, and tease. My shoulder be damned, I didn’t care. I wanted her. I needed her. I was going to have her.

Her cheeks brightened to a soft pink when her eyes landed on me waiting beside Ace. Her lips formed a perfect pout as she hugged her friends goodbye. There were more with them than I originally noticed, but then again, I hadn’t noticed anything after I’d set my sights on her.

“See you guys on Monday!” They waved and Carina immediately launched herself into Ace’s arms. She wrapped her legs around his waist and I fought a smile.

Ace gave me the look ofyou’ve got this?And I nodded.

He carted his future wife to his SUV and they were gone in a fit of kisses, no glances back.

“Hi, I’m sorry,” Audrey crossed her arms over her chest and it did nothing but cause her breasts to push up further in the low neckline. “I should have told you where I was going. It doesn’t take long to send a text.” She brushed her hair back from her face, a nervous gesture I assumed. “I probably shouldn’t have drank as much as I did either.”

I frowned as I stepped closer to her, ready to cart her off to my car and have my way with her. But I couldn’t do that until she understood something first. I leaned into her and brushed her hair behind her ear.

“First, do not ever apologize. You could have sent me a text message but we haven’t exactly talked about what we are. Second, and listen carefully,” I leaned in and ran my nose up the side of her cheek and her eyes immediately darkened. “I want to see you wild, I want to see you calm, I want to see you in every element. Know I will never make you feel like you can’t authentically be yourself anywhere you are. Do you want to drink and dance? Do it. Do you want to be quiet and observant? I want to see her. Do you want to be you? Please, please, always be that. I saw you tonight being yourself and having fun. I was just here to make sure you were safe. That’s all that matters to me.”

The light pink of her cheeks darkened to a deep red and she blinked rapidly as she processed what I said. I didn’t think I’d even processed what I’d said. But every single word of it was authentic and true. All I cared about was her safety. I didn’t want some fucker touching on her but it was her body. If she decidedshe didn’t want me and she wanted someone else, I would deal—not good— with it.

“Do you really mean that?” Her whisper rang through my body and vibrated my bones.

“Absolutely with every single fiber of my being.”

In seconds, she was on me. I winced into her mouth as pain rocketed down my shoulder. She pulled back shocked, “I’m so sorry. I forgot.”

“All I want is to touch you.”

When her lips met mine, it took everything inside of me not to take her on the damn sidewalk, instead, we stumbled to my car, where my driver was waiting and barely made it back to my penthouse before we were tearing off our clothes.

She was trying to be careful with my shoulder, but I didn’t care. The pain didn’t bother me, I’d been through much worse. What bothered me was not having her on me—not being inside of her.

When we stumbled to my bedroom, she took a minute to take in my very plain and boring space. Everything wasmodernin design which was just another word for simple and no personality. I hated it and didn’t care for spending time here but maybe one day I would. Or maybe one day I would leave this place behind and find what Audrey wanted. I would buy her whatever she wanted, wherever she wanted. Even if it meant going to the other side of the country to live near her parents. I didn’t care, I would do whatever I could to keep her happy.

I unbuttoned my shirt while she looked over the bookcase that spanned the back wall on either side of my bed. They weren’t my books, I hadn’t even checked the titles. They were something the designer picked out that I allowed my mother to hire when I moved in. She took one look at me and threw all of my mother’s ideas out the window. At the time, it was what Ineeded. I’d never needed anything cozy with emotion. But now? Now I wished it had more personality.

“These your favorites?” She asked as she looked over her shoulder. Her gaze was glassy and her cheeks were still pink. There was a spot on the back of her dress and her hair was tangled from dancing. She’d never looked so perfect, but she was drunk. Why had I chosen tonight to be self-righteous? I hated myself as I carefully peeled my shirt off of my body.

“Nope, never read them.”

She blinked. “Why not?”

“Someone else picked them out and put them in here.”

She spread her arms wide and turned around. “What do you mean? You haven’t read a single one? You weren’t even curious?”

The black and grey colored cases on the books didn’t entice me. Though I’d never been much of a reader, I could appreciate books. I’d aced my way through boarding school and an Ivy League college. I wasn’t stupid by any means or I wouldn’t have been able to do everything I had, but I also didn’t care to read for fun. I read when I needed information, I read when I needed to study, and I read when I needed to learn. There was nothing fun about words printed on a page. But I knew she felt differently. I’d seen her read a lot, I’d even taken a peak at the manuscript she was working on after she fell asleep.

“No, they look boring.”

She snorted. “Rich people are weird.”

“Maybe one day you can put your favorites up there, I’d much rather those than these ugly things.”

Her smile was soft and satisfied before it fell away. “I need to tell you something.”

She wasn’t slurring so maybe she wasn’t as drunk as I thought. That was a good sign.

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