Page 42 of One Last Wish

It hit me like a bolt of lightning...a dream being plucked from my head...and pushed to the front of my mind. I stood there staring at him in bewilderment.

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“DON’T WALK AWAY FROMme,” Darce pleaded, his eyes wet with emotion. “I can’t do this, Alora.”

“How do we make this work, Darce? How do we do this without getting each other killed? We are breakingeveryrule! If we carry on, we riskwar.”

“You know how I feel about you.”

“You know neither of us can admit those feelings. If we give in...” I shook the thought away.

“This doesn’t feel wrong to me.” He tucked a stray piece of my hair behind my ears before cupping my cheek.

“Maybe you never should have saved me,” I whispered, leaning up to peck his lips.

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“ALORA. LOOK AT ME.I’m right here.” Darce’s hands were on my face. He wastouchingme...skin on skin. I closed my eyes for a moment, savouring how it felt. “Are you okay? You zoned out.”

“W...What...I...”

“Are you okay?”

“Darce,” I whispered. “You’retouchingme. Areyouokay?” I could have sworn he moved an inch toward my lips before finally letting me go and pulling away. “I...I...I’m going to get ready,” I stuttered, impressed that I could walk straight after that encounter.

I changed into my outfit for the event. It was basically a leather catsuit to represent the dragon rider’s leathers in the spotlight book series for tonight. Clipping the utility belt I’d made into place, I put my work boots back on, pulled my hair down and was ready. I looked the part of a dragon rider. Theo and Darce hadn’t dressed up, but neither of them were into this series like I was.

Walking up the stairs, I was scrunching my hair to give it a bit more volume when Darce and Theo turned around at the same time. Theo looked at me from head to toe and swallowed hard. He was trying to focus on not getting a hard on, I suspected. Darce was the one that shocked me, standing there with his arms crossed. His eyes looked half-crazed as they lingered on my body. He brought one hand to his face and bit his knuckle, drinking me in.

“A bit of warning next time please, Alora,” he breathed. “You look ridiculously desirable right now.”

“Yeah, I second that,” Theo muttered, ruining the moment between Darce and me.

This was the first time Darce had ever lost control around me. The fact that he loved another woman didn’t matter to me. There was only one thing I wanted as I looked at that longing in his eyes... his head between my legs.

“I might need a hand getting out of this catsuit later,” I purred towards Darce then winked as I walked off to open the door. I heard a sharp intake of breath as I walked away. Hopefully, that was Darce and not Theo.

The midnight release party was a big hit. We must have had well over two hundred people attend and sign up for the newsletter for future events. Darce and Theo stayed on the tills while I mingled with the customers, talking books.

“This is incredible!” Evelyn screeched. “All my college friends are coming to the next one no matter what the book is. The reading nooks are magical. I never realised how big this place was.”

“Thanks for coming and supporting me.”

Evelyn looked over at the tills and back to me. “I don’t want to alarm you, but judging by the way TheoandDarce keep watching you, I’m pretty sure you could have a threesome tonight if you wanted it.”

“Yeah, I did notice their reaction when I came out wearingthisearlier.”

“You look sexy as hell. If I was that way inclined, I’d be queuing up, too.”

When she turned back to her college friends that were waiting for her so they could leave, I noticed Danny was one of them. “Which one are you taking home tonight, then?”

“Probably Danny. We’ll try and keep it down when you get back later.”

“Thanks,” I muttered, watching her join them. Darce was getting the last few customers out the door.

“You can head off if you want, Theo. You’re on the earlier shift tomorrow,” I offered and I was cashing up the till, impressed with our takings. Malcolm would definitely let me host another one.

“No, I can wait, I don’t...”

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