Page 30 of Silent Betrayal

“Meaning they’re double dipping! Holy shit, you figured it out! I just have to track down the account it’s going into, and we’ve got our thief!” I stare at her in amazement. “Princess, you’re amazing!”

I can’t stop myself from leaning down and pressing my lips to hers. She hesitates for only a moment before she relaxes into me. I cup her jaw as my tongue encourages her to open for me. She obeys my unspoken request beautifully, making me moan against her.

I’ve never felt such a connection kissing someone before. There is something about Mina that is all-encompassing, making me want to push her onto her back and take her right now.

Knowing I need to cool things down, I slowly pull back before placing one last kiss on her lips, then the tip of her nose.

“You really are amazing, you know that, right?” I ask as I push her hair back behind her ear.

I kiss the top of her head, grinning like a fool.

“You would have figured it out eventually,” she says, her voice sounding like she’s out of breath. It’s sexy as hell.

“Sure, but it might have taken me a week.”

“Really?” she asks, her smile growing as I nod.

“Yeah, honestly, I would have been working on it for days, for sure.”

We share a warm smile, and she asks, “does that mean you have more free time to spend with me now?”

I close the laptop and move it to the other side of the mattress. “Why? You want to spend more time with me, Princess?” My eyes roam up and down her body. We aren’t supposed to touch her until she’s fully healed, but she’s so tempting.

“Of course. I love spending time with you.” She reaches out and squeezes my hand.

I start to lean toward her, but something stops me. We haven’t even spoken to her about what our intentions are with her, or our involvement in the murder case yet. I can’t take this further right now.

Instead, I grab my laptop and stand up quickly. “Alright, well, I think this discovery earns us a snack break and a movie. What would you like? Popcorn?”

She lets out a small breath, her smile faint as she nods.

I all but rush out of the room to get our snacks. We’ve been doing that a lot lately—keeping our distance. Since she came home, I’ve only given her a few pecks on the head or a squeeze on the shoulder. That was the first time I’ve truly kissed her. I know it’s confusing her, and honestly, it’s starting to get to me, too.

After how we acted at the hospital, I thought maybe we were ready to take a step forward. Max even called her his girlfriend. But now? None of us have brought it up again, and I can see her wondering what it all means.

I know what her mother did to her—what she said. She told her she was unworthy of love, that she had a demon inside her, that she was worthless. And I can see the fear in Mina’s eyes sometimes, wondering if those words are true.

But they’re not. And we will do everything in our power to convince her of that. She doesn’t know it yet, but we’re not done with her—not by a long shot. I just hope she won’t give up on us before we can show her what she means to us.

Chapter thirteen

Iknow the moment the twins get home from school. Doors bang, and loud voices echo all the way up to my room.

“Honey, we’re home!” Max calls out, followed by quick footsteps that don’t stop until the twins are standing in my doorway, greeting me with matching smiles.

“There you are! Did you miss me, Sweetheart?” Max asks as he climbs onto my bed beside me, pulling me into one of those side hugs with a kiss to my temple.

“Always,” I reply with a smile as Jasper climbs in on my other side.

“Hi, Angel, did you have a good day?”

“Yeah, I helped Ben with one of his cases,” I say proudly.

“Oh?” Jasper asks, his surprised eyes jumping up to meet Max’s over my head before he looks back down at me and lets his expression relax. Is he surprised I could help him? “That’s good, we missed you at school today,” he says before pressing a kiss to my temple.

I internally groan, wishing they’d kiss me for real, like they did two days ago. I don’t know why they keep holding back, but I have a feeling it’s something to do with the fact that there are two of them and one of me. Well, there are actually seven of them if I am beinga hundred percent honest with myself. Just because I haven’t kissed all of them, doesn’t mean I don’t want to.

And therein lies my problem. I don’t know how to choose between any of them. I hoped that by living with them, and getting to know them better, it would become obvious if one of them was interested in me as more than a friend. The problem is, I’m getting the tingles from all seven of my housemates. I could imagine myself being with any one of them, each of them is so different and gives me something I didn’t know I needed.

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