Page 86 of V for Vindictive

Jo had a leg crossed over, wearing a pair of casual jeans and a t-shirt that had “Try Me” written across her chest. Her caramel-brown hair was drawn up into a messy bun on top of her head, and I almost didn’t recognize her. The boots she wore were the only thing even remotely similar to the woman I met three days ago. She looked up from the book in her lap, and the way her lips slid up the second our eyes met made my stomach flip-flop.

What the hell is wrong with you, V? Are you really this thirsty?

“Hey there,” she greeted, setting her book aside.

I think I said something, but my words probably sounded like gibberish because her smile only grew with my reply. It was a tongue-tied ridiculousness even I couldn’t excuse. The dangerous vixen stood and peered over at the kitchen where Cassius leaned against a cabinet, grumbling about how he didn’t like over-easy eggs to Sloan, who had somehow been wrangled into cooking for him.

The ice-blue eyes that appeared in so many dreams I’d lost count found their way over to me, and I waved awkwardly when the Brit’s gaze lit up and his mouth tilted into a breathtaking smile. “Hungry?” Sloan asked, turning around in an apron covered in frills.

No lie, he made it work. I didn’t know how, I didn’t know why, but it was a perfect look on the gorgeous Hunter. Pretty sure the beautiful bastard could pull off a trash bag at this rate.

“Uh, yeah. Starving,” I responded slowly.

Cash was in another five-thousand-dollar ensemble when he turned to look at me, cat eyes taking in my lackluster outfit with a disappointed sigh. “I’m taking you shopping. Today. This is an insult to women everywhere. Also, hope you like runny eggs because I think that’s all this brute knows how to make.”

Jo scoffed to herself before leaning into view. “How do you feel?”

It only occurred to me when she said something that I’d passed out in Sloan’s arms after defeating an enemy who’d survived the strongest Hunters in existence.

“Better,” was my incredibly suave reply, and Jo’s laughing eyes told me she also thought it needed work. So, I went on, “You were cool.”

Wow, V. You’re really laying the wit on thick today.

The woman’s hand sparkled with purple light before she brushed hair from my eyes and laid her heated palm over my cheek. The subtle caress of her power always hit me right in the hips, and I couldn’t stop the soft moan leaving my throat if I tried. Her obsidian eyes beamed amber for a breath, a fleeting second where stars lived in her gorgeous gaze, before she withdrew her hand.

“You did good back there. We’ll talk. But for now, I think you deserve a few days of telling the world to get fucked.” Jo winked, the sultry smile signature only to her back before she grabbed Cash by the ear and dragged the squealing Dark Fae out the front door.

I almost didn’t understand what was happening until they were gone and it was just Sloan and I left in the home.

The Brit removed the sauté pan from the stovetop and placed some eggs and toast on a plate, then offered it to me with another one of his heart-stealing smiles. Taking the steaming plate, I slowly moved over to the table and watched the other Hunter follow. He took a seat directly across from me, fingering through dark hair before it fell around his eyes in a I-fuck-like-a-devil sort of way—and I’d know better than anyone that he did.

Christ, I’m so into this dude.

“We didn’t really get much of a chance to chat since I came back,” he started as I tried not to shove food into my mouth. Hunger was a crazy sort of thing when you’d been comatose for days.

But my fork paused, and I lifted my eyes to his. “Sorry about that.”

His all-bad grin made my legs quiver under the table for reasons I’d rather not acknowledge, painfully familiar with his lusty stare and not prepared to feel it when I’d only just been forced to have a random-ass sex talk with Grams.

Talk about a weird fucking morning.

“I adore you,” came his blunt proclamation, and my fork dropped to the plate with a clatter. “I want to know you. I want to be the one you kiss and share moments with. I want to be the one you steal glances at; who you runto when you need comfort. I want to be a person you come to love, and I will do whatever necessary to be by your side.”

Love?

His stare never wavered. The powerful look of him, shoulders back, chest clenched under a thin t-shirt, spoke volumes of how strongly he felt about everything he said to me.

“Phillip and I are mates, and that won’t change, but I’m not convinced he’s the right person for you. He can’t give you everything you need, love. He’ll try, but he’ll come up short. I realize the two of you have only just made things official—”

I coughed after inhaling a wallop of egg, and Sloan stopped talking to see if I was okay. “Wait,” I said, voice strained from choking on eggs—and life, really, “who told you that?”

“He made it abundantly clear when we came here you were his.” Sloan’s jaw clenched. With a stolen look at the door, the Brit stood up from his seat and knelt down in front of me, bringing my hands into his. “You deserve a chance to find out what it is you want, and who. I don’t expect you to decide today, or anytime soon. I only ask that you consider me more than you did before.”

Too shocked to speak, I stared at him.

But he got to his feet and drew me up from my seat with a beckoning smirk. His hands took the shape of my face, blue eyes searching for any sign that I wasn’t okay with it. But I’d never be able to say no to Sloan, not even when it was the shittiest thing I could do.

The side of his lip lifted, my heart thumping once before his mouth came down on mine and he kissed me like he’d spent years dreaming of it. Like my mouth was the breath in his lungs after nearly drowning. And my braincouldn’t cope. It shut down.Traitor.Only my mouth and hands knew what they were doing.

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