Page 51 of Lovers in Lockdown

And that will be the last I ever see of Honey.

Honey blinks up at me and smiles sleepily, the look of pure sunshine on her face banishing the thoughts that have been filling my heart with dread.

‘Good morning,’ she yawns, stretching her arms above her head.

‘Morning,’ I sweep her up in a kiss, something I’ve been waiting to do since the second I opened my eyes. Who gives a shit about morning breath anyway? ‘How are you feeling?’

‘Sore,’ she grins and I fight the smile of pride that wants to break out across my face, ultimately failing. Cause, who am I kidding, I rocked my girl’s world last night and you bet I’m fucking proud of it.

‘Reckon you can walk?’ I wiggle my eyebrows at her like the mature twenty-seven-year-old man that I am.

She sits up beside me and punches me playfully on the arm. ‘I’m sure I’ll be just fine. And anyway, it’s not like we’ve got anything to do today so I could just spend the day in bed.’

‘Is that an invitation?’ I’m smiling as I lay her down and pepper kisses over her naked breasts, and not just because she’s moaning even before I’ve put my lips on her. No, it’s because she pushes me away and tells me to bugger off. Yeah, that’s right, Honey rejecting my advances has me grinning ear to ear like a prize idiot.

What a wonderful thing it is to have Honey Matthews batting me away because I fucked her so good last night that her pussy is too sore to go another round. And honestly, the fact that she doesn’t take bullshit from anyone, even me, is a turn on of epic proportions.

Because no woman before has had the effect on me that she does. She knows her mind, knows what she wants and isn’t afraid to ask for it, she proved that last night, and the truth is that there is no other woman on the Earth that I would rather have me by the balls.

‘You’re insatiable,’ she grins. ‘Maybe you should see someone about that. Rehab might help cure your addiction.’

Oh, here we go. It’s been a couple of weeks since I’ve had a diagnosis from Dr Honey.

I cup her cheek and brush a kiss across her lips. ‘I’m not addicted to sex, you idiot.’

She scowls. ‘What? Don’t call me -’

‘Will you let me finish?’

Goddamn, this woman and her short fuse will be the death of me. Reluctantly, she nods.

‘I’m not addicted to sex,’ I pull back so that she can see the truth in my eyes, ‘ I’m addicted to you.’

The warmest of smiles takes over her face and she peers shyly at me beneath her long lashes. ‘Oh,’ she whispers.

‘Yeah. Oh.’

I swing my legs out of bed, about to get up to make us both a cup of coffee and some breakfast, when Honey unleashes a shriek that shakes me to my very core. There’s no mistaking the look of sheer horror on her face as she stares at something behind me with panic-stricken eyes. Her skin is blanched, almost green, and I can see the tremble in her hands even from across the bed.

‘Noah,’ her voice shakes, ‘whatever you do, do not look behind you’

‘What?’ Instinctively, I begin to turn around.

‘Do not look behind you.’ Her voice is shrill, sharp, ear-splitting.

My adrenaline spikes, all the hairs on my body standing on end.Holy fuck,Is there an intruder? Has someone come to kill us?

Oh my God, is this going to be like in a sci-fi movie where I make eye contact with whatever’s behind me and turn to stone? I always thought that those movies had to be based on real life. No one has an imagination that good. And there’s no smoke without fire, right?

Let’s calm down for a sec. Honey’s looking at whatever is behind me and is still very much alive. If she hasn’t turned to stone by now, then I can probably defer that Medusa herself isn’t standing on the other side of the bedroom.

But what is?

Ignoring Honey’s pleas to shut my eyes and leave the room immediately, I bite the bullet and turn around to see whatever it is that has her all weird and shaky.

I follow her eye line to the corner of the bedroom, where, beside the chest of drawers, is my favourite painting ever created, the magnificent, glorious, worthy-of-hanging-in-the-Louvre nude portrait of yours truly, proudly displayed for all to see.

There’s no hope in hiding the look of pure elation that is smacked onto my face right now.

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