Page 121 of Show Me How
I laugh loudly, freely. “What time is it?”
“Early enough we don’t need to go downstairs yet,” he nearly growls against my mouth. “Let me keep you here for a bit longer.”
I splay a hand on his bare back and run it up the taut muscles along his spine. “You’re more possessive than I expected you to be.”
“Not possessive,” he denies with a nip at my lip. Then, his tongue glides across the wounded skin. “Just pathetically clingy.”
“That’s no better.”
Lowering his hips, he grinds down on me, and I immediately lose the ability to tease him further. The blankets are pooled beneath him, keeping us from getting closer. He doesn’t seem to mind, though. His forehead presses to mine, his long lashes lowering as he kisses me again.
I part my lips against his, letting his tongue slip between them. He rolls his lower body again, dragging a moan up from the bottom of my chest. I wiggle beneath the blankets, wanting them off but remaining pinned in place.
He grins into the kiss, letting me know that he knows exactly what I’m thinking and still refuses to give it to me. It’s as aggravating as it is enticing. With Shade, I want to prove myself as badly as I want to please him, and that’s a heady combination.
Suddenly, I’m back in the studio, sitting on his lap as he bucks up into me, leaving an imprint deep inside that I’m not sure will ever go away. I fall into his kiss, sinking into the sheets and feeling every flex of his muscles and shift of his hips like it could be the last time. My stomach burns with dread as I realize that it’s a real possibility.
“Millie,” he rasps, pulling back just enough to stare down at me. “Where did you go?”
The nightstand starts to rattle as a phone buzzes. I try to look whose it is when he pinches my chin and tugs it forward, not allowing me to take my eyes off him.
“Answer me.”
I nip at my cheek once. “Would you let me tattoo you again?”
The question comes out of nowhere. It’s not at all what I’m thinking, but I guess it works well enough to distract him from trying to dig into my mind any further.
“Any day, princess. Wanted to talk to you about that, actually. I just didn’t expect to do it right now.”
My pulse quickens. “Really?”
“If I offered you an apprenticeship, would you accept?”
“Like, with you?” I ask, almost stumbling over the words.
His laugh is rough against my lips. “Yeah, with me.”
“At the studio?”
“Millie,” he says tightly, like he’s taking everything in him to keep it together. “Yes, here. At Into The Shade, with me,Shade.Unless you’d prefer Bryce. But in that case, I would absolutely get possessive.”
The buzzing continues on the nightstand, stopping only briefly before starting up again. I watch as Shade’s eyes tighten at the corners, his mouth curling into a scowl.
“You should answer that,” I ramble.
He looks at me for a moment longer, unspoken words clear in the intensity of that stare, before he rolls over to grab the phone. His voice is strangled when he answers the call.
“What?”
The voice coming through the speaker sounds like Bryce, but I can’t make out the words she’s saying. From Shade’s bristling posture, it isn’t anything good.
“Who?” he snaps, already getting out of bed. “Tell them to wait outside. They’re not allowed through the door.”
Without looking back at me, he goes to the dresser across the room and starts opening drawers and pulling clothes out. A pair of black jeans goes on first, then a tank top cut high on his shoulders. He doesn’t reach for socks, and I sit up on the bed when he freezes, casting me a tense look.
“Yeah, I’m coming down now.”
His phone flies toward the bed the moment he hangs up, and I hold my breath, waiting for him to speak. There’s a raw sensation in my gut, like a premonition or something.
