Page 30 of Unhinged Cravings
“I don’t skip.”
“We’ll work on that,” she said, giving me a confident smile. “I like to play hopscotch sometimes, too. There’s a board I spray painted in the alley behind the bar. We go out and play when we’re on break.”
There were too many things in that statement for me to take in at once. The idea of her playing kids' games on her break and going into a back alley at night were two. But how she so confidently stated we would work on something together, like this wasn’t some temporary situation, like there was a future that extended past this was one I fixated on. It left a strange sensation in my steel heart.
Rubbing my chest, I decided not to tackle any part of her admission. “I see Jill bought you some clothes.”
Her smile grew, and it seemed to throw a light all the way into the depths of my rotted soul. “She’s great.” She pulled a drawer open and took out what looked distinctly like the T-shirt I had given her before bumping it closed with her hip. “Did you know she still designs clothes? She’s going to bring me some pieces to see.”
She had walked past me and stopped at the door, peeking back at me. I was still trying to determine why she was bringing my T-shirt with her and why she made it sound like she and my housekeeper were best friends.
“Do you do this a lot?” I asked.
“What?”
I scratched my head. “Make friends?”
Her head went back in a beautiful arc as she laughed. “Yes. Another thing you should try.” She gestured to the door with her neck. “Are you coming, or are we sleeping here tonight?”
Gaping was not something I did, but damn if it wasn’t becoming a habit with Ava. “You’re assuming I’m here to take you to my room?”
She batted her lashes, her mouth curving into a devious grin that I wanted to devour. “Am I wrong, Emerson?”
“Go,” I grumbled, hating how she worked me into a frenzy that I couldn’t ignore.
She skipped out the door, and I shook my head. I heard Breaker snicker. “Take the rest of the night off,” I told him beforecalling to Ava. “Is this skipping thing something normal for you?”
“Nah,” she said, twisting around and walking backwards. “It’s probably from being off my meds for so many days.”
“Great,” I said as I pondered which medicine it was. Catching up with her, I caught her elbow and dragged her toward the kitchen. “Come on. I could use a drink.”
She tugged her arm from my hold and stopped me. Standing on her tiptoes, she pulled my head down and for a second my heart slammed against my chest, thinking she was going to kiss me. She sniffed and said, “Another drink?”
“It’s been a long day,” I snapped.
With a laugh, she replied, “At least you weren’t locked in a room all day.”
I took her by the shoulders and studied her. Large golden-brown eyes met mine as the air thinned between us. Her lips parted and that urge to kiss her returned. I swallowed back the temptation.
“What would you do if I let you out of your room more?”
A flash of excitement in the gold. “I would sit on the deck all day and watch the waves. Maybe lay out on the beach, make sandcastles, curl up on this big couch and read a book.”
My adoration grew, and I suddenly wanted to be there with her, carrying her out into the waves, smoothing my hand over her stomach and feeling the heat of the sun on her skin, packing the sand to perfect the castle walls. All things I had never done. I hadn’t been in the water since my younger days, work taking up any time I had to live my life like she lived hers—with wide eyes and excitement, with fervor.
“Come on,” I said, gently taking her elbow. She shifted the book, and I took it from her along with the shirt, placing them on the couch. I went to take her elbow again but a step ahead of her, my hand slipped so that it caught her hand instead of her elbow. I froze, my sight going to our handsbefore it flickered to her face. She continued to stare at our hands, and I could see her wrestling with what it signified, the simple slip of limbs that meant so much more considering who we were to each other. Prisoner and captor. Innocent and killer. Sunshine and darkness. Opposites in every way, yet there was something there that I was having a difficult time denying and after years of burying myself in a dynasty that was crumbling and denying myself the pleasure of attachment, I didn’t think I wanted to ignore this.
Her fingers intertwined with mine, a slight smile lifting the worry in her features before her eyes met mine.
“A drink?”
I nodded, unable to make my mouth function. When I’d transformed from lethal killer to a man who couldn’t form words, I wasn’t certain, but it wasn’t a good sign.
“I suppose a glass of wine will do. Maybe a snack? That dinner Breaker gave me wasn’t up to par with what I expect from this luxury hotel.” And just like that, she was pulling me from my spot in the room out to the deck, sliding the doors open easily, as if she had lived here her entire life.
“Not up to par? It was pasta Bolognese from a restaurant in town.”
“Eh, not as good as the eggs and toast.” She sat with a flourish and tucked her legs under her.
