Page 38 of Judgment Day

“You don’t have to miss any of those things. You’re always welcome at my home, Lyric.” She never said she missedme. Then again, I never gave her anything to miss.

“Thank you, but I don’t think that will go over well with everyone.” She shot a glance at Lincoln, quick, careful, as to not let him know we were talking about him.

“It’s okay to be selfish sometimes, sweet girl.” I reached down and discreetly grabbed her hand. My thumb brushed across the pulse point on her wrist, and I wondered what it would feel like to wrap my fingers around it and pin her arms above her head.Why the fuck was I thinking these things?I’d let her go. She didn’t belong to me. She never did.

I added, “Necessary, even.” I ran my thumb across her palm. It was an innocent gesture, subtle, just skin against skin. But it heated my blood with the fierceness of a dragon’s fire.

Her pupils dilated. That delicate little pulse point at the bottom of her throat thrummed with excited energy. Her lips parted. Every breath she took pushed her tits forward.

This was wrong. It was every sin I’d spent four years afraid to commit. Everything had changed for me, but nothing had changed for her. Or maybe nothing had changed for me. I’d saved her—four times, given her pieces of her life back when she’d believed they were lost forever, tucked her in when I’d found her sleeping, found her father and brought him to her, spent night after night reading to her while she bathed. Okay, the last one was for me. The night I’d found her in the tub, under the water, holding her breath, my heart stopped. After that, I had to stay with her. My soul needed it as much as hers.

Maybe Sadie was right. Maybe I’d always chosen Lyric.

But Lyric didn’t choose me.

She was his.

I dropped her hand.

“Anniston asked me to be a bridesmaid.” She swallowed, and I watched her throat move. All I could think about was how easily my hand would wrap around it, how it would look arched in an offering to my mouth.

Stop it, Grey. Right the fuck now.

I couldn’t.

I kept my eyes locked on hers. “That’s fantastic.”

Her gaze flicked across my chest, to my hands, and then the place where my cock pressed hard and thick against my pants.

The satin dress did nothing to hide the hard peaks of her nipples.

She glanced down at her hands as she nervously picked at her fingernails. “And I’m sure you’ll be a groomsman.”

We were both denying it, this thing—this static, this pulse humming between us. It was probably for the best. This was wrong. It always had been.

I watched her through a thin veil of self-control. Years of discipline were the only thing keeping me from leaning in and telling her that I made a mistake when I let her go, from taking those hands, flattening one on my cock and saying,look what you do to me.

I nodded, answering her question/not question. “Yes.”

“Linc is too.” Her eyes were still pinned to mine, even though she was talking about him. “Caspian won’t be able to for obvious reasons.” She was rambling. “But Chandler will have—”

Coincidentally, Leo chose that moment to walk up. “I wouldn’t eat the smoked salmon. Pretty sure thethreein your little party of three is over there slipping poison in it.” He nodded to Lincoln, who cracked his neck and zeroed his green eyes in on us.

“Leo,” Lyric finished her sentence.

I cut my eyes to him as I blinked. “Did you need something?”

“Just coming to see if you wanted to make it a table of four.” He took a bite of shortbread.

“That’s enough,” I said, a dangerous threat lacing every syllable.

His eyes went wide as he finished chewing. “What? God gave her three holes for a reason.” He pointed to me and mouthed,One, then Lincoln and mouthed,Two, then himself and mouthed,Three.

My blood heated. “I said shut the fuck up.”

He held up both hands in surrender.

“I should go,” Lyric said, her voice not much louder than a whisper.