Page 96 of Luxe

She skips over to me, humming a silly tune under her breath, and lifts her arms around my neck. She looks like a completely different person compared to the woman I ran into at Bottle less than a week ago. Like a weight has been lifted. I wonder how, considering she'd had her car stolen and her apartment broken into in the space of a few days. But the smile on her face isn't the smile of someone dwelling on those incidents.

"I need some more clothes, for one."

"What's wrong with the ones I packed for you?"

She makes an exasperated noise. "You mean two evening dresses, a skirt that wouldn't fit on a Barbie doll, and two pairs of leggings?"

I blink. I hadn't really thought about what I was packing when I'd opened her closet and just shoved a bunch of things into the overnight bag.

"I'm failing to see the problem. That sounds like an outfit I saw in the last photo spread in Vogue. It's not my fault you're just not avant garde enough."

She runs back to the couch, then a cushion comes flying at my head and I duck, half a second too late, and my ear catches a zipper on the cushion corner.

"Ow. You're so violent. Maybe I am going to have to get Frank to protect me from you after all."

Her head tilts and she studies me for a minute. "You know, I thought that I'd gotten used to how much you talk but... I may have decided too soon."

I laugh and join her on the couch, and she settles on my lap. "Okay, so you want to go back to your apartment to grab something?"

"Yeah. But. Um… Can you…” she struggles to say what’s on her mind.

"If you're asking me to come with you, I'd save my breath. There's not a chance I'd let you go alone."

“Thank you,” she murmurs against my neck. Maybe she hasn’t been taking this as well as I thought.

"Go put something on, and I'll take you over there now."

"The evening dress or the Barbie dress?" she says as her voice is filled with giggles.

I get to my feet and help her to hers. "Something that won't be make me want to ravage you. I've missed about ten meetings since you've come into my life."

I say it with a laugh in my voice but her expression instantly sobers. "Kylian. That's not good! Don't miss any more for me."

I gently cradle the back of her head and pull her up onto her tip toes so that her mouth is a breath from mine. "I'm not doing anything I don't want to. So don't worry about anything. When I'm with you, that's exactly where I want to be, and nothing and nobody could pull for me away."

"Maybe I should push you away."

I wrap my hands in her hair and gently tug her hair back, dragging my teeth against her throat. "Try it. Just try. I dare you."

A shiver ripples over her skin, but her eyes are defiant. "I could get my friends or family to hide me."

My lips nip against her pulse. "Then you'll have to explain to them why I'm burning their house down to find you."

And when I kiss her, it’s all softness and submission. And when I kiss, it’s to brand the promises I've just made onto her lips. And I don’t stop until I know she knows I mean every word.

"Now go. Before it'll be another day until we leave my apartment."

She sighs and pulls away. "But we'll come back here after?"

"Promise."

She sings all the way to her apartment. It's off key and again, so fucking adorable, I don’t know what to do with myself. I do make a point to not play my playlist with some of my favorite arias, though; I’m not sure my ears could recover from that noise.

There aren't any parking spots out the front of her building so I drop her off and find a spot around the corner. I take the opportunity to take a quick look around. It's not a terrible area but it's definitely not The Peak. I wonder how long it took for her to get Nathan and her father to agree to let her move here.

Since my work out was so short, I take a chance to up my steps and jog up the stairs to her fifth floor apartment. She’s placed a shoe in the door to stop it locking behind her. I let a little air hiss through my teeth when I step inside. I had forgotten what a mess it was. I wonder what her plans for this place is. I peek into her bedroom and she has her back to the door, folding a pile of clothes. I step back out to the kitchen, giving her some space. It can't be easy being here. I feel violated on her behalf. It would take a stronger man than me to stay in a place, knowing that all of my things have been touched by a stranger’s hand.

Trying to return some sort of semblance of order, I try to pick up a bit. There's a cracked photo frame face down on the floor, and I remember what we did in this room just two days ago. My hand smarts remembering the way I'd slapped it across her bare ass leaving the imprint of my hand. Two chairs knocked onto their side get returned to their upright position and the pile of books stacked back on her shelf that was upended. I pick up some figurines that have fallen over and line them up along the little entertainment system where the TV sits.

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