Page 149 of The Piece You Stole

What?

“So, you know him? Rylan?” I ask, sitting up a little straighter.

He gazes back at me with a carefully blank look in his eyes.

“Have you met?” My heart thumps harder and harder at the thought.

“Not face to face,” he murmurs.

Why am I getting a feeling there’s a lot he’s leaving unsaid here?

I could push him on this, but he’s already clamming up, so I need to come at this from another angle. Maybe get him to lower his guard a little. I point my chin at his laptop. “Do you like it?”

“Helps pass the time.”

When I recall his almost unblinking focus as I watched him from the doorway, I get the impression he isn’t being entirely honest with me. This is something that matters to him—maybe even something he’s passionate about. Again, I get the sense if I were to ask him directly, he’d wink or shrug instead of telling me the truth.

I lower my gaze to his lip. “You have a chocolate mustache.”

“Do I?” he asks, with a look that tells me he’s wondering when I’m going to do something about it. “How interesting.”

“Tell me about this plan you have,” I say, fighting the urge to lick the chocolate away. If we burrow down that rabbit hole, the only question that will get answered today is what thing Kade can do in the bed behind him that will make me scream. As fun asthatsounds, that isn’t why I’m here.

“Your bribe didn’t work, angel. You’ll have better luck with Aden. Maybe even with Dariel.”

I roll my eyes because he has to be joking. Aden won’t involve me in anything that is even remotely dangerous, and Dariel… Dariel is a no-go area. For obvious reasons.

“You say that like there might be other ways to bribe you,” I hedge, watching him closely.

“And if there were.” His thumb slides over my hip. “Would you pay my price?”

He and Aden made me pass out from pleasure.Literally.That’s how intensely they made me feel, and now, gazing into Kade’s eyes, it’s easy to believe he could make me feel that way again. As warmth flows through me and my core tightens in remembered pleasure, I drape my arms around the back of his shoulders and lean a little closer.

“What kind of price?” I ask, figuring it might not be too high after all.

His eyes darken. “Well—"

“Kade, you’re not letting Saige bribe you with sex.” Aden’s voice makes me jump, and I jerk my gaze over Kade’s shoulder to see Aden strolling in with a frown creasing his brow.

And in response? Kade lifts me off his lap, turns me, and sits me down again, so I’m straddling him. If I’d missed his arousal, he jerks me closer, so he’s nestled between my thighs. I release a slow, steady breath as I remind myself not to rock against him. Or grind or do any number of the things my body is suddenly screaming at me that I want to.

Heat flickers in Kade’s gray gaze, giving it a liquid metallic glow. I might hold myself back from acting on the thoughts pouring through my mind, but he sees it. Smells it. He must know that he wouldn’t have to push very hard to convince me we might be more comfortable in his bed. “I don’t know about that. I’d say Saige—”

“Is not having sex with you for answers about Rylan.” The mattress springs squeak when Aden must throw himself onto Kade’s bed. But that’s guesswork. I don’t take my eyes off Kade to check.

His hands stroke up my back, taking my shirt up a couple of inches and exposing my lower spine to the cool air before smoothing it down again. “It wouldn’tonlybe for answers,” he says with a wink.

My sudden burst of laughter surprises me. It strikes me how…normalthis moment is. Or mostly normal. I’m straddling Kade’s thighs as he gazes at me with a smile in his eyes, relaxed, looking as if he doesn’t mind if I want to stay there. And behind him, Aden is presumably glaring at the back of Kade’s head, thinking he’s getting ready to spill secrets neither of them wants me to know.

Is this how people live?

Do they laugh and joke? Is sex fun or sweet and tender instead of a weapon to control me? Do women wake up the morning after the most incredible sex in their lives, roll over, and have sweet morning sex instead of stumbling away like a wounded animal, to have a panic attack where no one can see her fall apart?

What else did Rylan take from me? What other normal moments will I step into that will feel so strange, it’ll send me scurrying to find a dark corner where I can hide the jagged parts of me?

A hand slides around my nape, under my hair, shocking me into the present.

Kade’s smile is missing in action, but then again, so is mine. When I dart a glance over his shoulder, I don’t find Aden stretched out on his bed relaxing—if that’s what he was doing at all. He’s sitting with his back to the headboard, dressed in identical sweats to mine, his concern creasing the corners of his eyes.

---