Page 27 of The Chosen Two

But I don’t really want to spend time with my family. They’re giving me all sorts of weird vibes. And given my recent experiences, that’s saying something. So, I go up to my room to fold laundry and watch TV.

I’m three episodes and four baskets of laundry into my tasks when Jake walks in. He automatically closes and locks the door behind him.

“Hey, you. You disappeared.”

“Nope. I’m right here. I just figured that since you had the kids entertained, I could get some laundry done without being missed.” That probably had more of an edge than I meant it to. Or I did mean it to. Whatever. But it doesn’t seem to bother him either way as he saunters toward me.

“Well, I missed you.” He slides his hand under the collar of my shirt, pushing it and my bra strap off my shoulder, while he starts to nibble my earlobe. I might give in, except I still feel queasy about everything that could have happened in Las Vegas. So, I quickly find an excuse.

“I don’t think so. Look at all the freshly folded laundry. No room on the bed. And if you even think of knocking over these perfect stacks so help me—”

He silences me with a kiss. Then, with his mouth still pressed to mine, he whispers, “The floor doesn’t have any stacks of clean laundry.” His tone doesn’t have any question to it. He’s telling me we’re going to have sex on the floor, and that’s it. Before I have a chance to decide if I want that to be it, he lifts me up with his hands, firmly grabbing my ass, and lowers us both, so we are sitting up intertwined on the patch of floor beside the bed.

But I can’t keep going with all the doubts running through my head. All the questions and possibilities of what went on in Vegas.

“Jake?”

He doesn’t even pause kissing my neck. “Mm?”

“Did something happen that I should know about while you were away?”

He stops abruptly and leans away from me.

“What do you mean? What do you think happened?” His mouth hangs open and his eyebrows raise at the notion that I might not trust him.

“I don’t know. You’re just acting very…amorous?”

He thinks for a minute. “Amorous? And I’m not normally?”

“I mean, I always know you love me, but no. You’re definitely not normally like this.”

He stares off to the side, his whole face pensive, as he thinks about the meaning behind my every word.

“I’m sorry. Well, I’m not sorry for being more amorous, as you say, now. But I am sorry I let everyday-life get in the way of showing you how intense my passion for you still is. I’m sorry if I haven’t truly fucked you enough lately. I plan to correct that mistake…” He kisses right under my ear. “And correct that mistake…” He kisses a little lower on my neck “And correct that mistake…over and over and over…” He continues kissing lower with every word. When he gets to my collar bone, he stretches the collar of my T-shirt down and pulls one of my breasts out. “For the rest of my life.” Then he takes my nipple into his mouth, and I dissolve into a puddle of unawareness and contentment.

I can’t remember ever making love while the kids were home and awake. But the few times I get anxious, he assures me they won’t come up. I don’t know why I don’t care why, but I just don’t. I let myself be taken by this incredible man.

Over and over and over.

Chapter 12

Miranda

Whenmyalarmgoesoff Monday morning, I’m almost as sore as I was after fighting the minotaur. I’m also incredibly confused. I would think I’m hungover, except I know I didn’t drink. I don’t notice any of my new super powers, but maybe they only emerge when I need them. I wake up and go through the normal routine, and when I get to Natalie, she asks if I’m feeling better. Apparently, Jake had told them I needed to sleep off a headache while he had taken care of their dinner and got everything ready for bed.

My brain has a layer of fog over the memories from last night, but I let it go. I probably passed out after all the sex, and he didn’t want them to find me naked and drooling on the floor. Everything is par for the course at breakfast. The only notable happening is the particularly deep good-bye kiss Jake gives me on his way out the door. It actually leaves me a little weak in the knees. And steaming in my very core. (Holy shit is that cliché! What is this man doing to me?)

But I cannot dwell on my libido, because I start my training today. As soon as they are out the door, I have my first cup of coffee and go shower. Noting some intense bruises when I undress, I wonder if they’re from the minotaur, or Jake.

***

“Okay, so where do I start? Do you have a pamphlet for me, ‘So, You Just Found Out You’re the Chosen One!’” As I sit down at the shiny oak table in his library, I think I see amusement in his eyes, but I can’t tell for sure. For someone so young, he’s very serious. Obviously, he’s disciplined. More so than I ever was anyway, especially at his age. Or I might not be that funny, but I don’t think that could be it.

“Not exactly.” The tome he drops in front of me makes a thud that echoes through his mansion’s cavernous library. I have never used the word “tome” before, but this is way more than a book. I can’t guess how many golden-edged pages are between the soft black leather covers. A metallic purple and gold swirl is the only adornment on the front.

I hold my hands out, wanting to open the book but also not wanting to touch it in case it falls apart. “You just throw this thing around? How old is this?”

“Um, I think it was printed in 1997? Yup, see. There’s the date.” He had nonchalantly flipped to a page, not quite a copyright page, but still one with information of when and where this marvel was printed and assembled.

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