Page 94 of The Grand Ruin: Lance & Scarlet-Part One

I nod, looking at the floor between us. The intensity of the situation, of the way it feels, it’s all a little too much. But in the best way imaginable.

My eyes shift back up, and still, he’s watching me.

I smile, then lean in and kiss him, my lips coaxing his through the groan that leaves him.

“Take me to bed,” I tell him, sliding my hands across his short beard as I pull his mouth closer.

He works his face free from my clutches, his eyes dark and filled with the same hunger I feel. “Not tonight. You’ve been drinking.”

I edge him back to me, shaking my head. “I’m fine.”

A sigh escapes him as he kisses me, and I can feel him caving. “Not tonight.”

“Lance.”

He smiles against my mouth, enjoying my pleas. “Yes, my sunshine.”

I pull back, our mouths only a breath apart. “Yoursunshine?”

His eyes close in reverence as his head knocks back against the wall in defeat. “Make it make sense.”

My lip twitches, but I suppress it. He doesn’t know what to feel, and I’m not about to make it any harder on him. “You’ll figure it out.”

I smooth my thumb over his cheek, and his eyes open as he leans into the touch.

“You like it when women do that. Little”—I smooth my thumb around his jaw and over his lips—“intimate”—his eyes close again. “Touches.”

Is physical touch Lance Sullivan’s love language? I’d never have thought.

“Woman. Only you. I don’t want anyone else’s hands on my body but yours, Scarlet.”

My belly bottoms out, and a flush of heat warms me to my fingertips. “Then let me put my hands on your body.”

I slide across his lap, seating myself forward until I’m flush with his chest. I work my fingers up the back of his neck and into his hair.

He groans in appreciation, his palms snaking under my dress to rest on my spread thighs. “I should leave.”

I can’t help my smile.

“Don’t do that,” he warns.

I roll my lips and keep quiet.

“Are you tired?” he asks, eyes dropping to my mouth.

I shake my head. “I was… but then I found you.”

A light chuckle vibrates off his chest, and then he lifts me. I wrap my legs around his waist as I cling to his neck. I don’t have to tell him where to take me. The second he took off toward the west wing, I knew he was taking me to my bedroom.

My eyes roam his handsome face as we walk, the moonlight flooding in through the glass panes, the only sliver of light on this side of the house.

But I don’t feel as afraid in his arms.

He makes me feel like maybe I could survive in the dark.

“Are you hungry?” he asks, pushing open my bedroom door. “What did you eat today?”

I keep my eyes on him, taking him in as he carries me with ease into my room. I could easily slip my feet to the ground and stand on my own, but the way his hands grip me at the tops of my thighs tells me that I wouldn’t be allowed down even if I tried. “I ate when I went out with the girls. Three courses.”

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