Series: Like Us Series by Krista Ritchie
Total pages in book: 241
Estimated words: 236417 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1182(@200wpm)___ 946(@250wpm)___ 788(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 236417 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1182(@200wpm)___ 946(@250wpm)___ 788(@300wpm)
She sees me thumb the elastic band of my pants. “I can wait for you downstairs…”
“In a hurry?” I drop the drawstring bottoms. Buck-naked and unashamed as I step into boxer-briefs, I smile over at Luna. Her lips have parted, her cheeks rosy, and there is no other way to describe how she’s staring other than she’s soaking in my full existence. Not just my cock or tattoos, but the casualness in which I’m getting dressed.
“Not anymore,” she mutters. “You’re a peculiar person, you know.”
“I don’t know,” I enunciate the words, sounding clearer, and I button my jeans. “Tell me about it.”
That’s when she pinches the green kyber crystal around her neck, the necklace I gifted her this morning. I’m still wearing a blue one, the chain colder against my skin. “I thought I’d come in here and need to convince you to sneak out with me,” she admits. “Or in the very least, I’d have to convince you to let me go without my bodyguards. Wait—we aren’t calling them, are we?”
I should most definitely text Frog and Quinn—maybe have them secretly tracking our whereabouts. But that’d entail lying to Luna, and I’m not doing that. I could be upfront about how she needs them, but in this moment, I just want her to need me.
I can take care of her.
It’s just one night.
No one needs to know.
“Wasn’t planning on it,” I tell her, pulling the Scorpions tee over my head.
“Okay, good,” she nods, more to herself, then releases her hold of the kyber crystal. “I guess I just appreciate how easy this was. So…thanks.”
“No need to thank me.” I shove my wallet in my pocket, coming closer to her. “I want it as much as you do.”
Luna clings harder to my gaze, and I inhale a lungful of the pungent honeysuckle scent wafting off her. It whirls toxically around me, and we seriously need to go or else I’m gonna shove her against the wall, the mattress, some surface where I can feel her warmth against me.
“You driving?” I ask, my throat hoarse with pent-up arousal, but I clear it.
She tucks a piece of hair behind her ear, still flushed. “Um…actually, I wasn’t sure.” She crinkles her nose. “I don’t have a car here, and if I take my parents’, they’ll hear the garage. So that leaves us with a rideshare?”
Safety-wise, catching an Uber is a decent plan, but we wouldn’t be able to talk much in the car. Sue me for wanting more alone-time with her. “I have an idea.” I motion to the hall. “Go out the front door.”
Quietly, we exit the guest room and tiptoe down the stairs and out the front entrance. As soon as the December cold hits us, Luna yanks the sweatshirt over her head. “You need a jacket?” she whispers.
It’s chilly, but I’ll survive. “The cold doesn’t bother me. This way.” I jerk my head to the driveway, and when we reach the curb, I let her know we’re walking to the two mansions owned by Triple Shield, only one street away in the neighborhood. “I have keys to a security vehicle.”
“Are you allowed to take it even if I’m not your client?” Luna wonders. It’s not that she’s not my client. It’s that she pays Kitsuwon Securities for security, not Triple Shield, so my new boss won’t like me using Epsilon resources for her. If I were still Omega, there’d be no issue.
“Not really, but I won’t tell if you don’t.”
“Your secrets are always safe with me,” she says softly. “But maybe too well since I’ve forgotten three years of them.”
“Nah, that just makes you the best secret-keeper around.” I slide my arm around her thin shoulders, hugging her closer, and Luna leans her weight into my side while we walk. Feels natural, being with her in the darkness and quiet of the night.
I’ve already signed my contract, so I’m officially Epsilon today, which is why I’ve been given this shiny set of car keys. But I’ve been a bodyguard long enough to know SFE is anal about the Range Rovers. And by SFE, I mean O’Malley.
A strange dark piece of me is delighting in this pea-sized payback. Where I’m taking his baby for a joyride with my…with Luna.
Anyway, fuck him.
The Range Rover is parked on the curb, and once we’re inside the SUV, I crank up the heaters to warm Luna and the cold black leather interior, then I pop up the GPS on the nav screen. “Where we headed?” I ask.
She digs out her phone. “I was thinking this place. I’ve never been, but it looks interesting.” She flashes me her screen—a Yelp review of a local dive bar.
Thirsty Goose.
I go still, unblinking for a stifling second.
“What?” She frowns, then rereads the reviews. “Is it a shitty place or something? There weren’t that many pictures.”