He startles when he sees me standing directly next to the door and I put my free hand over his mouth to quiet him. His eyes are wide and I push him into my bedroom so we can talk in peace.
“Jesus, you scared the shit out of me. I thought you’d all be asleep.”
“Sorry,” I comment as I close the door behind us, not wanting our voices to carry. “They passed out, but for some reason I’m wired. I think I got an adrenaline rush from their surprise visit. I feel like I could run a marathon right now.”
Arden deadpans. “A marathon?”
“Okay, maybe more like a 5k but still.”
“I’ve got a better way to expel all this energy,” he says, stalking toward me like a lion hunting its prey.
Now it’s my turn to widen my eyes. “Arden Davis. I cannot have sex with you while your sister is in the next room!”
“Why not?” He continues walking forward until he’s got me boxed up against the door. His palms rest on either side of my head and he looks down at me like he wants to devour me on the spot. God, I want him to. But this is beyond, even for me. “It’s not like it would be the first time.”
“That was different and you know it,” I reply, slightly shocked. We’ve never even mentioned what happened between us last year. For all I knew, he had forgotten about it entirely.I guess not.
Arden leans down and places gentle kisses to my neck. I hold back my moan but tilt my head to give him more access. “Doesn’t seem like you’re really all that concerned, brat.” I can feel the whisper of a smile as he kisses me. “But I’ll respect your wishes.” His tongue travels up my jaw to my lips. “If you really want me to.”
He kisses me lightly. “All you have to do is tell me to stop.” He kisses me again, not as lightly. Not lightly at all. His tongue teases mine and I open to let him all the way in. “Brat,” he warns, moving his arms to grip my hips tightly. “Tell me to stop.”
Yeah, tell him to stop.The devil grins at me. Well, since I’m already going to hell…
I use both my hands to grab his neck and pull his face to mine. “If you stop, I’ll scream and that’ll ruin all the fun.” I bite his lower lip between my teeth and pull. “So, you better shut me up.”
Arden’s grin is breathtaking as he sweeps me into the air with one arm around my waist. He palms my face with the other and pushes our foreheads together. “Baby, I’ll silence you just this once but next time, you better be twice as loud for me, agreed?”
I’m nodding and he’s kissing me and we’re on my bed and our clothes are gone and I’m gone and he’s gone and there’s nothing left but whispered passion and heated stares. We spiral into each other and I can’t find where I end and he begins. We explode, gripping each other tightly instead of loudly and together we collapse, completely spent. I close my eyes, not worrying about the morning but entirely pleased with the events of tonight.
Chapter Thirty-One
Arden
There’snowhereelseI’drather be tonight than sleeping in Danika’s bed with her curled up against me, but she doesn’t want to do sleepovers and I need to respect that. It doesn’t stop me from holding her for a while, though, content to just lay here while she sleeps.
With a kiss to her forehead, I gently pull my arm out from under her back and she rolls to her side but doesn’t wake up. Tiptoeing out of the room, I gaze at her sleeping form one last time before closing the door and turning around. Margot’s cold hard stare hits me right in the face.
“What is with you women scaring the crap out of me?”
Margot puts a finger to her mouth and gestures toward the door of the apartment. I follow her, noticing she’s already got her jacket and shoes on and I quickly put on my mine as we head outside. The dawn is breaking and I don’t think I realized just how long I laid next to Danika. I didn’t sleep a wink but for some reason I’m not tired at all. It’s a good thing I didn’t pick up the extra shift today though, so I can get a nap in when everyone leaves.
“I take it she told you everything?” I ask as Margot and I start walking. I’m not entirely sure where we’re going but it is nice to just wander and have this alone time with my sister. It’s been too long.
She nods. “Yeah, she told me. I know all about it fromherperspective, now I want to hear from you. How are you doing with all this? I know how you’ve always felt about her.”
Narrowing my eyes, I glance toward her. “What do you mean,always felt?”
Margot does her signature eye roll and I want to squeeze her. I’ve really missed my little sister. “Please don’t insult my intelligence. You’ve liked her since we were kids. Anyone with eyes could see you were obsessed with her.”
“Obsessed is a strong word.”
“You were always at her side, defending her or taking her places. Bringing her lunch when she forgot or water to her soccer practices.”
“I did that for you, too.”
“Hardly. And only because you had to. You didn’thaveto do anything when it came to Danika, you did it because you wanted to.”
We keep walking and I realize that Margot has led us right to the Cafe Royale. She’s always dying for a caffeine fix, I should’ve realized.I can grab a coffee for Dani while we’re here.Damn. Maybe I am obsessed.