So, she watched from afar, the interactions that didn’t seem so by chance going down across the room.
The low voice in which Carlo spoke to her brother with their heads tipped together, as if giving instruction as Darius nodded along.
A command of the room.
A deal she realized as there was the shaking of hands.
The dirty kind, she realized just as fast, or maybe she’d just caught on to what she already knew.
The way Darius all of a sudden had money.
The way he moved.
The secrets he kept.
Salem blinked and jerked her attention away, realizing she was staring when Carlo leaned back against the wall with his hands stuffed in the pockets of his dress slacks and stared right back.
She peeked again.
His smile was a challenge.
Heat slithered over her flesh. Salem felt like she couldn’t breathe.
She tapped Talia’s arm. “I’m going to go get some fresh air.”
Talia frowned. “Do you want me to go with you?”
“No, it’s fine. I’ll be out back.”
She didn’t want to be a downer more than she’d already been.
She stood from the couch and worked her way over people’s legs and bodies, angling through the house, pushing through the throng. She heaved out in relief when she made it through the sliding door at the back and onto the patio.
There were just as many people out there, but they were spread out, this crowd not quite shoulder to shoulder the way it was in the house. The volume of the music from inside cut in half.
She crossed the porch and took the two steps down onto the lawn, and she found a close to secluded spot under a tree. She crossed her arms over her chest, contemplated, then decided she’d send Talia a text and leave.
Except the voice whispered over her from behind, “Pupa.” It was almost a tsk as his lips scraped across the back of her neck. “I think it’s time, don’t you?”
She slowly turned, confusion in the knit of her brow as Carlo smiled at her.
Half in affection.
Half condescending.
Her heart hammered. Attraction and fear. “For what?” she managed.
He ran his knuckles along her jaw, cocked his head. “For you to realize you’re mine.”
EIGHTEEN
JUD
Monday morning, I pushed through the door that led from the shop into the lobby.
There was nothing I could do but heave out a stone of relief when I saw Salem sitting behind the reception desk.
So what if I’d been all fucked up over the thought of her not returning this morning.
I’d spent yesterday worrying over what’d gone down between us Saturday night.
The way it’d gotten intense and fast.
Hands and mouths and fuckin’ bleeding hearts.
Way the two of us had seemed to cut ourselves wide open.
The confessions I’d made, and the way she’d looked at me like she’d hold part of them if I’d let her.
Like she might see me different.
I scrubbed a palm over my face like it could give me some clarity. Make me remember what I was supposed to be living for, where my loyalty lay, when the only thing I could do right then was edge closer to the girl who was steadily stealing every commitment I’d made.
It was that realization that affirmed I needed to put about fifteen-thousand miles between us, but nah, I treaded toward the desk. “Morning, darlin’。”
She was already looking up before I spoke, like she’d gotten hooked by that flashfire of energy, too. Her own relief at seeing me washed through her expression, though those thunderbolt eyes were filled with caution.
This morning, her black hair was this perfect structured mess piled on her head, her lips glossed, her shirt stretched just right over those tits I was really regretting not getting a better look at Saturday night.
“Good morning, Mr. Lawson.”
Gruff laughter toppled out. I couldn’t help it, not any more than I could help from sauntering the rest of the way in her direction, loving the way her eyes swept over me, flaring at the memories of what we’d done right upstairs.
“Mr. Lawson, huh? Is that how it’s gonna be?” I set my arms on the high countertop, shooting her a grin from over the top.
Her tongue licked across her full, plush lips.
My dick jumped at the sight.
“I think that’s for the best, don’t you?” She whispered that, glancing around to ensure we were alone before she looked up at me from under those full lashes.
Girl so damned pretty.
A punch to the gut.
A shock to the senses.
A fucking fantasy that I wanted to disappear into forever.
There I went, getting greedy when I knew full well I couldn’t.
Juni’s sweet face invaded my mind. Her little voice. Her excitement for life.
Memories of another little girl that I couldn’t quite place. Ones I was clinging to harder and harder the more time that passed, terrified they were going to fade.
All of it was a gutting reminder that getting any closer to Salem was going to turn out bad.
Still, I leaned in, let the confession rumble from my tongue. “Call me whatever you want, gorgeous, I’m just thankful as fuck to find you sitting here this morning.”
“You thought I wouldn’t be?” Her voice was raspy, the air growing thick, that connection suffocating in a way we couldn’t let it.
Didn’t matter. I was lost in it, stumbling around in her gravity. “Thought there was a chance you were going to hide from me.”
I let the grin take to my mouth even though a fucking riot went down at the thought.
Grim.
Salem knew—knew what it meant.
She might not know the details, but she knew what I’d done.
She saw the blood and the sin and the depravity.
I rubbed at the back of my neck, suddenly conscious of the fact.
Wondering how it was possible she was still sitting there.
“If I were smart, I would.” The lilt of a tease filled the words, but her eyes flashed with something that looked a little too close to surrender.
The truth that neither of us understood what the hell we were doing.
Treading on dangerous ground.
“I guess I’m sticking around to make a bigger mess of things,” she admitted.
“Nah, baby…” I angled my head at the dwindling stacks on the desk. “A mess is the last thing you’re making. Thinking you’re the only one who can get this disaster in order. Besides, I’m pretty sure if you decided to hide, I would just have to come find you.”
Tried to keep my tone playful, but it shifted to a growl. Possession riding high.
She choked out a disbelieving sound, though she sent me one of those seductive smiles that hit me in the gut.
“You’d come find me, huh?”
“Yup.” Like a fool, I kept angling forward.
Drawn.
Had the urge to crawl right over the counter and set this girl on my lap. Get down to an entirely different type of business.
“Told you once I tasted you, I wasn’t ever going to want to stop.”
Flames lapped. A fucking forest fire that engulfed the entire room.
Thunderbolt eyes struck, and Salem swallowed hard before she edged back, breaking the tether that pulled us together. She cleared her throat, and she glanced at the door again before she looked back at me. “I think we’d better stick to that friends thing, Jud.”