Total pages in book: 171
Estimated words: 167204 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 836(@200wpm)___ 669(@250wpm)___ 557(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 167204 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 836(@200wpm)___ 669(@250wpm)___ 557(@300wpm)
“I wasn’t yours when Kyle… messed with me,” I point out.
“No, you weren’t. But you are now. My protection is retroactive.”
The reality still makes me a little sad, but it doesn’t change my feelings for him. It doesn’t make me want to leave this time.
I walk over to him, sliding my hand along his muscular chest and over his powerful shoulders, then winding my arms around his neck. “We should get ready for bed,” I say softly.
“Yeah?”
I nod.
He tips my chin up, sliding his hand along my jaw and bringing me in for a kiss. “You’re not gonna run off on me again, are you?” he murmurs.
“No. I’m sorry I did before, it was just… a lot.”
“I understand.”
I know he has abandonment issues from the talk we had just before everything went to hell, and that makes me feel even worse about it.
Whatever his flaws, my favorite thing about Killian is how honest he is with me, and I can’t imagine how I would have felt if I opened up my biggest fears to someone and they left me almost immediately.
I feel like making it up to him, so I lean up to kiss him, and as I do, I reach my hand down and unbutton his pants.
All it takes is the touch of my hand, and I feel him start to harden.
I smile against his lips.
“I thought you wanted to get ready for bed,” Killian teases.
I pull back long enough to give him a mischievous smile. “Well… maybe a little snack first.”
Chapter Thirty-four
Brynn
It feels right to wake up in Killian’s bed again.
I look over at him, and he looks so handsome I want to give him a kiss. But he’s sleeping, and I don’t want to wake him up, either. At least one of us should get some sleep.
Our travel this weekend was obviously great, but it messed me up and now my body doesn’t know if it’s supposed to be on Boston or Paris time.
I thought the hours we spent making love would wear us both out enough to sleep through the night, but it’s still dark outside, and here I am.
I grab my phone to see what time it is.
There are notifications, a couple of comments on the pictures I posted earlier, but the notification that grabs my attention is the text from my mother.
“You’re in Paris??”
I sigh, going back to my message chain and deleting hers, then going to my social media account to see if I can figure out how she’s seeing my updates. I blocked her a long time ago, but she has been known to make fake accounts to spy on people, so maybe there’s one I missed.
Before the plane took off, when we were waiting for Dare and Aubrey to get there, I made a post. The main picture is one Killian took of me on the balcony at the Palais Garnier, then I posted the one he sent me of both of us with me kissing his cheek, and finally, one of us with Toast in front of the Eiffel Tower. I captioned it, “From Paris, with love.”
Several people heart reacted to it, and Addison commented, “And Ryan just bought me chicken wings. 0/10” I crack a smile and heart her comment.
A few seconds later, she DMs me. “What are you doing up?”
“Jetlag,” I type back with an emoji that looks like it’s suffering.
“Ugh. To have your problems,” she jokes.
“Why are you awake?” I ask her.
“Moral and ethical qualms. Dreading a quiz tomorrow, but lying here on my phone instead of getting up and studying for it.”
“Making good decisions, then.”
“Exactly. You should swing by the house later so you can get your stuff back. Unless you’re moving in with me, of course, then I’ll just keep it here.”
I smile faintly. “I wish we could be roomies. I think I’m gonna stay with Killian though. Things were iffy before, but I think we figured it out this weekend.”
“He asked you to move in with him?”
“Well, no. But he doesn’t really ask, he just kind of adjusts my life as he believes he needs to. And the vibe I’m getting is that he wants me to move in with him.”
“I see. Well… maybe talk about it before you make a decision. Having a reliable place to live is kind of important.”
“I’m not a Zeta anyway,” I remind her.
“You could be,” she answers.
“If Sloane doesn’t even like me, I don’t see her making an exception to let me in.”
And after that auction, I can definitely agree with Ryan that she doesn’t like me.
“She already told me to put a feeler out and see if you wanted to join. I know you don’t know her, but Sloane’s very self-protective and she’s never going to put herself out there if she’s not sure the answer is yes. But if you want the spot, it’s yours. And I have extra wallpaper we could use to decorate your vision board, I’m JUST saying.”