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I remember that day. Though not as fondly. Carter walked me in here, and we were laughing. He teased me about how I choked him. I teased back, reminding him I choked him harder when he went down on me a day before.
Then Killian emerged from the balcony, his face as serious as he’s been for the six months that followed.
Staring into this grumpy man’s face now, I’m starting to reevaluate everything.
“You’re beautiful, but anyone could tell you that.” Killian’s heat has to be hotter than hell. “Only someone who really knows you can appreciate what you have on the inside. Your vibrant energy. Your adorable laugh. The way you love and talk about your plants and flowers as if they were your children. How you jump up and down when you’re excited.”
Trapped. I’m trapped. My mind is Killian’s prisoner. My body is his.
He keeps talking.
He’s saying something.
My scrambled eggs of a brain doesn’t hear him. All I see are his lips moving.
“What did you say?” I can’t miss what he said. It seems important. Way too important.
His lips twitch. Killian eviscerates that rare almost-smile of his. “The delicious sound of your moans.”
Oh.
Blabber, Amara. Blabbering is safe. Blabber until Carter gets here.
“H-how do you know all that about me?”
“Just because we don’t talk, doesn’t mean I don’t pay attention.” Killian’s eyes are blacker than black. “That I don’t watch.”
With those simple words, I understand what Carter’s been trying to explain to me.
This complicated man has always had a thing for me. Like I’m sure he has a thing for Carter.
He’s been keeping his distance for a reason. He’s been masking his feelings for me since I’m Carter’s, and Killian is as loyal as they come. He hasn’t made a move on Carter. Hasn’t been a predator or made it seem like he’s been grooming him all this time.
It makes sense now.
Then yesterday happened.
The delicate balance the three of us have maintained is no more.
Carter issued him an open invitation, pushed Killian’s buttons. Forced him to make a move.
“Carter’s previous partners, I’ve never liked any of them. All it took was one look at them and”—he snaps his fingers—“I knew they weren’t good enough for my stepson. Men or women. I haven’t approved of any of them. You, though, stood out.”
His tongue swipes across his bottom lip, wetting it.
“You, Amara, were—are—different. Special.” His words cut into my fixation, demanding my attention. “For once, I didn’t want to throw his partner out of here.”
“Then?” What a fucking awful question to ask.
Okay would’ve been so much better. It wouldn’t have egged him on. Wouldn’t have encouraged him to continue this without Carter here.
One day my curiosity will be the end of me.
“It was jealousy.” The fire blazing in him roars, scalds. Scorches the earth he’s standing on. “I’m still not fucking over it. How he has you. How he touches you.”
Shock renders my body frozen as he slams another hand on the wall, bracketing me. His hands slide down lower, his thumbs grazing my biceps.
“Kisses you.”
