Page 66 of The Encore’s Crown

“That might be the most detached way anyone has ever admitted to being undeniably hot.”

He laughs softly but I don’t, almost outraged at how ridiculous this conversation actually is.

“Don’t you think being with you would mean something to me?” I ask. His expression changes. “You say taking, like I’d walk away with something missing. Maybe I’d walk away with more.”

His eyes close for a second. When they open again, the joking has left them.

“Well,” he says, voice lower, “if you put it that way, then we definitely have to wait.”

I blink. “That was the opposite of the point.”

He rolls onto his side, facing me fully, and slides one hand behind my neck.

“Once I give you that particular gift, I don’t think I’ll be able to stop.”

The words send a warm shiver through me. He kisses me before I can respond, slowly at first, his mouth hot against mine. Then the kiss deepens, his tongue brushing mine just enough to remind me exactly how little space exists between his resistance and losing it entirely. When he pulls back, both of us are breathing differently.

“I’d need more than one night,” he says against my lips. “More than a few hours before somebody starts knocking on doors and telling us to load the bus.”

My fingers move along his chest, across his collarbone, then curl around his shoulder.

He leans into the curve of my neck, his mouth brushing the shell of my ear. “I’d need enough time to do it right.”

Heat rushes through me before I pull back just enough to look him in the eyes. “Do it right? I think you should explain that in detail.”

His mouth curves. “Don’t make me explain when I’m already struggling to behave.” He kisses me again, but the smile fades before he pulls away. “I don’t know how long it’ll be before I get to see you again.”

The thought neither of us has wanted to touch. Tomorrow, flights, separate continents. Seattle for me and another city, another stage, another hotel room for him. His thumb brushes along my jaw.

“If we… crossed that line, I don't think I'd survive not getting to feel you again for months.” His voice roughens slightly. “I might actually lose my mind.”

“Yeah, this already feels like enough to lose mine,” I whisper.

We look at each other in the quiet. The room feels smaller now, the bed too warm, his body so close, morning waiting outside the curtains with nothing but distance to offer us both. I trace the dark ink along his shoulder, the ache in my chest deepening. I lean in and press my mouth to the spot I bit, giving him a kiss this time. He exhales and draws me against him until my leg is thrown over his hip. I grin up at him and he kisses the grin from my mouth, once, then again. Each kiss is softer until I stop thinking about what he refuses to give me and start feeling everything he already has. The way he holds me like letting go is the one thing he’s most afraid of. I tuck my face beneath his chin.

“This isn’t very fuckboy of you.”

“Shhh, please,” he murmurs into my hair. “I'm gonna make you sign an NDA before you leave.”

I laugh softly as his arms tighten around me. Neither of us mentions how little time is left; we don’t have to.

I can feel the countdown in the beat of his heart.

Chapter 28

Particles

Natalia

The alarm goes off at five in the morning and it makes me feel like committing violence. I make a noise somewhere between a groan and a death rattle and bury my face deeper into Kiri’s pillow.

“No,” I say into it.

Beside me, the mattress dips. He leans over me and silences the alarm. The room falls dark and quiet again, which feels like proof I’ve won, until the mattress moves beneath me again and cold air invades every place his body had been keeping warm. I crack one eye open. Kiri stands beside the bed in nothing but black boxers, dragging both hands through his hair. It sticks up in several directions, making him look unqualified to make decisions at this hour.

“Come back,” I demand.

“I have to hit the gym.”