Arranged love

“Here you are.” Nigel says, opening the glass door for me to enter the Kings office.

“Thank you.”

“Of course, ma’am.” He nods. “His office is the last one on the left.”

I walk down the dark gray hallway and pass the first door on the left; Cross is in gold letters. I take a look in to see he’s not in there. The next door on the left reads Titan. He too isn’t in there. But I didn’t expect him to be. Emilee told us that they were going to be in New York for the weekend. I come up to the end of the hall. The door on the left has Grave on it. I know the one on the right is Bones.

I softly knock on Grave’s door. “Come in,” he calls out.

I enter and come to a stop when I see him sitting at his desk with a phone to his ear. Cross sits in the chair across from it. He turns to look at me over his shoulder, flipping a Zippo in his right hand. “Hey,” I say lamely.

“I have to go …” Grave says into the phone. “Yeah, yeah. I’ll get it done.” Then he hangs up. “Even when he’s in New York, he’s up my ass.” He growls, standing and walking around his desk over to me.

My heart picks up. I’m not sure why I’m so nervous about being here. Maybe because this is his element. This is his domain. I’m used to being in my bed with him naked.

He wraps his arms around me and pulls me in for a hug. When he pulls away, he gives me a gentle kiss on my forehead that causes butterflies in my stomach. “How’s your day?”

“Good.” I walk over and sit down next to Cross and push my hair behind my ear. “Yours?”

He sighs and sits down at his desk. “The usual.”

I’m not sure what that means because we never talk about Kingdom. I don’t push him to share information regarding him and the Kings. What they do here is none of my business. And after what Derek told me, I think I’d rather not know. I don’t expect Grave to be a saint. All I expect from a guy is that he treats me right and respects me. The rest can always be worked on.

A cell phone rings and Grave picks his up from his desk. He lets out a growl and looks at me. “Give me a second.”

“Yes, of course.” I say stupidly like he asked for permission. I sit up straighter in the comfortable black leather chair. My ass sinks into it. It’s exactly what I would expect for a King.

Grave exits the room and a silence falls over it. I don’t know Cross very well. I don’t know any of the Kings actually. I’ve only ever met them once and I was having a bad day. I did see Cross once before in Roses, but there was very minimal interaction between the two of us.

His green eyes meet mine. He flips the Zippo open. The flame burns before he slams it shut. “It’s a reminder.” He says when he catches me staring.

I could lie. Pretend I wasn’t wondering what the fuck he’s doing. But instead I ask, “Of what?”

He flips it open again, tilts his head to the side, and watches the flame dance at the tip of his tatted fingers. Then his eyes slide to mine, the green darkening to black and sending a chill down my spine. “That if I wanted to, I could burn the motherfucking world down.”

He takes a cigarette from behind his ear and places it between his lips, then raises the lighter. But I speak, making him pause, “You know smoking will kill you.” My grandfather died of lung cancer. Smoked his entire life. My mother begged me and Ethan not to ever smoke. That it wasn’t worth it in the end.

He removes the unlit cigarette from his lips and smirks at me. “So will falling in love with a man who has a death wish.” My eyes widen. “And I don’t see you putting an end to that.” He replaces it between his lips and lights the cigarette then flips the Zippo shut. “Guess we’ll both die due to our own stupidity.” He blows the smoke out.

The door opens, and Grave re-enters. Cross stands and exits without another word. “Sorry, I’m ready for lunch now.” He drops into his desk chair.

Cross thinks I love him. Jasmine thinks I love him. Do I? Am I doing something that everyone else sees but me? Am I being too clingy? Too obvious? Do I need to take a step back and look at it from a different angle? What if Grave thinks this too? Will it push him away?

“April?”

“Hmm?” My eyes snap up to Grave’s. He gives me that smile that makes my heart pick up. “You okay?” he asks.

“Yeah, just been a long week,” I lie, not wanting to make him question anything. I came here to see him and I’m not going to let Cross’s words fuck that up. I get up and walk around. Pushing his chair back, I climb into his lap, straddling him.

He leans back, placing his hands behind his head, showing off his muscular arms with a cocky smile.

“A friend of yours stopped by Roses today.” I do have feelings for Grave, but I need to know where I stand before I allow myself to feel anymore.Material © of NôvelDrama.Org.

The smile drops off his face, and he tilts his head to the side. “Who?”

“He said his name was Jimmy. Think the last name was Trust?”

He snorts. “He’s not a friend.” He drops his arms and grips my hips.

I frown. “I told him we were closed twice, but he insisted on ordering flowers.”

His jaw sharpens. “I’m installing a security camera system at the shop this week.”

“You don’t have to …”

“I’ve already ordered the equipment. It’ll be here tomorrow.”

I arch a brow. “Wanna keep an eye on me?”

“Always.” He winks.

Shit, this guy makes my underwear soaked in the worst way. But I have to know. “Well, Jimmy was there to send flowers to Lucy. Lucy Mason.” I watch his facial expression to see if he gets jealous, but nothing changes. “Don’t you find that odd?” I dig.

“Why would I find that odd? I told you he’s not my friend.”

I take in a deep breath and let it out slowly, dropping my eyes to his black Kingdom shirt to stare at his chest and try to keep my voice even. “She’s your ex.”

He lifts his hands and tangles them in my hair, lifting my face so I have to stare down at him. “Lucy Mason is not my ex.”

“Fuck buddy.” I correct my previous statement.

“Did Jimmy tell you that?” he asks.

“He didn’t have to.” I pull away from him and get up off his lap. I’m not going to rat the girls out.

“We were, yes. But I haven’t …”

“I’ve seen her call you several times when we’re together,” I interrupt him.

He snorts. “I can’t help when she calls me, but I promise you that I ignore them every time.”

“Maybe that’s the problem, you haven’t told her that you’re with me.” He may ignore her while he’s with me but what happens after he leaves?

“It’s complicated.”

I give a rough laugh. “How is your ex, fuck buddy, whatever a complication? You either still want to fuck her or you don’t.”

His jaw sharpens and he runs a hand through his hair.

I go on, “Plus, I saw her last night at the Airport. She was all over you.” Okay, so maybe that’s an exaggeration but the bitch was thirsty. And she would have jumped his bones if he would have let her. Even Jasmine said that Lucy would take him however she could have him.

He stands from his chair. “Did you see me blow her off too?” he asks, walking over to me and pushing my ass up against the side of his desk. He reaches out and gently pushes my hair off my shoulders and runs his knuckles up my neck, pushing my head back in the process.

“She wants you.” I fill the silence, my breathing picking up. Not wanting to let him distract me from the conversation. “And if that’s what you want, tell me now. Don’t string me along.”

Gripping my hair, I cry out when he jerks my head to where I’m forced to look up at him. “Let’s clear something up then.” He licks his lips. “You’re fucking mine, April. I don’t want Lucy. Not anymore.” His blue eyes roam my face. “I haven’t touched her nor anyone else since I’ve been with you.”

I swallow at his confession.

“All I think about is you.” He lowers his lips to my neck and kisses his way up to my ear. “I only want to fuck you.” My breath hitches when he begins to nibble on my ear. “The only woman I want to be with is you.”

My arms wrap around his neck. “Be with?” As in girlfriend? We haven’t said it out loud just yet.

“The question is, am I the only one you want?” He presses his hips into mine, pinning me to the desk and I can feel how hard he is.

“Yes,” I breathe.

He pulls away and my heavy eyes look up at him. “I promise that I’m all yours, April. Are you all mine?”

I nod my head, licking my lips. “Of course, …”

His lips land on mine and he lifts me off my feet, slamming my ass down on the desk before he rips my shirt up and over my head.