“Lies,” he declares, moving in so his arm loops around the small of my back, and his cozy-corruption scent—leather and cloves and the seductive sweetness of the flapjacks—cloaks us and thickens the air. “You’re either deep-diving into a night of exploring kinks at Magie Noire, spiraling, or both because you were envisioningmein said kink.”
I wasn’t, butnowI am.
My palms push against his steel pecs, attempting to move him, to no avail.Good God.“Caught me. What can I say? Youwouldbe yummy in a cage beneath my bed.” Before he can twist my sarcasm into a come-on, I switch gears. “Don’t be weird. If you start spewing nonsense about me begging again—”
“Your three-year-old is playing right over there,” he interrupts, so close now that his scruffy cheek prickles mine, showering me with tingles as he speaks into my ear, “and you look like you want to devour me.”
Do I? Maybe the weirdness is all on me. I’m losing my freaking mind.
A nonchalant protest is in order. “There’s that high-as-a-Rüppell’s-griffon-vulture bullshit again.”
His lips wrestle valiantly with a smile as he sits back, putting a smidgen of space between us, though his hands return to their heated posts on my thighs. “You just went ahead and made up your own saying, huh?”
“It seemed best for everyone. Keep up.” My voice is so raspy, so airy. I can’t believe I’m the only one sensing the inexplicable crackling in the molecules surrounding us.
Neither of us moves. He drinks me in, both of our chests heaving. My heart thrums against my sternum as I try to discern what’s changed, why he’s here, why he’s sohands onwith me, and whether I should grab Remy and bolt. That might be best.
“For your information, I was thinking about a mustache.” I don’t know why I say it. Call it research. Getting into my attorneyrole. Sometimes, we have to poke people on the stand to test our theories. It all comes down to tells.
And Ryker coils his hands into fists, knuckles bleeding white, his jaw like stone. I’m not sure what that means exactly. Maybe it’s simply a reaction brought on because the last man I had been with tried to kill me. There’s probably some trauma hanging around from Ryker finding me that way. I can only imagine. Or maybe it’s something else, something I shouldn’t entertain. Regardless, it makes things exponentially more complicated and this whole La Lune Noire proposal a bad idea.
I’m guessing I won’t have a choice, but if he thinks I’ll make this easy on him, he’s the one out of his mind.
“Another lie, but if you need me to—”
Cutting off whatever asinine route he was about to steer us on, I forge ahead with our negotiations. “Okay, well … look, I’m fine with the fake engagement because I have zero interest in being attached to anyone. It’s the other … but I’ve gone this long without one, so …”
“Without what, Merce? Anything?” He sucks all the air out of the room, fingers pressing firmer into my legs, thumbs mindlessly sweeping over my inner thighs. “How long’s it been since you came?”
What the hell is with him? Again, it’s not the asking because we used to talk abouteverything. We were also affectionate and close. And Ryker has always been intense.
But he’s … and I’m … hot.Jesus.
“Doesn’t matter.” I snap my fingers in front of his face. “Focus, Noire. Once we’re settled, I reserve the right to propose my own solution for myneeds. Not sure what that will be, but—”
“And I reserve the right to veto anything that interferes with this arrangement.” There’s a smug glint in his eyes with that, but I push forward instead of playing into it.
“Also, this willnotbe indefinite. I’ll agree to—”
“Five months,” he proposes.
“That’s oddly specific.” My head is spinning. “And you’re not worried about how it will look when the engagement ends in five months?”
His fingers scratch teasingly over my thighs. “I’ll make it work.”
“Fine. Then I guess I can too. We’ll review at that time. I want to be able to take on a couple of cases that have nothing to do with La Lune Noire. For my own enjoyment, especially since human trafficking work will be so heavy.”
“Right, and some criminal law cases are light and fun.” That would be the morally gray man who does God knows what in the shadows mocking me. “It will have to be approved by Axel and not be a conflict of interest, but if those two things pass, I guess that could be okay. If it requires something off La Lune Noire property, I have to be with you.”
“And that’s not embarrassing or a threat to my professionalism at all.” I arch my eyebrows with my dry retort, even though I’m secretly comforted by that rule. “You really think it’s safe for me to return?”
“The safest place for you is with me.” His tone brooks no room for debate.
I glance down at my lap, my hands restless, his closer to my hips now, which makes my chest heavy and my mind a mess, so I peer up at him from beneath my lashes. “Even though we’re not friends?”
“No matter the label, I will protect you and Remy with my life,” he vows, and the sincerity and the protection promised and the hidden meaning behind it is every bitmy Ryker.
Which is why I press, “That would make you pretty damn safe. Except … what will you do if I refuse to sign, refuse to come back with you?”
