Grayson’s smirk was pure evil, and I gasped out loud. “It was what you needed, Prickles. Didn’t it help to calm you down?”
Yes, but that wasn’t the fucking point. Okay, so Rhett and Grayson knew I was…attractedto both of them and… ugh, my head hurt. “You two areokaywith this?” I asked in a strangled voice.
Grayson swiped a hand over his stubbled chin. “Sometimes you just need to live in the moment, sweetheart, and deal with the consequences another day.”
That wasn’t a yes.
“You’re handling the shock of seeing bodies strewn across the street surprisingly well,” he commented, shifting the subject again. “Better than I’d have expected.”
I didn’t know if it was my imagination, but that statement felt loaded. Was there arightway to react after seeing two bodyguards shot dead in front of me? I frowned. “So are you. Does Bellerose often encounter so much violence?”
Grayson’s lips tilted. “Bellerose? No, this is new.”
New for Bellerose but not for Grayson? Consider my interest piqued. There was no time to push him for more information, though, because he was already driving back through the hotel parking gates. Anxiety tied my stomach all up in knots as he parked in one of the reserved places, then got out to open my door for me.
“Gray,” I whispered, placing my hand on his chest as he pushed the car door shut behind me. “What happens now? Those guys… it was broad daylight. The middle of the street. This isbad. Isn’t it?”
He glanced down at where my palm rested on his t-shirt, then he gently gripped my face and tilted my head back until our eyes met. “You’d be amazed how easily the Riccis can clean up a mess. We should get upstairs before Jace breaks more shit.”
Confusion creased my brow, but Grayson made no attempt to actually release me. In fact, he crowded me closer against the side of the car, making me smile lightly.
“Gray… you gonna let me go?”
His response was to crush his lips to mine once more. His tongue demanded entry, and I opened for him all too willingly. My fingers twisted the fabric of his shirt, pulling him close as he kissed me breathless and dizzy, so much so that I nearly didn’t hear what he said as he finally released me.
“Never,” he breathed against my lips, smacking another hot peck there before taking a few steps backward. “Come on, Prickles. Let’s make sure Florence is back safe.” The hungry look on his face said he’d rather stay here and finish what he’d just started, but better sense prevailed.
“I thought you said she was fine,” I exclaimed, hurrying to catch up as he strode toward the elevator bank. “Gray, she could be—”
“Rhett and Tom wererightbehind me; they’d have grabbed her.” Oh. Thank fuck for that. “And do I need to remind you again…?”
I swallowed hard. “They were there for me,” I whispered in a husky voice.
Flo was fine. Shehadto be fine.
thirty-three
GRAYSON
The sting of jealousy that hit me when Billie launched herself at Rhett was harsher than I’d been prepared for. I had to curl my hands into fists to keep from ripping her away from him and going all caveman on her ass. She’d had enough of that from me for one day.
In fairness, though, I hadn’t planned to escalate things between us quite so fast. Christ, she’d wanted more too. She’d wanted to fuck in that alleyway, and if I’d had a condom, I wouldn’t have been able to deny her.
She’d tried to run. She’d tried toleave. All I knew was that I’d do anything to stop her… and if that meant feeling her tight cunt pulse and clench around my fingers while those delicious moans imprinted across my brain, well, who was I to argue?
Rhett’s furious glare met my gaze over Billie’s head, and I smirked, taunting him. Then I raised my fingers to my mouth and sucked them. His face darkened with rage, and I licked my lips in satisfaction. Share her? Hell no. I’d be winning her, and he’d just have to suck it the fuck up.
Right now wasn’t the time, though. Later.
“I’m fine,” Billie was saying, her voice muffled by Rhett’s bear hug, “Seriously, I’m fine. Gray saved me.”
Oh man, straight to the heart.
Rhett glared daggers, but it was tempered by relief and gratitude. Jace, though, was officially losing his cool.
“How thefuckdid this happen?” he roared, storming back into the penthouse suite with his phone to his ear. “Best in the business, you told me, Leonard. Better than the Secret Service, you said. If that’s what you callbest in business,then I’m seriously concerned about national security now!”
He listened to something, then spat some curses and threw his phone across the room. It smashed against the wall, taking a chunk of drywall with it as it clattered to the floor. Then Jace stalked over to where Billie stood in Rhett’s embrace like he wanted to rip her away just like I wanted to. Except I wasn’t so sure he had the same intentions as I had, so I stepped between my friend and the happy couple, blocking his progress.
