“I kissed Torin earlier,” I blurt. Maybe I’m ruining the mood, but Aster should know.
“I know.”He kisses my ear, sucking gently on the lobe and making me squirm even more. “I’m glad. It’s not like I could be enough for you alone.”
“How do you mean?” I frown down at him.
“I’m not much of anything right now. No friends, no employment, no conversation. I’m not your best friend like Kit, or protective like Torin, or even charming like Jack is.”
Outrage bubbles up inside me at his words and I shake my head before surging down to take his lips in a hard kiss. It’s not tentative or searching like a first kiss probably should be. Instead, it’s me moulding my lips to his and chasing his tongue with my own as I try to convince him without words that heisgood enough.
“You’re kind,” I pant, pulling back to gaze down at his fever-bright eyes. “Sweet. Generous with your time. You’re not filled with bitterness and spite like you could be.” I lean down to kiss him again and this time, he wraps his hand around the back of my neck, holding me close like he can’t get enough of me.
“And if you need hobbies,” I say. “You can just ask Finch as he seems to have a surplus of them.”
Aster grins, before resting his forehead against my chest for a moment. “See? How can anyone not think you’re wonderful?”
Energy is zinging through my veins and my lips feel puffy and taste like him. If his aim was to make me feel like I can take on theworld, then he’s achieved it. Too bad I’d also far rather hide away in this room with Aster than venture out to the dinner.
There’s a knock on the door and I grimace as I get to my feet, quickly stripping off my soaked underwear and replacing them with fresh ones before swinging the door open.
Torin is standing on the other side, his arms braced against the doorjamb and the wall. His expression is a mixture of pain and raw hunger that leaves me biting my lip. Something tells me that switching my underwear has done nothing to hide my arousal from his enhanced sense of smell.
“Fuck. Me,” he mutters. “You couldn’t have waited until we were done with things here?” That last part is aimed at Aster who adjusts himself with a shrug.
“Yeah, yeah,” Torin continues, like he understood exactly what Aster just said without words. “If I was alone in a hotel room with her, I don’t think I could help myself either.” He steps back and gestures to the hallway.
I step past him, but before I can get anywhere, he grabs my wrist and spins me around. Ducking down to press a slow kiss to my lips that leaves me whimpering into his mouth, he then pulls back with a smirk.
“Let’s get this torture over with.”
Chapter 24
Torin
My experience with Jack’s family has never been good, and being in a room of people just like them is enough to give me indigestion.
We’re in yet another hotel, this time in a reception room that’s been set aside for the occasion. There’s a bar right in the centre of the room, and staff are milling around, handing out drinks. As much as I’d like to sink a couple of them to prepare myself, I need to keep a clear head.
“Why are we meeting at another hotel? Do these people not have houses they can go to?” Reva mutters.
“Not ones they’d invite others into,” I reply, shifting my overly tight collar away from my throat. It does nothing to ease my discomfort. Just like shifting my weight does nothing to distract from the fact my cock has been rock hard since she opened the hotel room door.
“They’re probably too scared someone would poison their booze cupboard. My question is, where are all the tables if this is a dinner? Or are we supposed to survive off these tiny nibbly things?”
She lets out that particular chuckle that seems to have a strange effect on my chest, almost like it’s triggering the indigestion early. “I don’t think we’re planning to eat here,” she says, keeping her eyes on Jack, who is doing a sweep of the room.
“How do you mean?”
“You know him better than me. But something tells me Jack’s going to flounce around until he finds either his parents or Northcliff. He’ll then cause a scene while we corner them and hopefully they’ll spill the information quickly enough for us to be able to get out of here before the dinner is served.” She rubs her stomach, giving me a pointed look. “I don’t know about you, but one awkward meal was enough for me today.”
Aster reaches out and spells something out on her hip, causing her to step closer and for me to experience the sharp pinch of envy. It’s as though the two of them have their own private language that the rest of us aren’t privy to, and it’s sending me slightly wild.
Or perhaps that’s the aftereffects of this afternoon’s ill-advised game of chicken, waiting out the other to see who cracks first. The memory of Reva’s scent is still etched into my senses and I have to refocus my attention, desperately willing my cock to soften.
All I need from her is the merest look and I’ll carry her off and bury my head under her skirt.
But not until she’s ready.
I might be a monster. But I’ll behermonster, if she’ll let me.
