Rose quickly covered her eyes. “Not looking, baby. Are you okay here with Mr. Thorne?”
“Yes! He said I can have ice cream when you leave!”
Rose peaked around her fingers to meet Thorne’s guilty expression. The large man shrugged. “I couldn’t say ‘no’,” he explained like he was confessing to a capital offense.
Shaking her head, Rose said, “One scoop. And thank you.”
Thorne nodded once. “You’re welcome.”
Heading to the door, Rose glanced back. Oscar had never been out of her sight since the day he’d been born. Even though she knew he was safe, and she trusted Thorne, a part of her still felt like she was abandoning her child by leaving.
Her phone buzzed.
WiseWave620: Follow the Yellow Brick Road.
Confused, but her curiosity spiked, Rose opened the apartment door to see the floor outside now looked like a yellow-bricked road. Intrigued, she stepped into the hallway, though she still took one final glance back at Oscar before she closed the door behind herself.
The floor appeared to ripple, though it remained smooth under her shoes. Following the direction the floor indicated, Rose turned to the left. As she walked, projections of hearts and flower petals rained down the walls around her. Shaking her head at Keys’ silliness, she nearly missed a turn as the yellow brick made a sharp right turn instead of continuing straight.
A door opened just as she approached, and she saw Keys stepout. He shifted, putting his hand out against the wall in what she could only assume to be an attempt to make a sexy pose. But he missed the wall, his hand sliding down it instead of catching him. Keys tried to correct himself, but his foot caught on the doorframe, and he ended up toppling back into the room he’d just exited.
But Keys was not about to let that stop him.
He jumped right back up, and got the pose correct on the second try. Covering her mouth at his performance, Rose approached and righted his glasses, which had fallen askew on his face.
“You’re not supposed to laugh,” he said, slightly red-faced. “I’m told this is a very sexy pose that makes all the girls swoon.”
“Oh, it was sexy, all right,” she agreed, her voice laced with sarcasm. Stretching up on her tiptoes, she pressed her lips gently to his as she wrapped her arms around his waist. “I’m definitely swooning.”
Though he glared down at her, he continued to kiss her. “There’s another move I can show you.”
“Oh, yeah? And where are you learning all these moves?”
“The internet is full of knowledge,” he replied against her lips. Picking his head up, he straightened off the wall. “Okay, lace your fingers in front of you, like prayer hands.” Intrigued, Rose did as she was instructed. “Now lift the fingers of your right hand.”
Rose’s lips twitched as she obeyed. “I feel like I should be asking ‘why’, but instead I’m choosing to trust you.”
“Good,” Keys said. Then he covered her left hand with his right hand, locking his fingers through her open ones.
Next thing Rose knew, he had her back against the wall with her hands pinned over her head as he caressed her cheek with his free hand. Rose practically melted against him, and likely would have slunk down the wall into a pile of goo if he hadn’t placed a thigh between her legs to balance her.
“Oh, sweet baby Jesus,” she breathed out.
But Keys shook his head. “Call me ‘Keys’.”
Rose felt her chest quiver like her heart was experiencing an earthquake. She didn’t know what sound was coming out of her mouth, but it certainly wasn’t intelligible words.
The smile Keys gave her was full of confidence, his gray-blue eyes alight with mirth. He brought his face down to hers, but did not kiss her. Instead, he brushed his lips ever so gently over hers, leaving her completely breathless and needy.
“Tell me you’re not swooning now,” he whispered against her mouth.
Rose started to sag heavily against his thigh, his grip on her hands above her head keeping her upright. “I… I…” She felt dizzy, not able to remember his question, let alone answer it. His breath on her skin was intoxicating, and holy fuck, what was she supposed to be saying?
Chuckling darkly, Keys leaned in, closing the distance between their mouths—but just before his lips touched hers, a loud, ear-piercing alarm blared.
* * *
Keys leapt back from Rose,his heart thundered in his chest even louder than the alarm sounding overhead. After the attacks on the club as well as the town prior to Melanie’s murder, Keys had increased security around the club property, as well as their businesses. A customer couldn’t fart in one of their stores without him knowing about it.
