Page 122 of Twisted Knight

Sated.

Consumed.

It’s sex.

Just mind-blowing, incredibly awesome sex.

Not my finest work to date. Not even fucking close.

But hell if it’s not something I’ll forget anytime soon.

“Olly olly oxen free,” Rowan says and then we both laugh.

THIRTY-SEVEN

Rowan

I sit in my car in the parking lot and stare up at the light on in Holden’s office. I replay the events of the last few hours.

The decision to pursue Holden that opened a box I sure as hell hope isn’t Pandora’s.

My brother’s betrayal.

My partnership with the enemy.

The incredibly erotic game of hide-and-seek sex that I’m rather proud of myself for making up with said enemy.

How many more emotions can one person face in a six-hour period and not need serious therapy?

I sure as hell don’t know, but what I do know is that there’s a soft smile on my lips and a giddy sensation in my more than sated body.

I stare at the light and know he’s up there still working. Still plotting out how to take over the world. Still being the enigma he is.

And I’m down here trying to separate the physical from the emotional. The personal from the business. My sanity from my reality.

The man does things to me. Physically. Mentally. Emotionally. Things that no one else ever has before, and I’m not quite sure what to make of it.

You deserve someone who makes you feel like you’ve been struck by lightning.

Gran’s voice floats in my head.

Her words.

Her wisdom.

“You’re crazy, Gran. I love you to death, but you’re batshit crazy if you think that someone is Holden.”

I mutter the words into my empty car and yet my eyes are still on the window. Still waiting for one more glimpse of the man that I’m supposed to hate but suddenly desperately want.

And the irony in all of it is that when I finally pull away from the lot and head home, heat lightning flashes in the distance, lighting up the sky and the clouds all around it.

THIRTY-EIGHT

Holden

FIFTEEN YEARS AGO

Numb.