His lips twitched. “Would you feel safer with a panic room?”
“With you in it? I’d test the soundproofing with my screams.”
I hadn’t meant that to be dirty, but it came out so all the same. He let out a low laugh and drove through an arch to a hidden courtyard where he backed into a private parking spot. Then he was at my door and offering me a hand.
I didn’t take it, stepping onto the cool paving slabs on bare feet and tugging my t-shirt down as much as I could. No one appeared to be around, but self-consciousness had me huddling in on myself.
Elijah curled an arm around me and swept me up bride-style, keeping the shirt tucked under me, then stalked to a door at the back of the white-sided building.
“I can walk,” I grumbled.
“And I could fuck you again right here in the parking lot where any asshole could see, so try protesting some more and see what that does for you.”
My insides tightened. Elijah smelled good. Hefeltgood holding me. The bastard.
“Oh no, you’re bleeding. Does it hurt?” I traced a finger over his wound. Then pressed on it.
He shoved through a door and to a lift, only a slight pursing of his lips telling me I’d annoyed him.
Elijah pushed the top button, then added a code. “Ten-fourteen, for when you need it. This lift is ours alone for the duration of our stay.”
The fourteenth of October was my birthday. Odd coincidence. “The duration?”
“You’re mine for a month. Did you forget?”
His gaze sank to my mouth. I swallowed.
The lift doors opened onto a wide apartment with a glass wall allowing views over the city. Not that I paid it much attention because for some reason, I was stuck on needing Elijah’s lips on mine again.
“Welcome, sir, madam,” a voice intoned.
I jumped. Elijah swore under his breath.
A uniformed man waited at the edge of the room, his eyes closed.
Elijah sighed. “Thought I said to take the evening off, Alton.”
“Indeed, sir. Please excuse my presence. I brought up refreshments in case you were hungry after your… endeavours. I’d intended to have left before your return, but your PA requested a note be left. He was persistent.”
A covered silver platter waited on the dining table, champagne in a cooler.
“Shit, thanks, man. And don’t call me sir.”
“Of course, sir.”
Elijah snorted, still holding me like I was precious. “This is Bonnie, my future wife. She’ll be living with me.”
Alton opened his eyes, briefly peering at me. “Wonderful to make your acquaintance, miss. Is there anything I can get for you?”
He had a butler. An honest-to-God uniformed manservant. That took me back as much as the wife claim.
I gave him an embarrassed wave. “Nice to meet you, Alton, and no, thanks.”
“Then I shall leave you. Goodnight.”
Elijah nodded. “Night. Sorry about Mitch. I’ll get back to him.”
The butler bowed his head and disappeared into the lift.
