Page 102 of Last Man Standing

Maybe the siege has arrived.

Maybe my blatant disrespect toward Arabella’s no-pictures rule has pushed her over the edge of her tightly gripped tolerance.

Maybe I’m being especially melodramatic because I only turn twenty-six once. But then the door cracks open and Sebastion’s deep, commanding voice rumbles through as he finishes a discussion with my assigned guard.

Gulping, I snatch up my phone, unlock it, navigate to my texts with Linc, and send one last message.

Me:

The Trojans have arrived to chop my head off. It was nice knowing you. Tell Nova I said goodbye. Love you forever.

Shaking my head, I lock the phone again and slip the device into my pocket. Across the room, Sebastion finishes whatever he and his buddy are discussing, then he steps across the threshold, closes the door, and meets my eyes.

He simply stares. Grins. Objectifies me a little.

“Hey.” I push off the bed and nervously drag my sweater sleeves down. “Busy day today?”

“Come with me.” He starts across the room and latches onto my hand, all in less time than it takes for my buffering brain to process his words. “We’re going out.”

“Wait.” Stunned, I dig my heels in and try to slow him down. Useless, really, considering how much bigger he is. “Sebastion, stop!”

“Scarlett, go.” His eyes dance with the same kind of playfulness I see when he wants to fuck. But it’s also the same look he gives when he wants to be mean. I know he’s capable of cruelty just as surely as he can worship a woman’s body. I’ve been on the receiving end of both. Unfortunately for me, I can’t determine which way his mood will go until he shows me, and because of it, I can’t convince my nervous system to calm the hell down. “I’ve got something to show you, Princess.”

“Sebastion—”

He drags me all the way to the door, but instead of opening it, he slingshots me forward and around, then he presses my back to the hard wood and follows me in until my breath explodes from my lungs and he somehow manages to catch it. “Yum.” He nibbles on my lips and thrills in his uncanny ability to make me forget whether I’m angry or sad. Nervous or excited. Horny, or simply searching for a distraction from the shitshow that is my life. “I’ve only been gone for a couple of hours, but I forgot how fuckin’ delicious you are.” He slides his palms along my ribs, my hips, the swells of my ass. And all along, his teeth do magical things to my neck. “Fuck, Scarlett.”

“Where were you?” If I close my eyes and hold my breath, I could almost convince my brain to function again. “Also, I tried to send a picture to my brother. It didn’t work.”

He snorts and peels the front of my sweater down, latching his lips onto the mark I already attempted to cover up. “Told you it wouldn’t work.”

Damn his knee for nudging its way between my legs. Damn his thigh for turning my brain to mush. “Sebastion…”

“Oh!” He pulls back startlingly fast and whips his hands from my ass like I’m made of electricity. “I wanna show you something. Stop distracting me.”

“Me? I didn’t distract you! You grabbed me and demanded that I leave this room. I don’t want to leave!”

Because it’s my birthday, and I’d rather stay here in the relative safety of my room, than risk running into Arabella the friggin’ Tyrant in the halls.

“Sebastion!”

“I’ll keep you safe.” He takes my hand again and jerks me away from the door. Yanking it open and darting through, his grip gives me whiplash as he forces me to follow. “I know you hate being here, Princess. I know it’s not where you’d prefer to be.”

Ya think?

“But I also know this place has a million hidden pockets you haven’t explored yet, and since I’m taking the rest of today off, I wanna show them to you.”

Frowning, I catch Koda’s overenthusiastic wave as we pass the kitchen and the scent of something sweet in the oven fills my lungs, but then we’re gone again, into the next hall, through a door, then into the icy wind outside.

Goosebumps sprint along my arms and legs instantly, even under the cover of jeans and a sweater, and because my lungs empty from the shock of the cold, white fog floats in the air ahead of me.

“Here.” Sebastion unzips his coat and shrugs it off to reveal his chest, so broad and muscular. His skin, dark with a tan, despite the lack of summer sun. He swings the heavy fabric over my back and waits for me to tuck my arms into the sleeves. “You look good in my clothes, Princess.”

“You could’ve given me a chance to get my own,” I grumble. I definitely don’t turn my face into the collar and inhale his delicious scent while he’s busy working on the zipper. “Now you’ll be cold.”

“Eh. I was raised in this shit, and it’s still only early December.”

Yeah, I know. It’s my birthday!