Page 25 of Allegiant

Samson shifts on his feet, his gaze moving to the front door.

I can see what he’s thinking. “No, you can’t come in.”

“Why not?”

“Are you serious? I don’t even know you.”

He smirks arrogantly. “Didn’t know you at the club either. Didn’t stop you from taking me to that seedy motel. Do I need to remind you what else it didn’t stop you from doing that night?”

If he’s trying to embarrass me, then he’s talking to the wrong man. I love sex, and I’m not ashamed of it. “A motel isn’t my home. This is my safe space.”

“And you don’t think I’m safe?”

“You tell me,” I say, tapping the dagger where it is holstered on his hip. “Safe men don’t walk around armed.”

“It’s just a dagger. It’s decorative. Like a fancy purse or a keychain.”

“Silly me. I forgot that blades featured on June’s Vogue cover, Mr. Buckingham.”

He winces. “Don’t call me that.”

“It’s your name, isn’t it?”

“It’s my father’s name,” he grunts.

“Ah.” I don’t need him to elaborate further. “I guess you’re used to people falling over when you tell them who you are.”

Samson’s lips twitch like I’ve made some joke far funnier than I did. “Something like that, yeah.”

I lean my shoulder against my door. The exhaustion and darkness are fading. Just for a moment, but it’s enough. I breathe a sigh of relief.

I should go inside, but I’m having fun. More than I deserve, but I can’t help but want to escape the misery and loneliness that awaits on the other side of the wood. The quiet apartment. The gaming console collecting dust. The silent phone. “And here I am, having to Google you.”

His lips curl in a sneer. “Now it matters to you.”

“Not because I’m a gold digger or anything like that,” I say sharply.

“Didn’t say you were.”

“Good,” I mutter, rubbing at my bare arms. The breeze has picked up, and I’m really feeling it. “If anything, knowing you’re a Buckingham puts me off.”

Samson shifts until he’s in front of me. I move at the same time, my back hitting the door. His hand slowly comes up to rest against the wood beside my head. “Puts you off what, exactly?”

Flustered, I wave between us. “Whatever this is. You turning up everywhere. Getting me all excited and leaving before you’ve finished the job.”

His other hand rises on the opposite side, effectively boxing me in. A shiver goes down my spine as the final drops of exhaustion are burned away by a far more powerful feeling.

Lust.

“That only happened once,” Samson says. His face is too close. Distractingly so.

I try not to stare at his lips and wonder how they taste. For all the ways he’s put his mouth on me, Samson hasn’t kissed me. “I don’t think a fifty percent success rate is anything to brag about, buddy.”

“Not bragging, just stating facts.” His nose brushes against my temple, his breath hot against my ear. “Though I like to think I made you come so hard the first time that it should hold you over for a while.”

“Or make me desperate for more.” Fuck, I probably shouldn’t have said that, but it’s hard to think with Samson all up in my business. If his hips rock forward an inch, he’ll find out exactly how desperate I am. “What do you want?”

My question has him pulling back to stare into my face. There’s uncertainty there as he searches my eyes. When he speaks, his voice is hoarse. “I don’t know.”