Page 53 of The Encore’s Crown

Natalia is sitting on the long sofa with one leg crossed over the other, looking like she slept twelve perfect hours in a cloud. No sunglasses or pale, dying expression of a hangover. Not even a blanket over her head while she begs everyone to stop existing. Nothing. Her hair is pulled into a high, smooth ponytail that spills over one shoulder. Her makeup is clean and sharp, lashes dark, mouth glossed a soft pink that immediately drags every memory from last night back through me by the throat.

The outfit is fucking malicious. A charcoal knit dress fitted close everywhere it has no business being fitted, long sleeves, high neck, respectable from the waist up. Then the hem stops halfway down her thighs like the designer simply ran out of fabric. Sheer black tights. Knee-high boots. One ankle swinging idly over the other while she holds a coffee cup between both hands.

She looks rested. Satisfied. No hint that she spent part of the night crying in my lap, another part trying to undo my belt, and the last part coming apart around my hand while saying my name like she wanted it inked into her skin as a souvenir.

Her eyes lift and find mine. A tiny smile touches the corner of her mouth. It's so slight, it's not enough for anyone else to notice.

Just enough to stop my heart.

Chapter 23

Dangerous

Kiri

Someone crashes into my back.

“Jesus—” Ronan stumbles sideways, coffee sloshing over the lid. “You can’t just stop like that, man. You’re a fucking wall to us normal-sized people.”

I catch his arm before he goes down. He laughs and squeezes past.

“Sorry.”

I force my legs to move. Natalia watches me as she takes a slow sip of coffee.

“Morning,” Kasia says as her and Rafe climb into the chaos. I nod.

“You look terrible.” Natalia throws the comment at me, her mouth twitching against her cup. She's loving this.

“Thanks. Appreciated.”

Rithy drops into a seat across from her and stretches his legs into the aisle.

“He overslept.”

Every head within range turns toward me.

Ronan gasps theatrically as he throws his bag on his bunk. “No!”

“Kiri overslept?” Rafe asks as he plops down into a free seat, Kasia joining beside him as he slides an arm around her shoulders. “Is the world ending?”

“I didn’t sleep well. It's not a big deal.”

Natalia nearly chokes on her coffee, she disguises it as a cough. She presses a fist to her mouth, eyes watering, and gives me the most innocent look I’ve ever seen on a woman who abandoned innocence with extreme enthusiasm last night. Rithy’s gaze moves between us. I need to get away from all of them. Away from Natalia sitting in that dress designed specifically to finish me.

I head down the narrow hallway toward the rear, Ronan's already cleared the hall and fear starts to line my stomach. I reach the sliding door to the back lounge and open it. Ronan and Freja are already stretched across the entire sofa, as I suspected. Freja is tucked against his side, shoes off, her feet in his lap. Ronan has one arm around her and is holding a pastry over her mouth while she tries to bite it without using her hands.

They both look at me. Ronan lowers the pastry.

Freja smiles sweetly. “You can sit with us.” She gestures towards the six inches of available cushion.

“I’d rather be dragged behind the bus then have to witness this for the next four hours.”

“You don't know what you're missing!” Ronan barks with a laugh and Freja joins him.

I close the door and turn back toward the main cabin. At the same moment, Natalia steps into the hallway. One hand trails along the wall for balance as the bus picks up speed, the other already reaching for the restroom handle. We both stop, awkwardly. The hallway is too narrow for this. Her eyes move over me slowly. My pulse kicks hard enough to make me lightheaded. I flatten myself against one wall to let her pass.

She turns sideways, and her chest brushes mine. A warm, soft press through two layers of fabric that shouldn’t mean anything. I watch her breath catch, so does mine. She tries to step past, but the bus jerks beneath us and her hand lands against my stomach to steady herself. Every muscle under her palm locks.