AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Mike filledme in on everything he’s found about Amelia and the Kingstons. It’s all there. She’s their sister. Older than Lenny and Hudson, but younger than Sawyer. She’s got a family out there that’s looking for her. They want her, and they have the means to protect her. Not that she’ll need them for that when she has me. But if they claim her as one of their own publicly, it will be big news. Not just in Philadelphia, but everywhere. The Kingstons are a powerful family. Old money. Big name. The papers will run wild with this. They only just stopped talking about old man Kingston dying in bed while he was cheating on his wife, a wife who was pregnant with his eighth kid and who herself was younger than at least four of his other kids. I might have taken care of the Tremblays for her, but I don’t know how she’ll feel about living her life in the public eye.
Once we call it a night, I barely make it to my car before I’m calling Amelia. I need to see her. To tell her before someone else has the chance to blow her world up. Her drowsy voice answers after the third ring.
“What the hell, Sam? Do you know what time it is? I’ve got to be up in like... I don’t know...” I hear her hit something and then move the phone. “Sam, I’ve got to be up in three hours. I haven’t heard from you in a month. What do you want?” Her voice is raspy. Sleepy. So fucking sexy.
“Snow, I need to see you...”
My next words are cut off when we get disconnected.
I call back, thinking we lost the connection. Her sexy, sleepy voice lets me know I’m wrong. “Take a hint, Sam. I don’t want to talk to you. It’s the middle of the night. Sunday mornings are huge for me. I have to get up at the ass crack of dawn. I’m sleeping. And you haven’t bothered to call me in a month. You haven’t apologized. You don’t get to call me now and tell me you have to see me. If you want to see me, call me tomorrow.” She waits a beat, then adds, “After the shop closes. Good night, Samuel.”
I manage to get her name out, praying she doesn’t hang up on me again, “I’m not sorry, Snow. That’s why I didn’t apologize. I need you safe. I need you safe and happy in my city. I want you safe and happy in my bed, where I can feel you breathe. Where I can worship you. I want you to be mine, Amelia. But for that to happen, I need you safe first. I need you breathing. I need you to live a long and happy fucking life. I’d do it again. I’d do anything if it meant I got to keep you safe.” My eyes close, and I lean my head back against the leather seat that’s still cold from the frigid night air.
There’s a quick intake of breath on the other end of the phone.
Amelia doesn’t answer right away, but she doesn’t hang up either. Then her quiet voice tentatively asks, “Do you promise to at least talk to me about it first next time?”
Holy shit.
“I promise to try, Snow. Can I come over?” Will I lose my man card if I admit I may have held my breath waiting for her answer?
“No, Sam. Not tonight. I have to go back to sleep now. But I’ll make an extra batch of cookies tomorrow with your name on them, and we can talk after the shop closes. That was a whole lot of information you just unloaded, and I’m too tired to sift through it right now.” She yawns, and I want to be there with her now.
“Let me come over tonight, Snow. We don’t have to talk. We don’t have to do anything but sleep. Let me see you.” When she doesn’t answer me, I add, “Jesus. I’ve never begged anyone for anything before. But I’ll get down on my knees and beg for just one single moment in time if I have to. Only for you. Only ever for you.”
The movement of blankets rustles through the phone before I hear the sound of her breathing change. “The door’s unlocked. I’m going back to bed.” There’s a pause before she adds, “No talking, Sam.”
“Just sleeping, Snow.” Thank you, Lord.
It takes me less than fifteen minutes to get to Amelia’s and about thirty seconds to get from my car to her front door. Taking the metal stairs two at a time, I can’t believe she left it unlocked for me. Once it’s shut, I lock all three locks and the chain. She left the light over the stove on, and I wonder if she did that for me or if that’s what she usually does.
Is this strong woman scared of what’s hiding in the dark?
Did I make it worse?
I quietly make my way back to her bedroom, and I’m rewarded with the sight of her sleeping peacefully in her bed. She’s tucked in under a silver blanket, her dark hair a stark contrast to her pale sheets.
God, I missed her.
I kick off my shoes and throw my coat over the chair resting in the corner of the room. I’m debating whether to take off my pants and shirt when her voice cuts through the silence.
“Don’t even think about getting into this bed with your suit on, Sam Beneventi. You’ve probably been in those clothes all day. God only knows where they’ve been and what’s on them.” She rolls over to face me and gives me a small smile. Her eyes stay closed, but she lifts the blanket in invitation. “No talking tonight, Sam. We can talk tomorrow. Tonight, we sleep.”
I strip down to my boxer briefs, my eyes never leaving the sleeping princess in front of me. The light of the full moon is filtering through her blinds, illuminating her pale, flawless skin and giving her a luminescent glow.
This woman has no idea what she means to me.
That’s my fault.
That gets fixed tomorrow.
Tonight, I settle for sliding into bed next to her.
She rolls over. No longer facing me.
I don’t hesitate, wrapping my arms around her and pulling her back against my chest. I haven’t seen her, haven’t touched her, for a month. Why the fuck did I listen to her when she told me to go away? Nobody tells me what to do, but this tiny slip of a woman has the ability to destroy me. After I take a moment to bury my face in her hair, I whisper in her ear, “Never again, Snow.”
“Hmmm,” she mummers sleepily.
“Sleep tonight, talk tomorrow.” I tighten my arms around her and wait for her breathing to even out, then kiss her head and close my eyes.
Tomorrow.
