AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"Which is why you need to trust me on this."
"And if I don’t?"
"Then—" he sets his jaw, "Then it means whatever we shared was, clearly, not strong enough if, at the first challenge we face, you decide you can’t believe in me."
"It’s not the first challenge," I scoff.
He glances over my shoulder and his gaze widens.
"This is the last in an entire series of challenges beginning with the two of us spending so much time apart that I’m not sure if I know who you are anymore and—"
He moves so quickly, I blink. The next second, he’s thrown me over his shoulder.
"What the—" I gasp. Flashbulbs pop. He turns around, storms past our friends who’ve been watching the entire spectacle unfold, and marches inside the house.
Declan
"Let me go!" She wriggles.
I tighten my hold on her.
"What’s wrong with you, Declan? What are you doing?"
"Trying to have a conversation with my girlfriend without the entire world and their mother looking on."
"You’re crazy." She struggles anew. "And was that a paparazzi’s camera that took that picture?"
“Apparently not even Sinclair Sterling’s top notch security could stop a paparazzo from getting through to get a piece of the both of us.” Not that I’m surprised. Every time Solene and I get together it results in a feeding frenzy from the news people. They’ve hung outside my home in LA, followed me into shoots in the Australian bushland, trailed Solene’s concert tour bus between states in the US. You’d think having Hunter Whittington the Prime Minister of the country in attendance at the wedding would result in protective detail being upped so much it would detract the paps? But apparently not. Seems they’d risk being arrested to get an exclusive pic of Solene and I.
As if reading my thoughts Solene groans aloud, "Jesus, Declan, and you carried me out in front of them? We’ll be all over the internet in a few seconds."
"We’ll be all over the internet one way or the other. If not now, then when you’re spotted running back to LA, and when I’m photographed taking the next flight out to my shoot. This way, at least, we’re seen together."
"So, we can propagate the lie that we’re still a couple?" She huffs.
"Wearestill a couple."
"Ha! That’s a load of bull, and you know that."
Anger suffuses my chest. A pithy retort boils up my throat, and I clamp my lips closed. I will not lose my temper—not until I’ve had a chance to talk this out with her. It’s what I decided before coming to the wedding, knowing full well I was going to see her here. I shoulder my way through the back door of Sinclair Sterling’s townhouse, where Abby and Cade decided to hold their wedding, then stalk through the busy kitchen. A uniformed waiter stares at us openmouthed before stepping out of my way. Another waitress stops halfway to loading plates of food on her tray. She tracks my progress across the now silent kitchen, her gaze wide.
"They’re looking at us, asshole," Solene hisses.
"No shit." I reach the door, push it open and step through, leaving commotion in my wake.
"Where the hell are you taking me?" She bucks in my grasp, and I slow my steps, so I can carry her safely.
"Stay still," I bark.
"And if I don’t?" She brings her fist down into my lower back, and goddam, I feel that punch all the way to the crown of my cock. The blood empties to my groin. My balls tighten. Fucking hell, I need to have that conversation with her. I cannot afford to think with my dick—not right now. I glance up and down the corridor, then head toward the last door at the far end, pushing through to find myself in a spacious bathroom.Finally. Fuck.
"Declan, you asswipe... Put. Me. Down."
"Gladly." I kick the door shut behind me, twist the lock, and head over to the chair in a corner of the room where I sit down and throw her over my lap.
"What the—?" she splutters.
I lean one arm over her waist to keep her in place, then raise my palm and spank her butt. One, two, three, four. I lay them down in quick succession, on opposite arse-cheeks of her leather skirt covered backside, then push her off so she falls to the ground on her rear.
