AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Yeah. It is.”
I just can’t take it yet.
Chapter Nine
Rogue
I stand in the doorway to the costume closet that Ivy and Adira share. She wasn’t exaggerating when she said it took up an entire bedroom or when she said it would take forever to clean up.
It’s been a week since Marty sent us the final copy of the article and Summer signed off on it. Ten days of visits to Narnia and still shoes tumble out of baskets and boxes. Double racks filled with garment bags and plastic wrapped costumes are lined up wall to wall.
It almost looks like they haven’t accomplished anything. Only one wall is empty, the contents piled onto a mountain in the corner. Above the racks, hat boxes are stacked to the ceiling. Styrofoam heads hang beside me on the only open wall like a weird shrine to a serial killer who collects the scalps of beautiful women and exotic birds.
A huge island console, half glass, half-timber is mostly hidden under a pile of fabric. Costume jewelry hangs on every cornered and angled object in the room. One corner is dedicated to a sewing area. And the whole thing smells like sugar cookies, leather, and…I sniff…feet.
Ivy stands on tiptoe, arm stretched above her head as she reaches for another hatbox. She wriggles it carefully toward the edge of the shelf, her whole body wiggling with the effort. A soft huff leaves her lips that sounds a whole lot like the moans she makes when she’s in my bed. It gets me just as hard.
One foot leaves the floor as she stretches a little more.Her dress rides up, dangerously close to revealing parts of her I can’t leave alone once they’re on my mind.
I cross the floor, clearing my throat, so I don’t scare her. Press in close while I reach over her. “Baby, let me.”
“I didn’t know you were here,” she says as I bring the box down to her level.
“Adira let me in.” I hand her the box. “Have to say I couldn’t help but admire the view.”
She moves to the pile that is growing next to the cabinet. Puts the box with the others. “How long were you standing there?”
“Long enough to get very bad ideas.”
Her lips twist even as she tries to keep a straight face. “Is that so?”
“Are you sure you wouldn’t like me to get Kia to help?” I ask. “My personal assistant is very organized.” And bossy, but I leave that part out. “I’m sure she’d be happy to take over something less aggravating than me. And it would give me more time to woo you.”
“Don’t you think that might be the problem in the first place?” She laughs. “At any rate, it shouldn’t take much longer.”
“That’s what you said three days ago,” I mutter.
“Yes, well, maybe if you would stop distracting me.” She purses her lips as she gives me the look that says she likes the way I distract her.
“I do not.” I scoff. “Woman, what are you talking about?”
“You know exactly what I’m talking about.” She presses her teeth into her lip.
“Do I?” I pretend that I don’t want to lift her onto the surface we’re standing next to just to put my fingers between her legs. Fuck it, I want so much more than that. But I’m waiting on her. When she’s ready. When it’s right.
"Uh-huh.” She stares up at me with big, innocent eyes.
She’s anything but innocent when it comes to what she does to me. She loves the power she holds over me. I’m sure of it.
“I’m obsessed with you,” I admit. Addicted to her scent and the way she responds to my touch. Dying to possess that sweet little treat between her legs. And the fact that she’s not ready… I don’t know what that means.
More than that I want her laughter and teasing to be the soundtrack of my day and her moans to be my white noise at night. I want her to warm my bed every night and be the future I look forward to with certainty. I’m not the kind of man who does things by half. I don’t pussyfoot around what I want. I don’t play about when I’m serious about something. She owns me and we both know it.
But she’s keeping me at a distance… and it’s not just physically.
“I should keep going.” She moves across the room to collect another hat box.
I lean against the console and watch her avoid me. She’s been distant since that morning I dropped her off at home, before I went to Rebel’s to meet with Marty. She’s acting like everything is fine, but I can feel it. There is this invisible barrier between us, emotionally, and I can’t figure out how to break through it. Probably because, if I’m being honest with myself, she’s the one who needs to breach it.
