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Her pupils dilate. She’s fighting her desire, hiding what she truly wants when we can both feel it.
“Darling,” I murmur, “you’re a part of our lives now, whether you like it or not.”
She lowers her head, breaking our trance. “What if I don’t belong here?”
“But you do,” I insist, “because you belong with me.”
The fire crackles loudly as I lean in as if it can sense the mounting chemistry between us. Her gaze lingers on my lips while she bites hers. She’s scared, and it’s my job to give her security. I brush a loose red hair from her cheek and tuck it behind her ear.
Seb stomps back into the room and makes her spring away from me. Fuck. He looks questioningly between us, and his hands curl into fists.
Rose’s voice is a few pitches higher than usual. “Seb, we…”
He doesn’t lunge at me.
“Callen is done,” Seb reports. “No sign of the Killers Club. He’ll be heading here soon.”
I cough to clear my throat. “Good.”
Can Seb sense the simmering tension between us? Is he jealous? Angry? Finally, he breaks the silence. “I’m going to have an early night.”
“You mean, you’re happy to leave us down here?” Rose asks. “Alone?”
Seb grunts in response, “Yes.”
“But our deal…”
“What deal?” I ask sharply.
There’s something I’m missing, but both of them ignore me.
Seb takes a deep breath and says, “You need this.” His eyes soften. “Both of you do.”
I turn to Rose as he leaves the room. “What the hell was that?”
“That,” she says, “was him giving us permission to do this.”
Before I can argue that no one needs permission to do anything, her lips are on mine and years melt away because nothing else matters but how good her mouth feels on mine.
CHAPTER23
IVY
Kissing Freddie is bittersweet, like stepping back in time. A kiss brimming with promises I’ll never be able to keep. A life I’ll never be able to have. The phantom of a dream is within touching distance, yet it’s an impossibility. I can’t keep the delusion going forever, but I cling onto it for a little longer… my last shred of humanity… the last of Ivy Penrose.
Freddie will find out who I am soon. His hopes will be butchered, just like mine were. The Killers Club will learn about Tom’s disappearance and track us down. I’ll be able to hold Callen responsible and explain his death away when Alaric and Stephanie search for an explanation. Until then, I’ll be Rose.
I’m not stupid. I know I shouldn’t be kissing Freddie. I should kill him, and I’m falling into dangerous territory. A place that threatens my credibility as an agent and years of hard work. But none of that matters when Freddie draws me closer.
I climb onto his lap. The fire warms the room, but his calloused fingers chill my skin as they slide under my jumper and over my back. His touch is charged with desire. A lust more potent than anything I’ve experienced before. His hands explore me, stroke my spine, and ignite a buried need deep inside me.
My reservations vanish as I wrap my hands around his neck and tumble head-first into a moment I shouldn’t have but can’t resist. A moment Spencer stole from me. Spencer didn’t only take my sister. He took my life and everything I should have had… including Freddie.
Freddie murmurs into my mouth, “You’re beautiful.”
He pulls my jumper over my head. It’s a blur of hands, mouths, and heat. A chain reaction that we are powerless to stop now that it’s started. Our bodies fit together like the pieces of a puzzle slotting in place. I unbutton his shirt and tug it off his shoulders. Dark hair covers his carved, muscled chest, and I run my fingers through it.
Like Callen and Seb, Freddie is covered in scars, but one is especially gnarly. It spans across his right rib and would have torn him open. I pause to stroke his golden skin. “Where did you get this?”
