“Bossy much?”
“For fuck’s sake, Kyan, please.” She aimed those big blues at me and for some reason I was tempted to give in to her request.
“What do I get for rescuing you?” I asked, my gaze sliding over her in those leather pants.
“What do you want?” she ground out, giving me a look that said I was an asshole, but I’d made my peace with that a long time ago.
“A kiss,” I said, eyeing her lips for a lingering moment as I smirked at her.
She snorted a breath of frustration, her eyes flicking to the spider which was headed her way again. “Fine,” she snapped, “Just get rid of it!”
“Your wish is my command.” I gave her a mocking bow and headed over to deal with the little fucker. And to be fair it was a pretty big beasty.
The thing was fast, scuttling away from me in a bid to escape but I managed to catch it on my third attempt, cupping it between my hands as it scrambled to get free.
“Don’t kill it,” she exclaimed like she thought I was about to crush the little thing.
“Why would I kill it?”
“I just assumed…I mean you beat the shit out of people for fun, so…”
I rolled my eyes at her and she held her breath as I crossed the room and dutifully tossed it outside. “I kick the shit out of people who deserve it or who want me to. I’m not gonna kill some little spider for no reason.”
“You care about its life?” The surprise in her big blues was kinda offensive, but I guessed that maybe she had good reason to have a low opinion of me. Hell, most people had good reason to have a low opinion of me.
“I care about its life more than I do about most people’s,” I granted her as I kicked the door shut again. “Animals aren’t capable of evil so they don’t deserve any from me.”
“That’s…unexpected,” she said, tilting her head as she looked at me in a wholly different way than usual.
I stalked closer to her, having to look up at her as she still stood on the couch. “Well don’t get too excited, baby,” I purred. “Because you look pretty human to me.”
“Maybe you should get a kiss from the spider then?”
“Naw. His lips are hairier than yours.”
She tried to fight off a smile at that and I reached up to curl a hand around her cheek. “You gonna keep me waiting?”
Her gaze drifted to my mouth and she shook her head slowly, moving forward to lean on the back of the couch as she closed the distance between us.
I let my hand slide from her cheek, reaching out with my other arm as well and curled my hands around her waist, liking the way her soft skin felt beneath my rough hands.
“Just one kiss,” she warned.
“Just the one,” I agreed.
She let out a shaky breath and leaned in, the vanilla and honey blossom scent of her enveloping me as she looked into my eyes.
Her lips parted and her eyes fell shut as she leaned closer, her lips almost brushing mine before I turned my cheek and the soft warmth of her mouth grazed against the stubble on my jaw.
She pulled back in surprise, her eyes widening as she looked at me like she wasn’t sure what the hell to think of that. “That’s the second time you’ve made me lean in for a kiss and rejected me,” she growled.
I laughed darkly, my grip tightening on her waist as I tugged her closer, our mouths almost touching again. But not quite. “I only kiss girls who I want to make mine in every way,” I said in a low voice. “It’s not necessary for fucking and I don’t see the point in it unless it means something.”
Her eyes widened as she took that in, her gaze holding me captive for a long moment and I had to admit I was tempted to find out what she tasted like.
I shifted one hand from her waist to her hair and fisted her blonde locks through my fingers, tugging her head back before dipping my mouth to the hollow of her neck and running my tongue right up to that spot beneath her ear. She gasped at the contact, a shiver running through her entire body as I growled with desire.
“But don’t worry, baby, if you want me to, I can do much better things to you with my mouth than kissing.”
I released her and stepped away again, beckoning for her to follow me as I headed down the short corridor which led out through the back of the church.
A moment later, her footsteps followed me and I smirked at the fact that I’d shocked her into silence for once.
I led her through my bedroom and into the bathroom where she slept, picking up the huge bag of makeup Saint had bought her and rifling through it until I found a blood red lipstick. The perfect colour for smearing over my cock. Which I still wasn’t convinced would be happening, but I liked to prepare for the best outcome.
I left her to put it on and headed back into my room, ditching my own clothes in a heap on the floor before pulling on a pair of black jeans and a white tank. All the better to see the bloodstains later.
Last, I grabbed my favourite leather jacket and threw it on before grabbing my second favourite for her.
Tatum emerged from the bathroom as I headed back towards it and my eyes widened as I took in her dirtied up look. She’d even gone one better than just putting on that lipstick for me and had shadowed her eyes to match. She looked fucking badass and I was more tempted than ever to put that bad ass to good work.
I tossed her my jacket and she hesitated a moment. “Saint doesn’t like me smelling like you.”
“Saint’s not here, baby, and I want you marked out as mine tonight in every way thinkable.”
She swallowed thickly at my words and for a moment it didn’t even look like she hated them as she pulled my jacket on. Yes. Fuck yes.
I grabbed her hand and pulled her back out into the living room and she breathed a laugh as she picked up on my excitement. There was a tall set of drawers by the door and I opened the top one, taking two rolls of cash from it. There was two thousand dollars in each of them. Saint’s pocket change. I’d pay him back out of my winnings. Probably. Or maybe not.
I shoved the money into my pocket and grabbed a notepad and fancy ass fountain pen next.
I pulled the lid from the pen with my teeth and spat it onto the floor before scribbling a note for Saint and Blake.
I’ve taken our pet out for a bit. Be back when I’m back.
I tossed the note and pen down on the dining table, leaving the lid off to enrage Saint even more.
“Where are we going?” Tatum asked as I pulled her out of the door and into the night.
“Sad as it is, I’m gonna take you to what might just be my favourite place in the world,” I replied and she didn’t have anything to say to that, only offering a frown which said she didn’t like me being cryptic.
I led her through campus all the way up the hill to the main gates and she started to drag her feet as I didn’t slow.
“Why are we heading for the gate?” she asked urgently.
“Because I promised to take you out.”
Tatum jerked to a halt and I turned to look at her in the moonlight.
“We’re on lockdown! Are you fucking insane?” she hissed.
“Yeah, baby, I am,” I purred, moving closer to her and catching her waist as I pulled her body flush with mine and inhaled that vanilla honey blossom scent of hers. She stilled in my arms but didn’t try to push me off as she looked up at me with her big blues. I leaned down and pushed my nose into her hair, drawing a line up her neck with my mouth without actually kissing her which made goosebumps rise along her flesh as I reached her ear. “Question is, are you?”