He shakes his head. “No. I just wanted to come by and place an order for someone.” Ducking his head, he looks up at me shyly through his lashes. “For a special someone.”
I set my cell down. “Well, as long as you don’t need it today or tomorrow, I can help you out with that.”
“I won’t need them until next week.”
Opening the top drawer, I pull out my pad and a pen and slide it across the counter. “Just fill this out for me.”
He comes up to the counter, closing the distance between us, and starts writing down all the info. When he’s finished, he places the pen down. “Thanks so much. I want my girl to know just how special she is.” Then he exits without another word.
I look down at the paper and frown when I see Lucy Mason written out.
Picking up my cell, I call up Grave.
“Hey, babe,” he answers immediately.
I bite my lip to hide my smile as if he can see me. “Hey.”
“Everything okay?” he asks.
I love that he asks me that. “Yeah.” My eyes drop to the piece of paper on the counter and I chicken out. “I know you said we could do dinner tonight, but I was just wondering if you’d like me to bring you lunch today.” I’ll ask him tonight about Lucy. Obviously, they’re not exclusive. Or if they were, they’re not now. I saw how he avoided her last night and he didn’t even know I was watching him at that point.
“Why don’t you come up here for lunch and we’ll eat here together,” he offers.
“Sounds good.”
“Pull around the back of Kingdom and enter the private entrance. A man by the name of Nigel will be at the desk and will escort you up to my office.”
I remember that guy. I saw him when Titan took me kicking and screaming to Bones’s office after my shop was destroyed because of the money my brother owed. “Any particular time?”
“I’ll clear my schedule whenever you arrive.”
I smile at that. “See you soon.”
_______________
“Here you are.” Nigel says, opening the glass door for me to enter the Kings office.
“Thank you.”
“Of course, ma’am.” He nods. “His office is the last one on the left.”
I walk down the dark gray hallway and pass the first door on the left; Cross is in gold letters. I take a look in to see he’s not in there. The next door on the left reads Titan. He too isn’t in there. But I didn’t expect him to be. Emilee told us that they were going to be in New York for the weekend. I come up to the end of the hall. The door on the left has Grave on it. I know the one on the right is Bones.
I softly knock on Grave’s door. “Come in,” he calls out.
I enter and come to a stop when I see him sitting at his desk with a phone to his ear. Cross sits in the chair across from it. He turns to look at me over his shoulder, flipping a Zippo in his right hand. “Hey,” I say lamely.
“I have to go …” Grave says into the phone. “Yeah, yeah. I’ll get it done.” Then he hangs up. “Even when he’s in New York, he’s up my ass.” He growls, standing and walking around his desk over to me.
My heart picks up. I’m not sure why I’m so nervous about being here. Maybe because this is his element. This is his domain. I’m used to being in my bed with him naked.
He wraps his arms around me and pulls me in for a hug. When he pulls away, he gives me a gentle kiss on my forehead that causes butterflies in my stomach. “How’s your day?”
“Good.” I walk over and sit down next to Cross and push my hair behind my ear. “Yours?”
He sighs and sits down at his desk. “The usual.”
I’m not sure what that means because we never talk about Kingdom. I don’t push him to share information regarding him and the Kings. What they do here is none of my business. And after what Derek told me, I think I’d rather not know. I don’t expect Grave to be a saint. All I expect from a guy is that he treats me right and respects me. The rest can always be worked on.
A cell phone rings and Grave picks his up from his desk. He lets out a growl and looks at me. “Give me a second.”
“Yes, of course.” I say stupidly like he asked for permission. I sit up straighter in the comfortable black leather chair. My ass sinks into it. It’s exactly what I would expect for a King.
Grave exits the room and a silence falls over it. I don’t know Cross very well. I don’t know any of the Kings actually. I’ve only ever met them once and I was having a bad day. I did see Cross once before in Roses, but there was very minimal interaction between the two of us.
His green eyes meet mine. He flips the Zippo open. The flame burns before he slams it shut. “It’s a reminder.” He says when he catches me staring.
I could lie. Pretend I wasn’t wondering what the fuck he’s doing. But instead I ask, “Of what?”
He flips it open again, tilts his head to the side, and watches the flame dance at the tip of his tatted fingers. Then his eyes slide to mine, the green darkening to black and sending a chill down my spine. “That if I wanted to, I could burn the motherfucking world down.”
He takes a cigarette from behind his ear and places it between his lips, then raises the lighter. But I speak, making him pause, “You know smoking will kill you.” My grandfather died of lung cancer. Smoked his entire life. My mother begged me and Ethan not to ever smoke. That it wasn’t worth it in the end.
He removes the unlit cigarette from his lips and smirks at me. “So will falling in love with a man who has a death wish.” My eyes widen. “And I don’t see you putting an end to that.” He replaces it between his lips and lights the cigarette then flips the Zippo shut. “Guess we’ll both die due to our own stupidity.” He blows the smoke out.
The door opens, and Grave re-enters. Cross stands and exits without another word. “Sorry, I’m ready for lunch now.” He drops into his desk chair.
Cross thinks I love him. Jasmine thinks I love him. Do I? Am I doing something that everyone else sees but me? Am I being too clingy? Too obvious? Do I need to take a step back and look at it from a different angle? What if Grave thinks this too? Will it push him away?
“April?”
“Hmm?” My eyes snap up to Grave’s. He gives me that smile that makes my heart pick up. “You okay?” he asks.
“Yeah, just been a long week,” I lie, not wanting to make him question anything. I came here to see him and I’m not going to let Cross’s words fuck that up. I get up and walk around. Pushing his chair back, I climb into his lap, straddling him.
He leans back, placing his hands behind his head, showing off his muscular arms with a cocky smile.
“A friend of yours stopped by Roses today.” I do have feelings for Grave, but I need to know where I stand before I allow myself to feel anymore.
The smile drops off his face, and he tilts his head to the side. “Who?”
“He said his name was Jimmy. Think the last name was Trust?”
He snorts. “He’s not a friend.” He drops his arms and grips my hips.
I frown. “I told him we were closed twice, but he insisted on ordering flowers.”