Page 25 of Diamonds

“Yeah?”he growls.

“Would you mind if I… If I joined you?”

“I thought we said sex was off the table for the night.”

I bite my lip.“I know… I was just… I would feel safer if I were in the shower with you.”

He gestures to the unoccupied space in the shower.“Plenty of room, baby.”

I smile.“I thought there might be.”

I strip off the sweatpants and hoodie I’m wearing.How different my world was when I put these clothes on.I changed out of my formal clothes when I got home from the club and was already changed by the time Maddox showed up.I knew something was up with May’s suspension with the club, but I figured all I would discover was some shady business practices on Rouge’s part.Never in my wildest dreams did I think I’d be digging up a body.

Or at least, bodyparts.

But I can put that on the back burner for right now.All I need to focus on for the next fifteen minutes or so is getting all the dirt and grime off my body, all of this horrible night off my body.

And maybe get my bodyontoanother body.

Maddox said no sex.

I’m not one hundred percent sure he meant that, but I’ll respect it if he does.That doesn’t mean we can’t hold each other, let the warm water wash the horrors of the night off of us.

I remove my panties quickly and then step into the shower.

Maddox cracks a smile.“I was hoping you’d end up joining me in here.”

I cock my head.“Were you?I thought we agreed we weren’t going to do anything tonight.”

He shrugs.“Any situation can be improved by adding a naked lady.”

I punch his chest.“That’s all I am to you?A naked lady?”

“No, Alissa.”He wraps his arms around me.“You’re so much more than that.”

And he crushes his mouth to mine.

It’s a fierce kiss.A kiss of aggression.Or desperation.Of need to leave the mortal world and all its injustices behind, if only for an instant.

I return it, letting him invade me with his tongue, to take what he needs.

We kiss and kiss and kiss as the hot water pelts us, creates a protective shield between us and the world that allowed May to die so cruelly.

He finally breaks the kiss, his eyes slightly sullen as he looks down.“Sorry.”

I tip his chin up and look him in the eyes.“Never apologize for kissing me like that, Maddox Hathaway.”

“But we said no messing around.”

I bat my eyes.“I don’t recall making a promise in writing.”

“Fuck, Alissa.”He runs his hands over the small of my back, sending a tingling chill through me.“Are you sure?”

“With you, I’m always sure.”

He kisses me again.

And it makes the last kiss look like the kind a kid would give his grandmother in church.