Page 47 of Never Gonna Lie (Forbidden #2)
Chapter Forty-Seven
JAMES
“ M y stepmom has her annual gala this weekend,” Raven sleepily mumbles.
I continue stroking my hand across her back, but my body tenses. “I know. You’re not going.”
She sits up, glaring at me, no longer sleepy. “Last time I checked, you get to tell me what to do during sex, James, not at any other time.”
Sighing, I reply, “I’m trying to keep you safe, pretty girl. There’s still a threat against you.”
“James,” she says exasperatedly, clutching the sheet to her naked chest. “There’s been no attempt on me for the past… I don’t know how long. Stop being so overbearing. You know how much Emma means to me. I won’t miss this.”
Her challenging attitude makes me smile. “Guess I haven’t fucked the brat out of you yet, huh?” I joke .
Her shoulders relax at my playful tone. “I’m still going. I’ll be surrounded by people. Nothing’s happened to me while I’ve been at school or work,” I point out.
“I just don’t want anything happening to you, Raven.” My voice is soft, and her breath hitches.
“I think you like me, James Smith,” she sasses, a wide smile on her face.
I chuckle. “If I didn’t like you, you wouldn’t be in my bed, baby.”
Raven bounces up and down, her eyes twinkling. “No. You like me, like me,” she sing songs.
“You been hanging out with Theo?” I raise an eyebrow at her.
“What? No!” she exclaims, and I relax slightly. “Why? Does he think you like me, too?” She wiggles her eyebrows at me, still smiling.
I bark out a laugh at her playfulness, my chest expanding and filling with warmth.
Raven shuffles closer and cups my face in her hand, leaning in to kiss me. Her lips are soft against mine, and I breathe in her fresh smell. “I’ll be fine, Daddy. Stop worrying.”
“You better fucking be,” I grumble.
“You do like me,” she squeals as she throws herself at me. “I think James Smith has a slight crush.” She winks.
“Don’t make me put you over my knee again, pretty girl,” I warn, but there’s no heat in my tone. Because in all honesty, I think she’s right.
“Promises, promises,” she teases. “So, now that I’ve gotten my way over this weekend, I need a date.”
“You’ve already got one.”
“I do?” she questions, her forehead wrinkling in confusion. “Who?”
“Me. ”
She laughs. “Erm, I don’t think that’s gonna work for me, pretty boy.”
“And why exactly isn’t it gonna work for you?” I drawl, crossing my arms. Like fuck is she going with anyone else.
“Because we’re not supposed to be together.” She rolls her eyes at me. “Unless you wanna march down the hall and confess to my dad that you’re sleeping with me?”
“Not particularly.” I sigh, rubbing my forehead. “He’s gonna kill me.”
“Yeah, he kinda is.” She grins. “But you started it.”
“Pretty sure you started it by flashing your delicious body in that white dress,” I grumble, running a hand down my face and leaning my head against the headboard.
“White dress?” she asks, confusion marring her pretty face, her nose wrinkling as she tries to remember.
“The one you wore for your birthday last year.”
Raven smiles. “Oh, that one. Yeah, you can thank Mia for that.”
“Anyway, getting off topic. You don’t need a date, you’ll be with me,” I huff, pouting.
“No, I won’t. Leo can be my date,” she sasses.
“He’s security. He needs to blend into the background.” I clench my jaw. “You will not have a date, Raven. Am I understood?”
She carries on like she didn’t hear me, her index finger tapping against her bottom lip as she muses, “I mean, there’s Daniel from one of my classes, or Tom… ooooh, yeah I could?—”
“Do not finish that sentence, pretty girl,” I growl.
The thought of Leo as her date was bad enough, but another guy? Out of the fucking question. Raven’s my girl, and there’s no way another man will ever have his hand on her. Over my dead fucking body .
“—ask him. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind being my date. Mia said he’s a dead ringer for Tom Hardy and that man is?—”
I grapple her before she can finish, holding her hands above her head and lying half of my body on top of hers. “What did I say about finishing that sentence, Raven?” I say through gritted teeth.
The jealousy coursing through my veins is no joke. It took me a few minutes to work out what the feeling was, seeing as it’s a foreign emotion. I’ve never done jealousy before, but I guess where Raven’s concerned, things are changing.
She gives me a grin. “James Smith, are you… jealous?”
“Absolutely not.” I fake pout, rolling off her and resuming my position.
She pats my chest and gives me a quick kiss on the cheek before lying back down with her head on my chest. “Okay, grumpy pants. I won’t have a date.
” She yawns before adding, “You’ll just have to fuck me before we leave, so your cum’s dripping from me while we’re there.
That should ease your caveman tendencies for a couple of hours. ”
I choke out a laugh. She’s got a point.
Yeah, let’s do that.