Page 4 of Risk (Gods #3)

“ W hat floor are you staying on?” Kaden asks as he guides me into the waiting elevator with his hand pressed to my lower back.

I’m trying not to come out of my skin at his touch. Even though there’s the fabric of my dress between his palm and the skin on my back, it still feels like that spot is burning.

God, could you imagine how it would feel if his skin were actually touching yours?

I’d probably spontaneously burst into flames.

“Forty-seven. You?”

“Fifty,” he tells me as he leans forward.

I get a whiff of his woodsy aftershave. It makes my lady parts shimmy with utter fucking delight.

Kaden presses the button for my floor. His hand never leaving my lower back.

As the elevator ascends, I become fully aware of the fact that it’s just us in this contained space.

The elevator suddenly seems a lot smaller, and the air is thicker, like there’s less of it.

I also notice he didn’t press the button for his floor.

Of course, my analytical brain is now assessing that fact, wondering if he didn’t do it because instead of going to his floor, he’ll be coming to my room, or if he’ll just press it once I’m out of the elevator.

Not that I think he’s being presumptuous—because I don’t.

Maybe he just intends on walking me to my room.

But from the moment I went to speak to him at the bar, we’ve spent the whole night talking. And I swear…flirting. Not just me, but him too. And he keeps looking at me in this…dark, intense way—which, if I’m not misinterpreting, is definitely lust.

We stayed chatting, even after Ares and Ari disappeared off to their honeymoon suite and Zeus and Cam called it a night, as the kids were asleep on their little feet. Lo had disappeared without a word, but I had seen him talking to a stunning redhead for most of the night.

Also, Kaden hasn’t removed his hand from my back. It’s just resting there, a light pressure against my skin.

Is he doing this without thought? Like, he put it there and forgot to move it? Or was there thought and he’s kept it there for a reason? Because if there was thought, then—

Nope. Stop right there. You’re getting carried away with yourself.

Sometimes, I really wish I had a brain that didn’t overthink and assess every angle of every situation I found myself in.

I know it’s what will make me a good psychologist—being able to think and analyze all situations for others and figure out the whys. Unfortunately for me, my brain doesn’t work for me. Everyone else’s situations I can theorize and conclude, except for my own.

“You’re quiet,” Kaden says in that deep voice of his.

I am? Yes, I am. Because I’m stuck in my head.

“Just thinking.”

“About?” is his response.

You. Me. If your hand on a small, nonsexual area of my body means anything. And also why my brain won’t shut the fuck up and be normal.

“The wedding. How lovely it was. How happy I am for Ares and Ari.”

Liar, liar, pants on fire.

I mean, I have thought that, just not right now.

“And also how much my feet are hurting.” And that’s the truth.

The shoes that Ari got for me and Cam to wear with our bridesmaid dresses are gorgeous.

They’re the same burgundy red as the dress, with a strap across the toes and then one around the ankle.

But with beauty comes pain, and, man, are these painful.

I guess it’s because I’m not used to wearing heels.

One benefit of being tall, I tend to wear flats often.

But for my girl Ari, I would take the pain all day long—which I actually did.

It’s so awesome to have sisters now. Growing up with three brothers was great, but I always wished for a sister.

And my two older brothers brought me two of the best sisters a girl could ask for.

So, that’s two out of the four of us married. Just Lo and I are still single.

Not that I want to get married anytime soon. But a decent guy to date would be nice.

Not me sending telepathic messages to the guy still currently touching that nonsexual part of my body.

“Take the shoes off.”

Yes, for a millisecond, my brain did think he said to take something else off. Let’s call it wishful thinking.

I look down at the floor of the elevator.

It looks clean enough. But then it should be for the price they charge for a room for the night.

Ares is covering the cost for my room. He insisted on paying for mine, Lo’s, and Zeus’s rooms because we were a part of the bridal party, but I know he did it because Lo and I are butt-ass broke students.

I’d bet anything that Zeus wouldn’t let him pay for his and Cam and the kids’ suite, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Ares had let Zeus pay for his own room under the condition that he didn’t tell me and Lo.

I’m also a hundred percent sure that Ares paid for our dad’s room. Purely because our dad doesn’t have the kind of money to stay in a hotel like this. But being an NFL player with a huge contract, my brother has the money to spare.

“Yeah, I think I will.”

I bend forward to unfasten the buckle on the ankle. I feel Kaden’s hand slip from my back, and the good feeling that was there is instantly replaced by coldness.

I get one buckle open, then the other.

As I stand upright, ready to step out of them, I wobble in the heels without the stability of the ankle strap, and my ankle slips.

“Whoa.” Kaden catches hold of me before I go down like a foal trying out her new legs.

He pulls me upright, and I’m against his chest.

Is it just me, or is there tension between us? Like a palpable, electric, sexual kind of tension? Or did I just have too much champagne? Probably the latter.

My hand goes to his shoulder for support, but also because I want to touch him, just this once, even if there is fabric between my skin and his.

And I feel it instantly. The shift between us. Like someone just set off a dirty bomb filled with sexual desire above our heads and it’s glittering down over us, coating us.

I know with absolute certainty that if I look at him, we’re going to kiss.

So, of course, I look at him. I’ve been wanting to kiss this guy for forever.

The heat in his eyes nearly knocks me off my feet again.

I swallow and then lick my dry lips.

I see a flash of something unmistakably sinful in his eyes, making my heart trip up on itself.

“Fuck,” he groans, and then his mouth crashes onto mine.