Page 75 of The Bonds We Break

“We’ll be there, Briar. Tell Saint to send me the location.” King presses end call, then kisses the top of my head. “Looks like you need to go get cleaned up.”

I tap the cover of the book for a moment. “We can’t go on a date.”

“Why not? Wait, does Shakespeare have something against dating? You got a quote for me?”

I fight the flicker of a smile at his comment. “Shakespeare has nothing to say, but it’s a bit weird, isn’t it? Everyone knows why I’m here. We’re not dating.”

King flops down on the sofa next to me, his dark hair falling over his eyes. I stop myself from reaching forward to push it back a little. In return, he tugs me into his lap. “To-may-to, to-mah-to.”

“Did you just tomato me about the specifics of what this is?” I gesture between the two of us.

The shrug he gives me is schoolboy-like ... as if he just got caught sneaking extra candy.

He buries his face in the side of my neck and sucks on the skin there gently. Not enough to leave a mark like the ones on my breasts, but enough that I can feel it. As always, when he touches me like this, I clench my thighs.

“I refuse to go on a date with you as a captive, as an insurance policy, and where people can judge me for the choices I’ve made to keep my brother safe.”

His head snaps up, his eyes dark. “Don’t talk about yourself like that.”

A laugh escapes me. “Do you know what the wordmercurialmeans?”

“No fucking clue.”

I run my fingers through his hair. It’s soft and cool to the touch. “It means ‘susceptible to swift changes in mood.’”

King looks up to the ceiling as if examining the word in his mind, then nods. “Sounds about right.”

“You can’t get mad at me for articulating the situation, King. Even if you don’t like yourself very much for doing it right now. You showed up at my house and took me against my will. I’m here now, in your home, because the only other choice I had was to let you take a knife to my brother’s skin.”

He rubs his thumb along my lower lip. “Is that all this is to you, then? As soon as the six months are up, you’ll leave and go back to Michigan?’

He looks up at me through long eyelashes, and my heart tilts again. “Is that all I am to you?”

“I asked first.”

Taking the lead, I press a soft kiss to his lips. “You have the upper hand in everything else. Let me have this. You answer first.”

He links his fingers with mine and lets out a deep sigh. “I don’t know what the fuck you are, Rae. But you’re more than insurance or a captive. I’m not sure if I want a woman right now, but the idea of you not being here next summer burns like a motherfucker. The idea your consent was given under duress makes me fucking itch. And hearing you say you won’t go on a date with me because that’s not who we are ... all that makes memercurial.”

I smile softly at his honesty as his words settle something deep inside me. “Good use of the word in context.”

“You gonna leave me hanging, or are you going to tell me what I am to you?”

It’s too early to share the growing depths of my actual feelings, so I search for something else to say. “If you told me you didn’t need me to keep Ryker in line and that I could leave tomorrow, I’d still have to think about it.”

“Justthink about it.”

“Yes, Uther. I’d have to think about it. Leaving you wouldn’t be easy. So ask me to go out with you nicely.”

King’s hand slips around my neck and fists my hair, tugging it how I like it. His lips meet mine with a tenderness that gives me hope, even as I feel him getting hard beneath me. “Would you go on a date with me tonight, Rae?” His lips brush against mine as he speaks. “Please.”

For a second, I consider playfully refusing, but I don’t want to ruin this moment. “I will.”

I feel the smile on his lips. “There’s my good girl.”

“In that case, I better go get ready.”

King grips my hips and pulls me against his cock. “You feel like doing something about this first?”