Page 130 of The Secrets We Bury

I shake off the thoughts and start moving again, Lex and Gio silently following as we move around the edge of the ballroom and towards an open doorway. The invitation is proof that she wants us. She’ll be there soon—and we need to prepare if we’re going to convince her that we can protect her.

“Gio,” I call as we leave the ballroom behind and enter a corridor.

“Yes?”

“Make sure she makes it to the room,” I say.

“You think she’ll get lost?” he asks.

“She was lost the moment she left us,” I tell him honestly, glancing back at him and Lex over my shoulder. “No,” I continue. “I don’t think she’ll get lost because the hounds of hell are ready to lead her back to the right path.”

JULIET

I’m panting and sweating by the time I make it through the garden courtyard in the center of the King Hotel and to the other side. There are fewer people in this area and none around whenI reach the servants’ elevator in the exact place that Paris had directed me.

Punching the button for the elevator, I reach up and rip the thin silver pins keeping my hair up. It falls around my shoulders in a cloud of sweet-smelling shampoo and blue. The note I’d taken from Paris flutters to the ground at my feet and I bend, retrieving it and unfolding the small square until the letters and numbers inside are revealed.

Room 1196

That’s it. Just a room number, no key. The elevator dings in front of me and the doors slide open to reveal a small room that’s half the size of a normal elevator without the usual adornments and embellishments of gold or mirrored walls that guest elevators would normally have. I don’t care. I step inside and press the buttons for the right floor, the note gripped tightly in my fist.

Almost there. Almost…

My heart is hammering in my chest so hard that it’s all I can hear when I reach the correct floor and the elevator doors open once more. Before I can step out into the hall, though, a masked man is in front of me.

I jerk back at the sharp fangs protruding from the mask that covers the lower half of his face before I recognize the eyes above it. I freeze.

“Gio?”

He’s on me before I can blink. His hands grip me around my biceps and he rips me free from the elevator, turning and shoving me against the nearest wall. Warmth and masculine scent invades my nostrils as his big body pushes against me from shoulder to hip. He dips his head and shadows cascade over the upper half of his exposed face as he presses his forehead against mine.

“Fuck,Prep Girl, it’s been too fucking long.” His voice is pulled taut like a string about to snap. “I should bend your ass over my lap and spank the shit out of you for all the shit you put us through.”

I breathe him in, closing my eyes as his scent sinks inside of me. My arms drift up as I wrap them around his neck and urge him closer, my breasts smashing against him. “I had my reasons,” I whisper.

He snorts. “Bullshit reasons.”

“Perfectly acceptable reasons,” I argue. “I was protecting you.”

His groan is, at first, one of frustration, but quickly morphs into one of desire as I spread my legs and one of his finds its way between them. His closeness has my mouth watering. I part my lips and lean into him. I kiss his throat once, beneath the frighteningly sharp fangs of his mask, before setting my own blunt teeth against his flesh.

One of Gio’s hands goes to the back of my head as he cranes his neck to give me easier access. “Don’t think that distracting me with sex will help you, Prep Girl.”

“Who said I was trying to distract you?” I mumble my question as I shift to the side and bite down on the place right above his tuxedo collar. He grunts and his grip on my skull tightens. He can’t help but nudge me closer. I grin against his flesh and then lick over the mark I’ve made.

“I’ve fucked enough women in my lifetime to know when they’re trying to distract me from something,” he says.

My smile drops immediately and my next bite is harder, fiercer. “Shit!” His hips jolt against mine. The hard ridge of his erection connects with my belly, rubbing even as he hisses out the curse.

When I release him, I lick my lips. “Don’t talk about other women you’ve fucked when you’ve got me here,” I tell him.

His chuckle is low and vibrating. “Jealous?” he taunts.

“Possessive,” I correct him, lifting my head. My fingertips trail towards the half-moons of my teeth marks. “You’re mine, after all, aren’t you?”

“Fuck yeah, I am.” He breathes the words, his pupils expanding as he gazes down at me. “And we’re here to steal you back.”

“Then… take me, Playboy,” I whisper, licking out and stroking my tongue over his fuller bottom lip. “Right here. Right now.” It’s been too long and I missed him. I wasn’t ever sure I’d get to see them again.