Page 143 of Velvet Corruption

Nothing. Like he wasn’t in my bed. Like he hadn’t made me forget everything last night, even how to breathe. Like Julian finding him here wasn’t about to be a total fucking disaster.

He was unbelievable.

“Please,” I said, the desperation clear in my voice.

“You’re not actually afraid of him.”

No. Not of him. Of everything else. “Just—just get up and—” I made a wild, frantic gesture at the closet.

Kieran let out a long, exaggerated sigh. Like it was all some huge inconvenience.

He stretched again, completely at ease. “They won’t find me,” he said, his tone so sure.

“The hell they won’t!”

“They won’t if we leave. We could just…climb down this window. If we’re reverting back to the way we solved problems when we were kids, that could work.”

“Kieran,” I hissed under my breath. “I do not have time to argue with you about this. You have two options here. You get in the closet right fucking now or I start screaming and act like you broke into my bedroom. Which option do you want to choose?”

“You’re crazy,” Kieran said.

“Just do this one thing for me,” I said, knowing I sounded desperate. “Please.”

I heard the sound of laughter downstairs.

Kieran groaned, more like I’d asked him to run a marathon than to hide from my ex-husband and daughter before they found my very-much-criminal, very-nearly-naked lover in my bed. “Ruby,” he said, half amused, half annoyed.

“Fine.”

And finally—finally—he got up.

He was so goddamn smug about it, still moving slow, still smirking at me like this was some ridiculous game I was making him play.

“Thank you,” I said, exasperated, shoving him toward the closet door.

“Can’t believe this,” he muttered, bending to grab his shirt off the floor.

He looked at me again, eyes glinting with amusement, with that Kieran confidence that everything would be fine. “I kill a man for you,” he said, “and now I have to hide? Great fucking deal.”

I shoved him one last time, and he ducked inside just as the footsteps got closer. I opened the window a crack, worried the room smelled like sex, and then made sure the door to the closet was fully closed.

“Shut the fuck up, Kieran,” I said under my breath.

I grabbed the remote, quickly turned the TV on to a random news channel and took a deep breath as I heard their footsteps right outside the door.

The closet door shut a second before Julian stepped into the bedroom with Rosie. She spotted me immediately.

“Mami!”

I barely had time to brace myself before she launched her body into my arms. I caught her, burying my face in her curls, inhaling the sweet scent of shampoo and safety.

She was warm and soft and her tiny arms wrapped tight around my neck like she never wanted to let go.

Something inside me cracked, deep and painful. I almost didn’t live to see this moment.

I almost didn’t get to hold my daughter again. Fuck.

I squeezed my eyes shut, held her tighter. “Hey, tesoro.”