Page 165 of We Are Yours

Fifty-Three

Kraven

The saddest thing about betrayal is that it never comes from your enemies. -Unknown

* * *

Two weeks later.

* * *

I watched her cook dinner in the kitchen. We were dancing around, listening to music while she finished the chicken pesto on the stove.

“I’m going to burn it,” she said, pulling away from me.

“Or…” I teased. “I could eat you instead.”

She wiggled out of my hold. “You’re horrible.”

For fourteen days, we’d lived in limbo.

“I go after what I want.” I kissed her lips. “I’m sure you can understand that.”

I never stood a chance. Not when she finally let me in. She was being extra quiet that day. Something was on her mind.

Or should I say someone…

I woke up that morning with a pain in my chest, unsure of where it was coming from. It helped that Isla was in my arms. It always did.

I used to love sitting in this kitchen as Melody cooked. I hadn’t done it in years, but there I was, utterly drawn to Isla’s magnetic pull. Our dynamic was different, more intense, personal.

I learned a lot about her. From her childhood, or lack of, to the way she curled up in a ball to sleep at night. The way her breathing would even out, how warm she was, how soft. I wasn’t lying when I said she was mine now.

I treated her as such.

Except I could tell she was still holding back from me. We hadn’t had sex since that first time, but honestly, it didn’t really matter. We were intimate in ways we hadn’t been before. I began playing my piano for her while she lay in my bed.

There was no longer a wall between us. Now she was right there experiencing it with me. I never played for anyone. It was just the two of us, unless it was Julius and me practicing. It wasn’t weird, feeling as if I was baring my soul to her.

She also slept in my arms every night. I didn’t ask; she just did. After we had sex, we ended up in my bed, and she hadn’t left since. Not that I wanted her to. However, the unavoidable question of when Julius was going to make his presence known loomed in the back of our minds. It was always right there, waiting, lurking, ready to strike at a moment’s notice.

I hate it.

One way or another, we couldn’t go forward, nor could we go back. We were stuck in the same place we’d been, sitting in neutral, anticipating the weight of Julius’s foot on the accelerator. He would be the one who would drive us off a cliff.

Later that night, after we had eaten dinner, she pulled back the covers as I crawled to her. Getting under the sheets, she lay down, and I followed suit. Except I laid my head on her stomach, demanding a head and back scratch. Her nails were like claws.

The second I felt her nails dig into my scalp, she moaned.

“Careful, Kitty.” I glanced up at her. “That’s an invitation.” Rubbing my nose against hers, I baited, “Is that what you want? Me lying on top of you?”

“Kraven…” she rasped in a tone so low I almost didn’t hear her.

“What’s wrong?”

She shook her head, kissing me instead. Caging her in with my arms, I hovered above her frame. Her breathing escalated as she ground against me, creating friction on my dick.

She was trying to forget.