Page 106 of Wicked Empire (Knight's Ridge Empire 3)

“Only time will tell, baby.”

Her lips purse in frustration, but she doesn’t get a chance to argue with me because feet pounding down the stairs stop her from saying anything.

“Ugh, really?” Emmie complains when she spotswhat’s holding our attention. “You couldn’t have just gone and helped yourself to something in the kitchen?”

“Aw, you’ve got a cute butt, Em.”

An angry growl rips up her throat and she quickly swallows her frustrations and tosses her hair over her shoulder.

“Are we ready to go?”

“Yep,” Stella agrees happily.

“Go where?” I ask, looking between the two of them. It’s more than obvious they’ve been conspiring about something, and curiosity is killing me.

“Surprise,” Stella says, turning to me with a wide, mischievous grin.

She slips her hand into mine and pulls me out of the house behind Emmie, but she doesn’t release me so I can walk around to the driver’s side of the car. Instead, she drags me into her body and backs me up against it.

“Hey.” She smiles up at me through her lashes.

“H-hey. What’s going on, Hellion?”

She reaches up and cups my jaw, and I’m powerless but to lean into her touch.

“Do you trust me?” she asks, making my brows pinch.

My fingers curl around her waist. I tug her closer, using her body to pin me against the passenger door.

“You know I do,” I breathe, dipping to capture her mouth but quickly finding that she’s got other plans.

Right before my lips connect with hers, her hand dives into my pocket and her fingers wrap around the key before she pulls it out with a triumphant smile.

“You know I’d have given you that if you’d just asked.”

She shrugs. “Where’s the fun in that?”

I shake my head at her, unable to wipe the smile off her face.

“Are we going or what?” Emmie sasses from behind Stella.

“Yeah, we’re going,” Stella agrees, dropping a quick kiss to my lips. “Remember you said you trusted me,” she warns before skipping around to the driver’s side and dropping behind the wheel.

“I’m going to regret this, aren’t I?” I ask Emmie, who doesn’t look half as excited as Stella.

She shrugs. “Get in the back, Seb,” she demands, pushing me out of the way and pulling the door open.

“Oh sure, yeah,” I mutter, rolling my eyes at her as I move.

“You look cute in the back, Sebby.”

“Sebby?” I ask, the roughness of my voice relaying just how much I hate that nickname.

Demi used to use it to annoy me as I got older.

My fists curl and my jaw tics as I think about her.

As if she knows, Stella’s eyes catch mine in the rearview mirror and she blows me a kiss.