Smolder (Georgia Smoke #6)

• Twenty-Nine •

“I don’t expect perfection, just don’t hurt anyone for me, okay?”

Sebastian

Looking up from the book I had been reading, I watched Royal walk down the stairs while drying her hair with a towel. I’d had to find something to distract me so I wouldn’t go get in the shower with her. She hadn’t complained, but her cunt had to be sore. I’d fucked her hard four times in the past twelve hours.

When she reached the bottom stair, her eyes met mine, and then they dropped to the book I was holding. “Talk about porn.”

I held up my book. “Nothing about To Kill a Mockingbird could be considered porn.”

She grinned as she sauntered over to me. The sweatsuit she was wearing did nothing to ease my need for her. It didn’t matter what she was wearing. Royal Shelton was a constant smolder. Her appeal never faded. She was always there, making me ache to touch her. Keep her close.

“I meant the sight of you sitting there, all six foot three inches of sexy man candy, with a book in your hand. That’s my kind of porn.”

I dropped my gaze back to the book. “In that case, let me read some more.”

Her laughter made my chest feel light as she sank down beside me on the sofa, curling her feet beneath her. “I used the cream you’d set out for my bottom,” she told me.

The reminder of her perfect, round red ass made my cock twitch.

Down, boy. You’ve had plenty.

“I’d have done it, but then I’d have ended up fucking you again,” I told her, closing the book and putting it on the table beside me.

“You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

I laid my head back and closed my eyes tightly. “It will be if I fuck us both to death.”

“I think you might be a tad bit dramatic, but I digress.” She finished with her hair, folded the towel neatly, and then set it down before standing back up. “Got to brush it.”

I watched her, wishing I could see her naked red ass with my handprints on it. “Bring me the brush. Let me do it.”

She stopped and glanced back over her shoulder. “You want to brush my hair?”

I nodded.

Her lips curled up at the corners. “Okay.”

I wondered if anyone had ever brushed her hair. How much had she done for herself as a child? Her Grams seemed nice, but I didn’t know the woman she had been when she was in her right mind.

Had she done things for Royal that mothers did? Fuck knew her father hadn’t.

She didn’t talk about her mom. I knew more about the woman than she did. I wondered if she wanted to meet her. See her. Have any relationship with her. Not that the bitch deserved it for leaving her with Vinson Shelton.

Royal came back, holding the brush, with a sway to her hips. “Since we aren’t naked and crazed, can we talk about how long you think we are going to be here? And maybe you could tell me where we are.”

She held the brush out to me, and I grabbed a pillow and put it on the floor between my feet. Royal looked at it, then grinned before sitting down and crossing her legs with her back to me.

I slowly ran the bristles through her damp locks. If she was going to trust me again, then I had to trust her. After last night, I wanted to believe she wouldn’t try and leave.

“I think, under the circumstances, about a week,” I told her. Although I wanted it to be longer than that.

I also knew that no amount of covering my tracks was going to stop my father from finding me. It might take them longer than usual because I knew how they found people, but in the end, Wilder was the genius who could trace just about anyone. He just needed a crumb, and he’d find one.

“Do we have enough food for a week?”

“Yeah. Enough for two.”

“I’ll be a missing person. Probably already am.”

I enjoyed watching the brush glide through the silky strands.

“Missing people don’t send texts, telling those they are close to that they’re going to look for their dad and not take their phone, for fear he might track it. That they have a burner and will contact them in a week, if not sooner, but not to worry. That they’re fine and they have someone with them.”

She spun around and looked up at me, wide-eyed. “You sent that?”

“I’m thorough,” I replied.

Plus, my brother had abducted his girlfriend without thinking anything through, and that had been a mess to clean up. I learned from his mistakes.

“Is the where are we thing still something you won’t tell me?”

I wanted to trust her. I’d never wanted anything more than to know she wouldn’t leave me. That she was as fucking obsessed with me as I was her.

“Alaska,” I told her.

She didn’t seem shocked. “I thought so. Especially when you said the brown bears and wolves.”

I finished with her hair and laid the brush down. So much she still didn’t know. I wanted her to know it all, but I couldn’t trust she wouldn’t turn against me. If I could get her to fall in love with me, then maybe I could be completely honest.

“Done already?” she asked. “I was enjoying it. That felt good.”

Smirking, I picked the brush back up and placed a hand on her shoulder when she started to get up.

“If it feels good, then I’ll keep doing it.”

She eased back down and made an appreciative little sound.

“Does Haven House know my Grams is gonna be there for at least a week?”

“Yes,” I assured her, “they do.”

“Thought so,” she said with a sigh. “Sebastian?”

“Yeah, Ace?”

“Why were you at Railhouse that night we met?”

“There was a man who owed us money. His loan was due, and he was late. We were waiting on him. The morons you were hustling at pool worked for him. When we met with them outside, I also took the liberty of getting what they owed you.”

She was quiet for a moment. “Why?”

“Why get your money?”

“Yes. Why did you care if they paid me or not?”

That one was easy.

“Because from the moment I’d walked in, you’d had my full attention. I was fascinated with you. I loved watching you laugh, and damn if you didn’t have the prettiest blue eyes I’d ever seen.”

She turned to look at me, and I stopped brushing.

“Really?”

I grinned. “That can’t be so hard for you to believe, Ace. You’ve looked in a mirror.”

She lifted one shoulder in a half shrug. “You’re different though, you’re, well, older and sexy and rich. I would think you had gorgeous women at your beck and call.”

I let my gaze drift over her features. Each one so achingly perfect. “Yeah, I guess I do. But they don’t have your fire. They don’t entertain me, and they never surprise me. It’s not just about beauty—that doesn’t last—and honestly, it fades quick when they start to talk. But with you, every word that came out of your mouth had me transfixed. I couldn’t get enough.”

She licked her lips and ducked her head, hiding the smile on her lips.

“Thank you,” she said just above a whisper.

“Why are you thanking me, Ace?”

When she lifted her eyes back to meet mine, the emotion in them struck a chord deep in my soul.

“For making me feel like I’m worth something. That … that I deserve to be wanted for more than just how I look.”

I set the brush down and held out my hand to her. “Come here.”

She stood, and I took her hand to pull her onto my lap.

“Baby, you’ve got a face and body that can stop fucking traffic. But that wasn’t why I watched you that night. It was the intelligence shining in those eyes of yours. You were crafty and cunning and damn adorable, all at the same time. I couldn’t look away. Anyone who doesn’t see all that, who doesn’t cherish the beauty of the wildly ingenious, loyal, determined woman that you are, doesn’t deserve to know you. I’ll also happily ki—uh, cause pain to the bastards who don’t treat you the way you deserve.”

Her eyes were watery as she looked from my chest to my face. A small smile tugged on her lips. “That was the sweetest, nicest thing anyone had ever said to me … and then you had to threaten to maim and torture.”

I ran my hand up her back. “Eh, no one is perfect.”

She let out a small giggle, then a full-blown laugh before laying her head back on my shoulder. “I don’t expect perfection, just don’t hurt anyone for me, okay?”

A little too late for that, but at least I hadn’t killed her father.