Page 36 of Jace
And I’m a giant loser.
Grabbing a deep breath, I flex my quads and biceps, trying to redirect my blood flow.
Think of taxes. Of math. Of two plus two equals… Vivian’s hard little nipples under her T-shirt.
Goddamn, they make my mouth water.
I’m thirsty to suck them, moaning with them in my mouth until we both release this tension that’s built so high between us, the Hoover Dam shrinks in comparison.
“Jace?” I wince at her sweet voice. “Jace, I…” Her soft touch on my shoulder makes it worse. She makes my dick throb before a knock on the door jolts my thrumming pulse.
“Vivian? And fuckface? Got a minute?”
It’s Nash.
It’s confusing my dick.
On rare, lonely occasions, it responds to him with Vale. It wants a love like they have, and it needs it with Vivian.
But right now, this is business. I force my next exhale to deflate my desire.
“Yeah?” I call out, still with my back to her.
“We need to meet.”
Nash is following up on where we left off last night. We’re going to help Vivian. It instantly refocuses me as I turn around to find her gazing up at me, a storm of worry and want.
I skip right past my ebbing erection and answer her stare. “He’s going to help us with your ex. Nash is one of us. Okay?”
Boldly, she nods. I can’t get over how unafraid she is of what I’ve told her so far.
Sometimes we mistake a woman under duress as a damsel in distress. That’s not Vivian. She’s not passive. She’s not giving up. She’s doing everything she can to stay smart and stay safe. That’s strength and survival.
And if anyone should know about surviving, it’s the kings and queens. We know you can’t do it alone; we do it together.
Silently, I take her hand, because I finally can, and lead her to the door.
Swinging it open, I lower my brows at Nash. “Ready.”
I’m ready to free Vivian. Ready to kill her ex. Ready to make her my queen. But there are a hundred perilous steps between where we are, walking down the hallway, and where we will be one day, on our thrones.
I won’t stop until we get there.
Vivian’s hand squeezes mine once we step into the front parlor of the store. I could be a fucking mess of feelings about the first touch of her soft hand held in mine, but kings and queens surround us, and I need to be careful.
This is already a dance of rush and wait.
“Hope you don’t mind.” Nash sits on the corner of Vale’s desk. “But I assembled a team because we’re going to need it.”
I nod at half of us gathered and make the introductions. “Vivian Tate.” Reluctantly, I drop her hand. This is professionalandpersonal as fuck. “You already know Grant Moultrie, my brother: huge hacker extraordinaire. And this is his lovely wife, Delphine Laurent. You’ve probably seen her around, but your ex won’t seeher. Delphine’s a private investigator who’s tailing him.”
Vivian politely nods. There are too many in the room to bother with individual pleasantries.
“This is Michael Cummings,” I continue, “a renowned lawyer, and his prized paralegal, Ruby Jones. He’ll help us on legal maneuvers, and Ruby will help Delphine stalk your ex-husband’s every move. Trust me, she’s good.”
Actually, Michael is Axel, and Ruby is Axel’s wife. He stalked her, so she stalked him back. It’s how Ruby honed her skills, and how Axel fell in love with her.
But Vivian isn’t my queen—yet—and she can’t know their true identities and past. Axel is too covert in local circles.
