Page 54 of The Beyond
He peeled her clothes aside, pulled them off her lax body, then quickly tossed his off before sliding into her heat. No fuss. No foreplay other than the soft kisses he’d used to wake her.
“Scott,” Selene sighed as she wrapped around him. Her arms. Her legs. Every part of her took him in. Completed him.
When they once again were lying in each other’s arms, he closed his eyes.
“I love you,” he whispered so softly that he wondered if she could hear him.
She stiffened and then sat up.
“You can’t,” she said, quickly looking around the room for her clothes.
“Why can’t I?” he asked with humor as he watched her.
“Because you deserve better,” she threw over her shoulder.
His smile fell. “What does that mean?”
She stopped pulling on her pants to look at him. Her eyes ran over him slowly, and he could see the desire clearly behind them. She waved her hand in his direction. “It means you deserve some sort of normalcy. I should have sent you back to the city. You could be flirting with Stacie.”
“Who?” He frowned.
Selene rolled her eyes. “After this is over, you’ll go back to Atlanta, and I’ll go to Hidden Creek.”
“Why? Why can’t we go somewhere together?” He got out of the bed. He needed to hold her. To try and convince her this was the best plan.
“In a few hours, I’m going to deliver the three of you to the Underworld. Then it will be over. This will be over.” She motioned between them.
“There is no way I’m going back to the way things were before.” He stormed over to take her shoulders in his hands.
She easily jerked free and, for the first time in a long time, he remembered just how strong she was.
“You don’t have a choice.” She pulled on her shirt and left the room before he could get dressed and follow her.
By the time he did get dressed and went looking for her, everyone else was gathered in the living room upstairs.
“We leave in an hour,” Lucas told them.
“Already?” Scott frowned as he watched Selene’s face. She was avoiding his eyes. Avoiding him. “I thought we had another night?”
“Remember, time moves differently in the Underworld,” Mia said with a frown. “It hadn’t dawned on me that we’d need to leave early until Selene came back. We’re eight hours away from when we need to be there. We have to leave in the next hour.”
Scott moved over to Selene and put a protective hand on her shoulder. Thankfully, she didn’t jerk away from him.
“What do we need?” Scott asked.
They all turned to Lucas.
“Nothing. Nothing we take with us will help in any way,” he said. “I suggest we eat something to keep our strength up.”
Everyone turned to him, since it was technically still his job to make dinner. He groaned and moved to find something quick to make.
“I’ll help you,” Mia said, joining him in the kitchen while Selene and Lucas moved further into the living room to talk.
He and Mia worked around the kitchen. He ended up making grilled cheese and turkey sandwiches while she put a large salad and dessert together.
They worked fast since there was less than forty minutes to go.
They had just set all the food on the bar top when Selene’s raised voice had them looking into the other room.
