Chapter 13 #2
“I wish,” I groaned. “When he walked me to my building, he kissed my knuckles—” which reminded me a lot of Fergus, but I was quickly learning how into hand kisses I was, “Then, he turned my hand over and kissed the inside of my wrist.” I held my wrist up, as if I could show her the evidence of his warm lips there, but I didn’t have any, just the memory of it.
The way my pulse spiked as soon as he brushed his lips against my skin.
“Then he kissed me right here.” I tapped the spot on my neck just below my ear.
The spot that sent shivers down my body, making me melt into him.
How I had to hold back a whimper when he pulled away with a soft look in his eyes, as if he didn’t want to go either.
“Then,” I continued. “He wished me goodnight and left.”
“Oh, he’s good,” Audrey wiggled her eyebrows with her words. “He left you wanting more.”
“I know,” I pouted. “He’s playing me like a fiddle. If you hear an increase in buzzing noises coming from my bedroom, you know why.” Audrey laughed before she lifted her cereal bowl to drink the remaining dregs of milk.
“Are you going to see him again?” she asked as she stood to put her bowl in the sink.
“Oh yeah, he—” I stopped talking when my phone vibrated on the tabletop. Displayed on the screen was a text from him. “Please hold.” I snatched my phone off the table to open his text.
“I love this so much,” Audrey giggled from the sink.
Drew: I hope you slept well, Vanessa.
“Aww.” I lifted my phone to show Audrey. “He hopes I slept well.”
“Stop it.” Audrey groaned dramatically and plopped herself in her chair again. She rested her chin on my shoulder as I rattled off my response.
Me: I hope you didn’t.
Audrey snickered when three dots kept appearing and disappearing. Finally, his message came through.
Drew: Can I ask why?
Me: I hope you slept just as badly as I did.
His three dots danced on and off again, and I held back an evil laugh at the sight as I thumbed my next message before he could come up with a response.
Me: I hope you tossed and turned all night, just like me. Aching, unsatisfied. Thinking of you. Wishing your hands were on me. Remembering the feel of your lips on my skin.
“Why are you so good at this?” Audrey murmured. “I need to remember how to flirt via text.”
“I’ll give you some pointers next time Liam texts you.” I turned to look at her while we waited for Drew to respond. She blushed and rolled her eyes, ignoring my prying comment. Then my cell vibrated in my hands.
“Oh, what did Mr. Proper say?” Audrey tapped her fingertips together in anticipation.
Drew: I don’t think you comprehend the anguish I felt leaving you last night.
I had to grasp an immeasurable amount of self-control, just so that I didn’t knock on your door, invite myself in, and drag you to your bed.
The hunger I feel for you is all-consuming.
Does that paint an adequate picture of how I slept last night, Vanessa?
“Jesus Christ,” Audrey wheezed. When I looked at her, her cheeks were flushed red just like mine were. “Talk about matching energy.”
“No, I think actually he won this round.” I tugged at the collar of my shirt and fanned myself, trying to control my racing heart. His text got me so heated, I was worried I’d start sweating right here and now.
“What are you going to say back?” Audrey asked.
“Crap, I have to think.” I rubbed the side of my neck, staring at his words on the screen, “I’m genuinely so horned up right now.” I was squeezing my legs together and everything.
Audrey hummed, then looked down at her own phone with a grin.
“What? Did Liam text you?” I asked her.
“Yeah.” She pocketed the phone and stood from her chair. “He’s just making sure we’re ready. We’re not sailing into Hyvenmere this time.
“Oh shit.” I stood up, too. “How are we going?”
“We’re lyskifting,” Audrey replied, but then stopped to give me a funny look. “You haven’t done that yet, have you?” I gave her a look of disbelief.
“No. Believe it or not, I haven’t teleported yet.”
“I meant to ask, we haven’t lyskifted with you yet?” Audrey chuckled to herself. “It’s a lot faster than sailing. This way, if things go south at Bandthral, we can escape without having to leave your boat in Hyvenmere.”
I quirked my lips to the side in thought. Made sense, though I couldn’t deny that the thought of me teleporting intimidated me.
Audrey stared at me again, a new kind of hopefulness in her expression.
“I know you and I haven’t had a lot of fun together recently.
” Ah, that’s what her previous look was for.
“But I love sharing this with you. Not hiding anything. Not having any more secrets. It almost feels like we’re us again. ”
I grinned. “That’s all I want. And if that means teleporting with you to snoop through magical castles in magical realms, then I’ll take it. My boat has probably got more mileage on it in the last few weeks than it has in years, anyway.”
Audrey bit her bottom lip, a look of guilt passing over her expression. “Van?”
“Yeah?” I turned to grab my jacket off the back of our couch.
“You know you don’t actually have a distant aunt that died and left you an inheritance, right?”
I froze. “What?”
“That was Liam.” Audrey grimaced when she saw whatever expression I was making.
“I told him I wanted you to be protected from all of this. How you and I didn’t have much.
And he, well…bought some old woman’s estate.
He managed to beef up the accounts, too.
That way, if anything happened to me, you’d be set. ”
“Audrey.” I gaped at her, thoroughly astonished. “You’re telling me I bought the Sun Bean and own a boat because of Liam’s wealth?”
Audrey tugged on the hem of her shirt as she shrank away from me. “Yeah…”
I let her sit in the silence for several moments.
The discomfort from this revelation settled over her like a weighted cloak, drawing her shoulders up higher and higher the longer I let her absorb this.
The thought of all my success being because Liam decided to throw his wealth at me, even when I wasn’t aware of his world or true existence, made my pride take a hit.
But, he was also spending half his nights here in our apartment, sleeping in Audrey’s bed platonically, helping us stay safe even though Ilia’s men haven’t come searching for me again.
“Well.” I lifted a shoulder. “Whatever.”
Audrey blinked. “Whatever?”
“Yeah, whatever. I guess I’m okay with taking handouts from the one percent.”
Audrey’s eyes widened with amusement, and an unsure laugh erupted from her lips.
“You consider Liam the one percent?”
“He was able to dump money into our accounts and gift me a boat just like that.” I emphasized my words with a snap of my fingers.
“Okay, the boat was never meant to be a significant part of this. I’m still genuinely surprised I convinced you to keep it. But anyway, Liam’s part of an entirely different socio-economic structure—”
“He’s still basically a millionaire—hell, maybe even a billionaire. So, yeah…” I waved her off. “I’m not upset that Liam provided me with financial security. It’s the least he could do after kidnapping you and making our friendship weird for two years, honestly.”
“You know what?” Audrey furrowed her red brows and stood straight. “Hell yeah. It was the least he could do.”
“Now we’re talking.” I gave her finger guns with my words, as I walked backward down the hallway. “What time does Liam want to meet?”
“An hour.”
“I’ll be ready!” I closed myself in my bedroom, pulling my phone out of my pocket to read Drew’s text again.
And again. And again. Goddamn, I was becoming completely smitten with this man.
Finally, I took a moment to type a response because leaving him on read after that masterpiece of a text would be diabolical.
I shrugged out of my jacket, ripping off the t-shirt I threw on to have coffee with Audrey this morning, and jumped into my bed. I wore a thin-strap silky sleep shirt, fanned my hair out on my pillows, and lifted my phone up in the air.
The key was to leave out the bottom half of my body, which was donned in sweatpants with holes in the crotch. Instead, I cropped the photo so Drew could still get a peek at my exposed stomach and the way my breasts fell under the silk top.
I even bit my lip, like a cherry on top. Then I sent him the selfie, along with:
Me: Next time, leave your self-control at my door.