6. Rowan #3
He shrugs like it’s no big deal, like having that amount of wealth and influence is laughable. “Doesn’t matter who my family is.”
“It matters to me,” I say and smile widely, not that it feels very genuine. Exhaustion is joining the darkness. “But I don’t really want to debate that right now. I need to go to bed. I have an early rehearsal, and I still need to get Nugget to pee. And that’s a chore.”
He frowns. “Nugget?”
“Yeah, my dog. A demon in disguise, but one I love dearly.” He is very cute and cuddly, which is a good thing, seeing as he could rival termites with the speed at which he devours my belongings.
Samson shifts on his feet, his gaze moving to the front door.
I can see what he’s thinking. “No, you can’t come in.”
“Why not?”
“Are you serious? I don’t even know you.”
He smirks arrogantly. “Didn’t know you at the club either. Didn’t stop you from taking me to that seedy motel. Do I need to remind you what else it didn’t stop you from doing that night?”
If he’s trying to embarrass me, then he’s talking to the wrong man. I love sex, and I’m not ashamed of it. “A motel isn’t my home. This is my safe space.”
“And you don’t think I’m safe?”
“You tell me,” I say, tapping the dagger where it is holstered on his hip. “Safe men don’t walk around armed.”
“It’s just a dagger. It’s decorative. Like a fancy purse or a keychain.”
“Silly me. I forgot that blades featured on June’s Vogue cover, Mr. Buckingham.”
He winces. “Don’t call me that.”
“It’s your name, isn’t it?”
“It’s my father’s name,” he grunts.
“Ah.” I don’t need him to elaborate further. “I guess you’re used to people falling over when you tell them who you are.”
Samson’s lips twitch like I’ve made some joke far funnier than I did. “Something like that, yeah.”
I lean my shoulder against my door. The exhaustion and darkness are fading. Just for a moment, but it’s enough. I breathe a sigh of relief.
I should go inside, but I’m having fun. More than I deserve, but I can’t help but want to escape the misery and loneliness that awaits on the other side of the wood. The quiet apartment. The gaming console collecting dust. The silent phone. “And here I am, having to Google you.”
His lips curl in a sneer. “Now it matters to you.”
“Not because I’m a gold digger or anything like that,” I say sharply.
“Didn’t say you were.”
“Good,” I mutter, rubbing at my bare arms. The breeze has picked up, and I’m really feeling it. “If anything, knowing you’re a Buckingham puts me off.”
Samson shifts until he’s in front of me. I move at the same time, my back hitting the door. His hand slowly comes up to rest against the wood beside my head. “Puts you off what, exactly?”
Flustered, I wave between us. “Whatever this is. You turning up everywhere. Getting me all excited and leaving before you’ve finished the job.”
His other hand rises on the opposite side, effectively boxing me in. A shiver goes down my spine as the final drops of exhaustion are burned away by a far more powerful feeling.
Lust.
“That only happened once,” Samson says. His face is too close. Distractingly so.
I try not to stare at his lips and wonder how they taste. For all the ways he’s put his mouth on me, Samson hasn’t kissed me. “I don’t think a fifty percent success rate is anything to brag about, buddy.”
“Not bragging, just stating facts.” His nose brushes against my temple, his breath hot against my ear. “Though I like to think I made you come so hard the first time that it should hold you over for a while.”
“Or make me desperate for more.” Fuck, I probably shouldn’t have said that, but it’s hard to think with Samson all up in my business. If his hips rock forward an inch, he’ll find out exactly how desperate I am. “What do you want?”
My question has him pulling back to stare into my face. There’s uncertainty there as he searches my eyes. When he speaks, his voice is hoarse. “I don’t know.”
He shakes himself and takes several steps back, only stopping when he collides with a pillar. “I don’t know,” he repeats in a whisper.
Just like that, the exhaustion from earlier returns. “Great. In that case, I’m going to go inside my apartment.” I hold up a hand when Samson’s pupils dilate. “Alone.”
I’ve had enough of games for one evening. Samson’s a fun distraction, but he could quickly become a mindfuck.
I’ve had enough of those for a lifetime. The only type of fucking I’ll allow in my world now is the kind that ends with orgasms and an easy, mutual parting.
I turn and slip my key into the lock. I can already hear Nugget barking inside.
“Rowan, wait.”
I pause but don’t face him. “What?”
I hear footsteps. Samson doesn’t touch me, but that doesn’t matter. I can feel the heat emanating from him, his breath on the back of my neck. He sighs. “Fuck. I don’t know. What is it about you that makes it hard to stay away?”
A chord strikes deep in my soul as new walls are erected around my heart. “You’re the first to have that problem. Believe me.”
Enough. I can’t do any more of this tonight. I step inside my apartment and close the door behind me.
On Samson and whatever bullshit he’s bringing along with him.