Chapter 27 – Lily #2
“Yeah, well, lucky for you, I don’t take directions very well.”
“Aw, that’s a shame. I was hoping you’d be my good boy.” I boop the skeleton nose on his mask, and he blinks at me, eyelashes fluttering. “Cat got your tongue?”
His fingertips walk up my thigh, nearing dangerously close to the hem of my skirt, and heat floods my core. “A pussy might if you’d just behave.”
I burst out laughing, slapping his hand away in an attempt to douse the all-consuming want that’s throbbing below my belt. “We know you like it better when I don’t.”
“You’re right.” He chuckles, the vibration rumbling through me as he rests a heavy hand on my upper thigh, making it impossible to focus. “Fucking the brat out of you would be much more fun.”
Well, shit.
Cliff, meet me. I’m about to jump off you, legs spread, and land on this man’s cock if he keeps talking like that. Looking at me with that damn mask.
Why are masks so hot?
Or is it that I know what lies beneath the mask?
Why is he so pretty?
“Lillian,” Aster says with a sexy hum, yanking me out of my wet dream. His fingertips dance around my waist, rubbing light circles, goosebumps trailing in his wake.
“Aster,” I whisper.
“I very much like Cowgirl Barbie.” His tone is low and gravelly as his hungry gaze assesses my body.
“Thank you.” I kick out a boot. “Perfect excuse to wear these again.”
He reaches down, grasping the material, veiny hands on full display. “I can think of about ten more.”
Hot. Hot. Hot. Hot! “Why do I suspect they’d be the only thing I’m wearing?”
He chuckles, deep and full. “You just get me, Karma baby.”
“Oh my god.” I slap his chest. “You are a shameless flirt.”
“Only with you.”
My cheeks are fire. Lava. The same temperature as the center of the sun.
“Shots?” Amara asks, appearing with two glasses in her hand, a bottle full of amber-colored alcohol tucked under her arm.
Every atom in my body floods with relief at the interruption.
When her eyes meet mine, her shit-eating smirk is so wide I struggle to force the death glare I want her to receive.
“I’ll just leave the bottle,” Amara says, setting the glasses beside my hat on the small table with a clank.
As she walks past, I swat her ass, and she howls a laugh all the way to the kitchen.
I can’t wait for her to brag about her wing woman status.
Aster removes his mask, hindering my willpower further, then grasps the bottle and fills both shot glasses on the table.
“Open up, gorgeous,” he says, tipping the first one into his mouth while sliding a hand into my hair, gripping it tightly and tugging my head back.
My mouth drops open on reflex, and a moment later, his lips are millimeters from my own, stealing all my oxygen.
His green eyes bore into mine, and I stop breathing.
Then he spits every last bit of alcohol directly into my mouth.
With a finger, he nudges my jaw closed, and I don’t have time to show my surprise as I swallow the burning liquid.
Complete and utter horntastic shock consumes me.
My breathing sputters as my eyes find his once more.
I’ve forgotten where we are. What day it is.
Hell, I’ve forgotten my own goddamn name.
That was the hottest thing a man has ever done to me.
Aster reaches out, using the pad of his thumb to wipe runaway liquid off my lip, and I’ve forgotten how many letters are in the English alphabet.
Right now the only ones I care about are F-U-C-K M-E.
He puts his finger in his own mouth, sucking it clean, and I squirm, bringing a smile to his face. A smile that I can finally see with that damn mask removed.
A vibration starts beneath me, and I jump in place, a laugh rumbling out of him.
“Aren’t you going to answer it?” I ask, thankful for the interruption. The way this night is going, I’m afraid I was about to do something very, very bad.
But it would feel so good.
“No.” He shakes his head, the buzzing continuing near my ass, not helping douse my desperate desire.
“Why not?” Please! Give a girl a break from this heat.
“It’s the Solarium. I already know what they’re going to say.”
My curiosity is piqued. “And what’s that?”
“They need me at a crime scene.” He reaches beneath me, pulls the phone out, then types around on it. “I just asked someone else to go. I’d prefer it not be me anyways.”
My brows furrow, realization trickling through me. “Is it one of yours?”
He shrugs, unable to hide his smirk. “Maybe.”
“Aster!” I push myself off him, and he rushes to stand, towering over me.
“What?”
“Would it kill you to go a few days without taking someone out?”
“No.” He grips my chin and nudges my gaze to meet his. “But it might kill you.”
I suck in a breath as a chill runs down my spine.
He didn’t. This party is too loud. Too many people.
Too many witnesses for this conversation.
Anger thrums through me. I told him I had Vetrel handled.
I shove him off, spin around, and weave through the crowd, his presence burning on my back.
I know he’s following from the way the crowd parts, but their gazes fall past me.
“Hey!” Amara says, setting a hand on my arm, and I jump in place. She glances between us, brows furrowing. “Everything okay?”
“Yes.” I force a smile. “Everything is fine. Aster just has something to do for work, and I’m joining him.”
“Okay.” She waggles her brows. “Go to work.”
“Are you sure you don’t mind?” I ask, guilt racking through me. I did just get here.
She leans close to my ear. “You looked happier the last twenty minutes than I’ve seen you in weeks. Please, go enjoy yourself with this divine man.”
There’s no need to tell her I’m leaving to rip Aster a new one. Instead I just say, “Thanks.”
Once out the front door, I rush down the front steps adorned with carved pumpkins and head to the sidewalk, trying to collect my thoughts.
“Where are you going?” Aster asks, racing after me, the Reaper weapon in his grip.
Another wet daydream of him chasing me through a forest and tripping me with his scythe flashes through my mind, and I force it away.
Not! The! Time! We’re a ten-minute walk from Aster’s place and a twenty-minute walk to mine.
I’m also unsure if Liam is home, and there are a hundred things I’d like to say right now that I do not need my police brother overhearing.
“Your place.”
“Really?” he coos. “Am I being rewarded?”
I shoot him a glare. “Don’t speak to me until we’re inside.
” There can’t be any audience or witnesses for what I plan to say.
You never know who’s lurking in the shadows in this town.
By the time we’re through his front door, I’m trembling with rage.
The moment it slams behind us, I’m spinning to face him, arms crossed.
“Who did you kill?” I snap, even though I have a pretty good guess. But I need to hear it out loud.
“What do you want me to say?” He tosses his mask on the sideboard, along with his keys. He leans his scythe on the wall, then strolls past me as I tug off my boots.
“I literally just told you.” I follow him down the hall. “Their name.”
He heads straight for the kitchen, grabs a bottle of bourbon, and fills a glass. He gulps half of it then sets the remainder on the kitchen island with a clank, eyes finding mine. “I told you what could happen if Vetrel stayed alive.”
Irritation bubbles under the surface. “Yes, what could happen.”
He shakes his head, dragging a hand through his dark hair. “The possibility of him hurting you was too much of a risk.”
“You shouldn’t have killed him.”
“What can I say?” He smirks, piercing green eyes meeting mine. “You left me unsupervised.”
Fuck him and his stupid sexy smile. His calmness only heightens my frustration. “You gave me shit for shooting him in the leg, then went and murdered him?!”
“I killed him because you shot him.”
“Oh, so this is my fault?”
“That’s not what I said.”
“Were you ever planning to let me handle this on my own?” Fury flows through me. “Or was I just playing vigilante until you swooped in and permanently took care of the problem?”
He steps towards me. My back hits the counter, and he cages me in. “I hadn’t planned to kill one of the most well-renowned crime bosses on the Eastern Seaboard this week, no.”
I crane my neck to meet his gaze. “But you did it anyway.”
His towering presence consumes all my oxygen. “And I’d do it a hundred times more to keep you safe.”
“To keep me safe?!” I shove him away, and he stumbles. “You did this to satisfy your blood craving of the week.”
His brows furrow. “You think I genuinely enjoy what I do?”
I huff a laugh, crossing my arm over my chest. “You wore a Grim Reaper costume tonight, for fuck’s sake. I’d say you’re certainly enjoying the role.”