Page 32 of Tainted Gifts
"Plenty," Simone chirps while tearing her eyes away from his sleek, bare upper body.
I stifle my grin, not willing to call her out on gawking at him the way she was. Kellan walks back in while crunching on a bag of chips. His eyes rake over me as a devious smirk appears on his face and he props up against the wall across from me.
"I'm assuming I've not won any brownie points with the commander now."
Simone lets a burst of a bitter laugh free while shaking her head. "Definitely not, but he has no real choice but to go along with the council's decision. They're-"
"I heard. That's why I came in here," he interrupts, crunching on more chips as if he's indifferent to the subject.
"That's it?" she mutters in disbelief. "That's all you've got to say? If you're found innocent, then you don't ever have to worry about Stringham again."
He shrugs, showing nothing but a cool composure. "I could have broken out of Stringham several times. I only stayed there to look for some answers. They had some juicy sources inside those walls. They wouldn't have just talked to anyone though. That's how I got so hot on the trail of these people. As for the pardon they will offer me, I don't need it. I didn't do anything but try to save their sorry asses.
"Right now, I need the United's resources to keep tracking this thing. It's dangerous for me to do alone anymore because they've caught wind of me. They know I'm getting close. All I needed was a way back in so this chase could resume without such a risk. Aria gave me that, and the rest is meaningless. They can condemn me if they want to - which they won't. I'd just escape again if they did."
"How are you so confident you'll be pardoned?" Simone asks while leaning forward, her eyes too dedicated to him.
It's almost uncomfortable for me to be sitting here with the way she's looking at him. Not to mention, I feel a little territorial. I almost want to slap her and tell her he's mine. I'd kick her ass if she looked at Jase this way.
"Aria is the one who presented the evidence, no?" he asks, his arm falling to rest over my shoulders.
Simone lets her lips form a tight smile while leaning back and dropping the intensity of her gaze.
"Yes."
"Then it's that simple. She's good. That's one of the reasons I trusted her to begin with. She was the only one clever enough to listen to the truth instead of seeing what she wanted to."
Simone stands, smiling her fake smile, and she heads back to her guestroom without another word.
"That was weird," I say in a whisper too low for her to overhear.
"What was?" he says while leaning over and kissing just behind my ear, bringing a tingling to a stir within the pit of my stomach.
"Simone," I murmur distractedly as his lips move lower, finding the hollow of my neck this time.
"How so?" he asks while letting his heated breath slide down the front of my barely parted robe.
Distracting ass.
"She just... I don't know. Didn't you see how she was looking at you? And then she just left. Weird, right?"
For some reason, he smiles against my neck before turning me to meet his lips. Those grinning lips confuse me a little, but I let them claim mine as he pushes me onto my back and falls between my legs.
"Jealous?" he asks, teasing me in so many different ways.
"I was just pointing out that it was weird," I grumble, feeling his laughter more than seeing it.
"So you said... three times."
He moves his lips back to mine, and his tongue slips in, toying with me more, as his warm hand slides through my robe to find my overheating skin.
"You're quite literally hot and cold," he says to mock me, his accent sounding so much sexier than usual.
"Ha," I mumble, feeling sweat forming on my brow.
"How's your head?" he asks sincerely, stroking my cheek directly after, while continuing to press against me, his weight pinning me beneath him.
"Better, somewhat. I guess the fresh blood really did help. It helped last time too, but it didn't last long. It's slowly coming back."
