Page 55 of House of Royals

“What?” I say with a happy smile. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

A small smile pulls at his lips and he shakes his head. “I just… I just wish that we could do this, all the time. Without hiding and being on our toes every second of the day.”

My eyes soften and his words melt all the female parts inside of me. “I know.”

And I imagine it for a moment. The two of us running away, leaving Mississippi. Going to…Nebraska. Surely there aren’t any vampires in Nebraska. We could live a normal life without kissing in the shadows or behind closed doors. We could just be…together.

But I can’t say any of those things. Because I made Ian make me a promise, and I have to keep it, too. And I will only do that by not daydreaming too hard.

“What do you want to do today?” he asks as the waitress brings us our brunch. “What could we never do in Silent Bend?”

“Um,” I take a moment to mull it over as I take a bite of the French toast. “All of those cliché first date things normal people get to do. A movie. A walk in the park. Ice cream.”

“It’s only like forty-five degrees outside, Liv,” Ian chuckles as he bites into a piece of toast. “You want ice cream?”

“I want ice cream,” I laugh at myself and him. I pucker out my lower lip in a pout for effect.

“Alright,” he says. “The woman wants ice cream, so she’ll get ice cream.”

I want to say that I only want to go out for ice cream with him, but that’s just too much for our very few weeks we have left. So instead, I simply lean over the table, and Ian meets me halfway. Slowly, softly, our lips linger.

As people walk by on the street outside that window right next to us. Here we are, kissing, being together, for everyone in Jackson to see. And for this moment, I don’t care who sees.

“I’M REALLY SORRY TO LEAVE you hanging last minute,” I say into my cell phone that night. I cough for effect. “I just don’t want to bring the plague into the shop.”

“Don’ worry about nothin,’” Fred says on the other end. “I’ll get things takin’ care of. You rest up.”

“Thanks, Fred,” I say. I feel bad for lying to him since he’s being so kind and understanding. “I’m sure I’ll be fine by Wednesday.”

We say our goodbyes and I hang up.

The city of Jackson is laid out before me. Our hotel room is on the seventh floor, which isn’t very high, but it isn’t the most vertical city. City lights twinkle in the dark and it’s just beautiful. Made all the more beautiful by the perfect beautiful day I’ve just had.

Ian and I did all those mundane, normal date things. We saw a chick-flick, took a walk through the freezing cold park after we got our ice cream. We held hands and kissed and cuddled for all to see.

I’m going to miss all of this when we have to leave in the morning.

A sliver of light cuts through the dark hotel room. I turn to see Ian walking out of the bathroom, a burst of steam following him from the shower he’s just taken.

He wears a pair of sweats I’ve seen him sleep in many times. But his chest is bare. And I bare no shame as I let my eyes wander over his skin.

Cut chest. Rising and falling valley of stomach muscles. Shoulders that beg me to touch them. Scars dot his body here and there, but they only add to the rugged beauty that is this man who I wish could be mine. Forever.

Ian’s eyes never once leave mine as he slowly crosses the room to me. And with every step he takes, I feel my temperature rising a few degrees.

Finally, an eternity later, he stops just an inch from me. “You’re so beautiful, Alivia.” His fingers hesitantly come to my sides, sending sparks racing through my body. His nose brushes mine, his lips just a breath away.

He smells like soap and heat and desire, and it leaves my head spinning. His still wet hair drips onto his shoulders, and my own wet hair drips down my back, soaking the oversized shirt I’m wearing over my underwear.

“I don’t want to leave tomorrow,” he whispers. He traces his nose over my cheek, and then his lips are brushing against my ear.

“Just pretend tonight is all there is,” I breathe. “It’s just us. Just tonight.”

His lips kiss my ear, and then they part and his teeth send an explosion of desire rocketing through my veins.

Suddenly, the inch of space between us is far too much and I am not in possession of my own body when I clasp my hands behind his neck and wrap both of my legs firmly around his waist.

It’s just Ian. Just me.

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