Page 86 of Taken By the Fae

“Are you worried about me?” A hint of a smile touches his lips.

I raise my eyebrows, pulling my hand free from his. “Are you kidding? Of course I’m worried—your enemy is planning to kill you!”

“It’s been that way since we both became knights twenty years ago. To be honest, this wouldn’t be a priority for me if not for the unseelies killing seelies.”

I press my lips together, hesitating before I ask, “What can I do to help?” I shoot him a look when he chuckles. “I’m serious. I want to help.”

He leans forward, brushing the hair away from my face. “I know you do. After everything you’ve been through in my world, you still want to help. You can’t imagine how that makes me feel.”

“Tristan Westbrook, knight of the seelie fae court,feels?” I gasp mockingly. “Alert the press.”

He tweaks my chin. “Smart mouth,” he says.

“Hmm… touché,” I murmur.

His eyes move to the paper I was working on. “What’s that?”

I pick up my notebook and hand it to him. “My final assignment proposal for business class. It’s not perfect, but I think I can make it work.”

It’s something I’ve been thinking about for almost a decade. I want to open my own independent bookstore and café.

Tristan scans the pages, his expression unreadable, and I become more nervous by the second. “I think you should do it,” he finally says, setting the paper on the table beside him.

I release the breath I was holding. “You think it’s good enough for my assignment?”

“I do, but that’s not what I meant. I think you should open the bookstore.”

I shake my head. “I… can’t. It would require a commercial building, employees, marketing, and, oh yeah, money. I’ve spent tens of thousands of dollars getting my degree. I’m dead broke.”

“Let me pay for it,” he says in a casual tone.

My brows tug together, and I gape at him. “No. No way. Absolutely not.”

“Then partner with me. You can’t start this business without an investor, so partner with me. I have the funds, and you have the ideas. It’s simple.”

“I think the word you’re looking for iscrazy, Tristan. This is a college assignment. I haven’t even graduated. I can’t open my own business. I have approximately zero experience, and—”

“You have plenty of experience. You’ve worked here for months. Do you think I would’ve given you the responsibility I did if I didn’t think you could handle it?” He sighs. “Aurora, I arranged the placement for your protection. There was no way to know what would happen after you found out about the fae, and with your lineage being a dead end, I couldn’t count on that to protect you—from my people as well as the unseelie fae. That aside, the choices I made regarding your work at my company were smart business decisions. You’ve impressed everyone who has worked with you here. Youcando this.”

I thrust my fingers through my hair and try my best to wrap my head around the idea of Tristan protecting me from his world even back then. “I don’t know,” I mumble, biting my bottom lip.

He smiles. “I’m not expecting an answer right away. Think about it. Talk to your professor about using it for your assignment, but consider how amazing it would be to truly create it.”

“You’re serious,” I breathe.

“I’m serious.”

I wrap my arms around his neck and pull him forward until our lips meet. I close my eyes and kiss him hard, my fingers gripping the ends of his hair as a lump forms in my throat. He grabs my waist and lifts me onto his lap, taking control of the kiss as his tongue teases its way into my mouth. I gasp against his lips when he presses against me, my heart racing when his fingers trail up my shirt until they reach the edge of my bra. I pull away enough to look at him, my chest rising and falling fast. “Maybe we should slow down,” I suggest, despite every nerve in my body tingling with need.

His eyes are dark with lust, the pupils blown as he gently shifts me back onto the couch. “Are you okay?”

“That was… I have a lot to think about.”

He studies my face. “You do.”

I glance at the floor, pressing my lips together. “I haven’t exactly made this thing between us easy, and I’m sorry. I thought the first day I met you would also be the last day.” I lift my gaze until our eyes meet. “It’s no secret that when I saw you after that day, it wasn’t a good thing. I dreaded those moments when you popped up out of nowhere with your hidden agendas and ridiculous fae charm.”When he chuckles, I shoot him a look.“We challenge each other every single day. It’s our thing.”

He tilts his head to the side, a hint of a grin playing at the corner of his mouth as if he agrees.

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