Page 57 of Ours

Blinking up at him, she felt a tiny prick of jealousy. His relationship with this Lacey had better not be anything like what he had with the other hotel slut at the Wilde. What was her name? Callie?

“How many hotel girls do youknow?” she asked, narrowing her eyes.

Shaking his head, he slapped an innocent look on his face. He didn’t want her to get the wrong idea. True, he had sampled the wares of many different girls, but he wouldn’t touch Lacey with a ten-foot pole.

“My father has used this hotel foryears,Lexi. I know everyone that works here...but I know what you’re getting at andno.I didn’t fuck her so you can stop giving me that look. Lacey’s cash orientated not dick orientated. Trust me, she’s getting paid handsomely for this little job. She’ll see it through,” he said.

Giving her critical eyes a rest, she took him at his word. She was being ridiculous, anyway. She needed to be more worried about the difficult task at hand than his sorted past.

“Good. But how do we get back to New York? We can’t fly commercially, I don’t have any ID... driving is out of the question, it would take us days to get there,” she said.

“We’re taking the jet,” he replied nonchalantly.

Visibly scoffing at his confidence, she held in a disbelieving laugh. What world was he living in? “How? The pilots are ordered to only take off if Cyris is with me.”

“They have new orders,” he said.

“From whom? You?” she asked.

Shaking his head, Kade once again placed his hand on her rounded belly. Rubbing his fingers against the black fabric covering her skin, he kept his demeanor as relaxed as possible.

“Not from me, from Valentina.”

Opening her eyes wide, Lexi’s mouth dropped in shock. His admission was a swift punch to the gut.“Valentina?”she exclaimed. “Wait, wait, wait...so Valentinaknewthat you were alive and didn’t tell me? Fucking hell, Kade!”

“Shhh...don’t be upset, Sweetheart. We had to keep this from you, you have to understand, it's not that she didn’t want to tell you, we just knew it wouldn’t be safe for you,or Loey, if you found out before we were ready to set the ball into motion,” he said, continuing to rhythmically stroke her bump.

Oh, lay off him.Nikki suddenly chirped.Give him a pass on this one.He did it to protect you. Keep those damn hormones in check and pack your shit. Let’s get on with it.

Surprised to hear from her alter, she took a deep breath. In the grand scheme of things, this little detail really didn’t matter. It certainly wasn’t something to get upset about. They had bigger fish to fry.

“You’re right,” she began, her words meant for both Kade and Nikki. “I’ll grab my things. Can you make sure the jet is ready? I want to get this over with.”

Nodding his head, he leaned down to kiss her forehead. She didn’t have to ask him twice. He was just as eager to put an end to Bloodbayne’s hellish control.

“That makes two of us, Sweetheart.”

...

Wiggling against the leather recliner, Lexi looked out of the private jet’s window. Watching as the cotton candy clouds passed by, she tried to breathe through her anxiety. She felt a little better now that they were in the air, but the real danger still lay ahead. She wished she could just fast forward through all of it. Getting lost in her scattered thoughts, she barely registered Kade as he took his seat in the recliner facing her. It wasn’t until he reached over to touch her knee that she jumped back into reality.

“Hey, it’s all going to be ok,” he said.

Shaking her worries from her mind, she gave him a forced grin. She wished she could believe him, but when had things ever gone their way?

“Yeah,” she replied, moving to cover his hand with hers. “So how long until we land?”

Meeting her worried eyes, he gently squeezed his fingers around her knee. He wanted to make all of this better for her, and he would; it just sucked in the meantime.

“About two and a half hours. We should get some rest. I know the bed in the back isn’t huge, but we can both squeeze into it,” he said.

With a small nod, she turned her faux grin into a real smile. That sounded like a wonderful idea to her, although she didn’t know exactly how muchrestshe would actually get. She wanted to make up for lost time with him.

“Mmm, yes please,” she said.

Giving her a tiny wink, Kade stood from his chair. Grasping her hand, he helped her to her feet. Pausing for a second while they sailed through a patch of bumpy air, he urged her to lead the way with a motion of his hand. “After you, Sweetheart.”

Stepping towards the back of the aircraft, she crossed through the doorway of the small sleeping cabin. Eyeing the full-sized bed, she held in a laugh. She wasn’t sure if they would both be able to fit into it, but she was up for the challenge.

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