Page 39 of Bad to the Bone

“WE are family. You, me, and Shannon. I decided to protect my real family and sacrifice the Turner legacy.”

“That’s okay,” I say, rolling up onto my toes to kiss him lightly. “You’ll make one hell of a Macmillian.”

He kisses me back, lifting my body several inches off of the ground and holding me against his chest.

“You’ve lost weight. Let’s see what else has changed since I’ve been gone,” he says, weaving through the stacks of boxes and heading to the bedroom.

It was the first room I put together after the move. Kitchen utensils and toilet brushes can be sorted out at a later date, but I need my beauty rest. As he marches confidently into the newly arranged room, I’m glad that I bought new sheets and new panties as soon as I arrived.

My fingers fumble with the unfamiliar buttons of his work shirt even as my mind screams at me to stop. Perhaps sensing my hesitation, he stills my hands on his clothes and looks deep into my eyes.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. It’s just that I- ah- I just promised myself that it was finally over between us.”

He grabs my shoulders with blistering force and growls through his teeth.

“It’s never over between us. You are mine and I’m not going anywhere,” he peels his fingers off of my skin and steps away from me, as if he is at the end of his tether and fears what he may do next if he doesn’t put space between us. My skin instantly registers the loss of his heat. I reach for him as a reflex and he backs up again, this time stumbling over a loose floor board.

“I have to get that taken care of. Hopefully the owner won’t give me any trouble getting it fixed.”

“I won’t, don’t worry,” he says, stepping on the board and stooping down to survey the extent of the damage.

“Zayne,” I breath his name in wonder.

“I bought this place with the proceeds from my father’s involuntary charity fund,” he says with a glint in his eye.

“You did what?”

“This building, I own it. You didn’t think the rent was so cheap because I was a fool?”

I unbuckle my overalls and slither out of my clothes and drape myself across his back.

“Does that mean I don’t have to pay rent, since I’m sleeping with the boss?” I bat my eyes and give him my best impression of a sexy smile. He looks over his shoulder and smiles back.

“No can do, little lady. Business is business. I have a mortgage to pay,” he says with as much bass in his voice as he can muster. “But don’t feel obligated to put your clothes back on for my comfort.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, really.” He sits down on the edge of my bed and pulls me into his lap.

“What about school?”

“I got accepted to a few places, including City College,” he says, nuzzling my neck.

“How are you going to pay for it?”

“Already taken care of, thanks to my mother’s years of embezzling funds from my father’s private accounts and stashing it in an off shore account.”

His hands slip under my tank top and trace the curve of my breast, triggering a deluge of moisture between my thighs.

“What about-”

I never manage to get the words out of my mouth and within seconds, none of them matter at all. His fingers slip beneath the waist of my panties and his greedy fingers find my sensitive nub, teasing it with tight circles. Fire rips through my veins and makes my breaths short.

“You must have been waiting for me. I barely touched you and you’re already wet like this,” he whispers into my ear. His breath brushes against my earlobe and sends electric currents over my skin. “Did Shannon tell you I was coming?”

“Shannon...knew?” I gasp.

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