Page 79 of Protect Your Queen

I rolled out of bed, finding my trousers on the ground. I’d have to make a short walk of shame from here to the other room. Hopefully no one was out - namely my twin colleagues.

When I was passably dressed, I leaned down to kiss her, and took the time to memorize her body covered in nothing but her white sheet.

I smiled, seeing her with her legs curled up as she tried to hide her breasts with the blanket. She was beautiful.

Another, more sensual melody started playing in my ears.

It sounded like Petite Mort, a ballet set to Mozart’s Concerto Number 21 and 23. Sensual and delicious. Not in a burlesque way, but the kind that builds in your mind slowly, over the course of a piece. Something erotic, that didn’t intend to be.

“You’re mine, little Songbird,” I whispered as I leaned down to taste her lips. Lips that I had claimed. Lips that gave me back my music. “I’m not giving you up. Not to whatever is after you, and not to thedarkness in your head.”

I kissed her deep, our tongues tangling as she leaned into me.

“You promise?” she said, as soon as I pulled away.

“I promise,” I whispered, adding one more kiss to her forehead before heading for the door.

What had I promised? I wasn’t sure. Where did that leave me with work? That was even more unclear.

All I knew was that in a very short time, she had gone from being a sweet little thing, to beingeverything.

“No more dates with Phoenix Asher or anyone else,” I finally demanded as my hand touched the doorknob. “Fake or otherwise, I do not share. In this way, I am uncompromising.”

I opened the door, ready to step out. Then I took one last look at her, and her disheveled hair, and glowing skin. She was perfect.

“You’re mine, little Songbird. No one else’s.”

I slipped out the door, closing it behind me.

I had a clear path to the room I was staying in and I tried to confidently make my way there.

“We have cameras in the living room now,” Lea’s voice halted me on my walk to freedom. She quietly leaned against the wall of the kitchen, a cup of coffee in her hand. “Along with bugging Dryden’s office, and now Stasia’s office as well.”

She looked at me with blank, empty eyes. Somehow, that was more frightening than if she screamed at me.

“I thought you should know that.”

“Her bedroom?” I asked, wondering if I had exposed her to all of Caledonia Security.

“Of course not.” Lea rolled her eyes, taking a sip of coffee so strong that I could smell it from where I was standing. “We have loose relationships with people’s right to privacy, but it’s notthatloose. We didn’t bug the bathrooms either. At least not hers. The record company? Yes.”

“Thanks for telling me.” I was trying to play it cool, even though I knew she was my boss, and a part owner of the company.

“Don’t forget that we aren’t like them, Ambrose.” She put her cup down on the counter with a loud thud.

“That’s rich, coming from you, Baroness MacLachlan.”

She snorted. It was a completely unsophisticated and almost jarring sound.

“It’s actually the Right Honorable Lady Strathlachlan. Lady Strathlachlan, or even Baroness Strathlachlan in less formal speech. But to you, I am Lea.”

She pushed off the counter with her hip and strode towards me, her eyes not giving an inch as her rigid, heavy footsteps echoed in the large living space.

“It’s fine to fall in love with her, if that’s what you’re doing.” Her voice was quieter now. Her warning much tamer than in the past. “But if you are toying with her, then you’re not the man I thought you were. She’s troubled. She’sintrouble. Are you willing to put that on the line for a quick lay?”

My arm tensed at my side.

“Don’t ever imply that she was just some kind of lay.” I kept my voice quiet because I wasn’t sure how thick her bedroom door was. For my sake, and hers, I hoped it was thick enough to block out the sounds of last night. “I know better than anyone what she’s going through.”

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