Page 12 of To Claim A King
Another fit of giggles came over me. I laughed so hard little tears trickled onto my cheeks and into my hair. A triumphant smirk filled his features before he wriggled his eyebrows at me and popped the second candy onto his tongue.
I leaned in for another taste. Of this man, of temporary freedom, of this single moment in time. The weight of the world was temporarily off my shoulders, and I’d enjoy the lightness of Lucky and high fructose corn syrup until our destruction at dawn.
Whether it was the weed or the man sandwich that put me back into a stupor, I couldn’t be sure, but I woke several hours later from the most comfortable sleep I’d had in weeks.
Once the Skittles were gone—every single color consumed between sloppy, delicious kisses—Lucky had carried me into the bedroom, gently placing me next to Kellan before bundling me into his arms from behind.
My Viking let me touch him this time, laying close enough for me to wrap an arm around his waist. I’d drifted off to sleep within seconds only to wake up to the sounds of Kellan helping Aaron off the hospital bed to go to the washroom.
Our patient had been in such a deep sleep from the painkillers, he hadn’t stirred once from our antics. I’d felt Kellan get up to check on him twice before morning.
It was heartwarming to see our bear cared about us more than his words would ever say. But when he returned to the bed, he put distance between us again, and the chasm seemed farther than the physical space on the mattress. Kellan’s insistence on space was unsettling in these circumstances, but I was trying not to read too much into the actions.
We’d all suffered a wealth of trauma. We had enemies on all sides, and today was the day we set a plan into motion.
Lucky still lay beside me, his limbs tangled in the sheets like a ginger-furred spider monkey, snoring quietly into the crushed pillow beneath his face. The picture of innocence, if only in sleep.
I crept out of bed in need of bladder relief and a strong coffee. After noting we’d need more towels in the bathroom for the four of us, I padded out to the kitchenette area, where Kellan had rolled Aaron’s bed out next to the small kitchen island. My ravaged Colombian was chatting to Kellan about his favorite Spanish breakfast rolls as the Viking scrambled some eggs on the stove. It was an oddly domestic picture, completely out of place given our circumstances, and it warmed my heart a few hundred degrees.
“Good morning,Mi Reina.” Aaron’s attention turned to me, his warm brown eyes far more alert than they had been yesterday. “How was your sleep?”
I moved to him, pressing a light kiss to his forehead, and then pressed another chaste peck on his lips, careful not to jostle him.
“Good,” I responded, bringing a palm up to cup his stubbed cheek. “How are you feeling?”
“Sore.” His full lips pursed in a thin line as he shifted his weight slightly upright on the hard mattress. “But I am fortunate to be alive, so I am happy to be sore.”
I brushed a few errant hairs off his temples and kissed him again, a little harder this time, relishing the warm, soft velvet of his lips.
“I’m happy you’re sore too,” I murmured before pushing upward to seek Kellan. He kept his back to me, but he didn’t resist my arms wrapping around his waist from behind, only stiffening slightly before leaning into my hold.
“I’m glad you’re safe, Viking.” I spoke into the hard muscles of his back, which tensed and bunched beneath my cheeks while he plated the eggs. Without warning, he turned in my arms. I looked up to see a fierce furrow of his blonde brows, the blue in his gaze a violent shade of indigo.
“As long as you’re safe, Killer. That’s what matters.” He leaned down to kiss the top of my head, then gently nudged me out of his way to grab another plate from the cupboard.
So, still keeping me at a distance. I allowed the slight, ignoring the pain of his dismissal by busying myself at the coffee machine in the corner, pulling the bag of beans off the shelf and burying my nose in their comforting roasted scent.
I didn’t need Kellan’s warmth this morning. A fresh espresso would perk me up far more than his hold ever could.
“Didn’t know you could cook, Conan!” Lucky chirped a bit too cheerfully as I ground the beans for my latte. He padded into the kitchen area on light feet, still wearing the boxers from the night before, his hair sticking off in twenty different directions. It was an irresistibly boyish look, pulling a grin from my previously pressed lips.
Kellan only grunted in response. Lucky pulled out a family-sized box of Lucky Charms from the cupboard, reaching around me to get into the apartment-sized fridge for the milk. His bare chest brushed against my shoulder blades, and he leaned in to nip the shell of my ear.
“Morning, Blondie,” he whispered. The stubble along his jaw brushing my sensitive skin caused me to shiver. “Perks of having the world of baddies after yeh is getting to sleep beside the world’s most beautiful woman.” The nip turned into a soft kiss on the side of my neck, just below my earlobe. “I look forward to having you in my arms again tonight.”
“Margot Robbie is the world’s most beautiful woman,” I retorted with a small laugh, pouring the foamed milk into the espresso to form the shape of a pine tree. I handed themug to Kellan in silence. He looked up at me with raised eyebrows, but accepted the coffee with a dip of his head. I got to work on the next drink, knowing Aaron preferred his espresso straight.
“Aye,” Lucky said, a sneaky smirk lighting up those beautiful green eyes as he poured a heaping bowl of crunchy sugar. “But can Margot Robbie kick Kellan’s ass? Because that, my love, is part of the attraction.”
The snicker that escaped me was grossly unladylike, but I was too amused to care. I handed the straight espresso to Aaron with an encouraging smile. “Sip it,” I cautioned. “Only liquids today, right?” I turned a quizzical eye to Lucky, who’d become our resident medical expert.
“Yup.” He smacked his lips, taking a dramatic bite of cereal. “Onfy likkids til Monday,” he said with a full mouth, making it hard to take him seriously. It wasverytelling I’d started to take Lucky seriously at all.
Today was Saturday, a blessing in disguise. Saturday meant I didn’t need to be in the office to keep up appearances, and incredibly, I had no functions to attend this weekend. We’d been forced into a corner to regroup, but fate had given us a gift by throwing us into chaos right before the week’s end.
I started on my coffee, knowing Lucky wouldn’t touch the adult beverage without twenty teaspoons of sugar in it, and it seemed he was getting that dose given the size of his cereal bowl. Kellan placed a plate of eggs in front of the empty stool beside him, then dropped his own plate on the round four-person table next to the kitchenette.
It was impossible to miss his intentional separation, with another stool on the other side of Lucky, but once again, I ignored it. Whatever demons Kellan was wrestling today, we had far greater problems.
