Sinful princess sinful t.., p.12
Sinful Princess (Sinful Trilogy Book 2), page 12
“We were all very worried about his health and risk of blisters.”
She laughs, the sound making the hairs on my neck lift.
“Wait,” she says, sobering suddenly. “They left you a tub. Don’t they think that I’m good enough?”
“Shit, Evie no,” I say quickly, feeling like a dick for telling that story as I did.
Reaching out, I pluck her from her seat and place her on my lap.
“He’s just teasing me because he knows we haven’t gone all the way yet.”
Her eyes narrow on me, fear and confusion warring within them.
“You talk about that stuff?” she asks meekly.
“Uh, yeah. We’re all pretty open. You don’t talk to Blakey about sex and stuff?” I ask. From what she’s said and knowing their jobs, I kinda assumed that—
“Yeah. I do. She knows where we’re at too. I’m not angry you told him, I was just… I dunno. I’m out of my depth here, Alex.”
“Why do you think we’re taking it slow?” Her soft, appreciative smile makes my heart pound a little harder. “There’s no rush here.” Liar. “And trust me, you are more than good enough, Vixen. Your touch alone makes me burn.”
“Same,” she whispers, resting her head against my shoulder and brushing her lips against the underside of my jaw.
A shudder rips down my spine and I hold her tighter.
“Tell me more about them. How did Theo go from pretending he didn’t want Emmie to being her husband?”
A laugh falls from my lips.
“You want all their dirty secrets, Vixen?”
“Hell yeah,” she laughs. “Something tells me that it’s going to be wild.”
“You’ve no idea.”
Sinking lower in the water, I set about talking through everyone’s stories. There are a few things I keep back, but mostly, I tell all. And she eats up every word of it.
“Sounds like something that should be on TV,” she says when my story comes to an end with us in Vegas last week.
“We don’t live normal lives.”
“That riot night in Lovell was terrifying,” she says, going back to something she can understand. “I can’t believe you were in the middle of it.”
Under the water, her fingers find my scar, tracing it absently.
“It’s the kind of thing we’ve trained all our lives for. We knew what we were doing.”
“People died, Alex. There are kids I went to school with that will be forced to live the rest of their lives with the fallout from that night.”
“I know. Jodie’s best friend is still recovering,” I say sadly. I haven’t heard an update on Sara for a while, but the last time Jodie spoke about her, things weren’t good. Medically, she’s recovering as they hoped. But mentally, not so great. “All that is over now, though. Archer has that place under control and them, us, and the Reapers are finally working together.”
She shakes her head in disbelief.
“Tell me something about you, your friends, family, anything.”
“You already know all the important stuff. I don’t live the kind of life that could be turned into a movie.”
Releasing herself from my grasp, she pushes to the other side of the tub and reaches for a drink.
“Let’s play a game,” I suggest.
She shoots a look over her shoulder. “Sure. What have you got?”
“Favourite food?”
“Ice cream,” she answers instantly. “Or pizza,” she adds when I laugh.
“You?”
“Anything, as long as I get to eat it with people I love.”
“Cute,” she says, sinking into the seat opposite me.
It’s fucking ridiculous, but I miss her.
“Seriously though, if you have your choice of anything, what would you pick for dinner?”
“Pizza. Boring, I know, but I’ve never had a bad one so…”
“Fair enough.”
“Favourite childhood memory?”
I regret the question the second her smile falls.
“Any that involve my mum.”
“Shit, I’m sorry. I—”
“It’s okay. What about you?”
Multiple memories flicker through my mind. Times with Daemon as young kids. Times at our grandparents’ beachside home, running around in the sand and being the carefree boys we were never able to be in London. Then I think of my boys, my brothers.
“The day we stepped up to be a part of the Family. It’s what we’d all dreamed of since we were old enough to understand what we’d been born into. Donning our suits for the first time, standing side by side, knowing that for the rest of our lives, we’d have each other’s backs. It was pretty epic.”
“You’re all close, huh?”
“Yeah.” I scratch at my rough chin. “This year has been hard. Until Stella and Emmie crashed into our lives, it’s been us. Sure, there had been girls come and go, but no one ever stuck. Then all of a sudden, these two girls were everywhere. They slotted in so easily, like they were missing pieces of a puzzle none of us knew were ever gone.
“I watched Seb fall in love, and then Theo. Toby, Nico. Even my brother who’d personally tell you he didn’t believe he had a heart to give to someone else is now shacked up and expecting a kid.” My smile grows once more as I think about Calli and D.
“You’re going to be an uncle?” she asks.
“Yeah. He’s due at Christmas. My brother… we’re… different in many ways. Where I’m light and laughter, he’s dark and moody. But since he got with Calli, I’ve never seen him smile so much. She’s incredible too. She’s Nico’s little sister. She’d always been kept on the sidelines, and seeing her become a part of us…” I shrug. “It’s right, you know?”
“Yeah,” she agrees softly, her eyes locked on mine. “I think I do. I can’t wait for the day Blake finds herself a decent guy. She deserves it.”
“She had some bad ones?” I ask.
“There have only been a handful. Her lifestyle doesn’t really blend well with serious dating. But when someone catches her eye, she falls hard and fast, and ultimately gets her heart ripped out. There aren’t many men out there who are secure enough to have a girlfriend who is a sex worker.” She eyes me closely. If I didn’t know her secret, then I probably wouldn’t even see it. But I do.
“I can imagine. So she’s more than just a dancer, then?”
Evie deflates, sinking lower.
“Blake had little choice but to step up and be Mum to me and Zay when our mother died. Dad, well… putting me up for sale is probably the most effort he’s put into anything other than drinking in as long as I can remember. Blake had to start making money or we’d all be out on the streets.
“Blake had barely finished school. She had no prospects. She was meant to be going to uni, but even that was a push, but Mum wanted her to have the chance to do anything. She never had the opportunity, so she wanted to do everything in her power to ensure we had every chance in life. Only if we wanted it though; she wasn’t pushy or anything.
“Blake was the wild child. For years, she’d stumble in drunk in the middle of the night after hanging out with the Wolves getting up to God knows what. She knew the power of her body by then, and the second she had the offer to use it to make money, she took it.”
“Where does Derek factor into all this?” I ask.
Evie pauses, thinking back. “I’ve never really thought about it before. Sometime after the accident, he just… started coming around more. I remember thinking that he was a creep the first time I met him, and that never changed. He used to make my skin crawl. Especially when he insisted we start calling him uncle.”
Evie visibly shudders as she says the words.
“Do you think it could have been Blake’s new career choice that brought him deeper into your lives?”
16
EVIE
The question rocks through me. He had always been about but never as much as he was in the years since Mum died.
I just assumed that he was being a good friend, trying to do his bit to help. He used to bring us food, and sweets sometimes. But was there an ulterior motive with Blakely?
The answer is obvious. And it makes me sick to my stomach whenever I think about it.
We stayed in the hot tub until my skin was pruned and the sun began sinking behind the trees.
Despite the pull I felt toward him and the desire to have his hands on me, I stayed at the other side of the tub as we fired questions back and forth at each other, getting to know each other in the way we probably should have done the first few times we were together. But hey, too late to take it all back now. And despite all of this, I wouldn’t want to if I were given the choice.
We showered the chlorine from our skin, hands and lips everywhere as we shared the huge shower cubicle, but neither of us took it any further. It was the perfect blend of frustrating and comforting.
I won’t lie, I freaked out a little when he told that story about Theo and the Vaseline earlier.
It’s obvious that he has way more experience with this stuff than I do, and the fear that I’m not good enough, that I’m too hesitant and naïve, got the better of me.
But I believed the words he said to reassure me. And, yes, despite the fact he was hard from the second he pulled me from the hot tub until he dragged a pair of boxers up his legs, he didn’t try for more. He didn’t push me to try to take more than I was willing to give. Not that I was unwilling. If he’d pushed me up against the wall and wrapped my legs around his waist, I’d have been all in.
I squirm at the image of us tangled together with the water raining down on us.
“What are you thinking about?” Alex asks, his deep, rumbling voice dragging me from my dirty little fantasy.
I blink, forcing the image away as he steps between my knees and places floury hands on my cheeks.
“You,” I confess.
After we came down from the shower, Alex announced that we were making pizzas and lifted me up onto the counter right next to where he set to work making us fresh dough for the base.
If I thought the croissant situation earlier blew my mind, then I’m not sure what the sight of him kneading fresh dough did for me. I knew exactly why he’d stayed shirtless for the event, though. He was purely thinking of me and my enjoyment. And did I freaking enjoy it.
“That’s what I like to hear,” he murmurs before leaning in and stealing my lips.
“Have you ever cooked for another girl?” I ask when he pulls back.
“Not outside of our family, no,” he confesses honestly.
“What about you?”
I can’t help but laugh.
“What’s so funny?”
“Well, firstly, I wouldn’t even invite my worst enemy into our flat. Even if it meant I could poison them with my cooking.”
“I’m sure it’s not that bad.”
“Says the boy who grew up in a mansion and now has his own two-bedroom fancy-pants apartment all to himself. Yeah, I can see how you’d come to that conclusion. How many times do you have to kick used needles aside on your stairwell to stop your little brother from standing on them?”
Alex winces before squaring his shoulders.
“You’re not going back there. Ever.”
As much as I love the promise of his words, I can’t latch onto them.
“It’s our home, Alex. And what would I do instead, move in with you?” I joke.
“Yes.”
I rear back at the confidence in his voice.
“You’re crazy. I can’t just move into your flat. We… we barely know each other.”
“It’s working okay for us right now.”
“Yeah, but we’re like… on holiday or something. I’m not invading your life here.”
He shakes his head as if I’m the one who’s lost my mind.
“You’re overthinking it. I want you to invade my life. My life sucked before you.” I lift my brows. “Okay, it didn’t entirely suck, but I was lonely and—” He sighs. “You being here… It makes everything better.”
Reaching up, I mimic his position, cupping his jaw in my hands.
“You’re something else,” I whisper, searching his eyes in the hope of discovering more about who this dangerous Cirillo soldier really is.
He shrugs one shoulder. “You’re everything.”
He kisses me again, and when he eventually pulls back, he rests his brow against mine.
The timer he set on his phone to let the dough prove dings and he steps away, leaving me cold without his touch.
“You okay?” I ask when he drops his hand to his crotch.
“Never better,” he says with a teasing wink over his shoulder.
“So, no ex-boyfriends I need to worry about?” he asks, getting our conversation back on track.
I laugh. “Well, there was one.”
His spine stiffens at my admission.
“Yeah, Liam and I were tight. We even talked about marriage and how many kids we wanted.”
“W-what?” he breathes in disbelief.
I fight to keep my face straight. I really, really do, but after a few seconds, my smile breaks free.
“What?” he asks, although it comes out entirely different from the last time he asked.
I snort unattractively. “Yeah, it was serious,” I say, now unable to hide my amusement.
“Evie,” he growls, throwing a cloud of flour at me. It covers my bare arms and black tank and shorts.
“Year four. We were going steady for all of two hours before he stole my favourite pink pencil and snapped it.”
“What a knob,” Alex hisses. “Well, his loss is my gain.”
Reaching for the bag of flour, I throw my own handful back. “Is that right?”
“Oh, you’re in trouble now.”
The next handful gets dumped on the top of my head before I hop off the counter and throw one of my own back.
In only minutes, we’re surrounded by a massive white cloud, both covered, rolling around on what must look like snow since he took me to the floor in what I can only describe as an expert wrestling move.
With my wrists pinned above my head and my hips trapped between his muscular thighs, I can’t move an inch.
“Look what you did, Vixen,” he says, not looking anywhere but in my eyes.
“Me?” I gasp. “I think you’ll find that you threw the first handful.”
“Prove it.”
Dipping his head, he runs his nose along my jaw before licking down my throat.
“Ugh,” he complains. “I fucked up.”
“Oh yeah?” I moan, tilting my head to the side to give him better access.
“Should have thrown icing sugar. This shit is gross.” But the second he says the words, the heat of his tongue is back.
“Doesn’t seem to be stopping you.”
“Nothing will when it comes to you.”
His burning kisses move across my chest before he works his way back up again, taking my lips.
“Ew,” I complain when his tongue tangles with mine. “Gross.”
“Careful, Vixen. Offend me too much and only one of us will get a happy ending here.”
“You wouldn't,” I hiss as he sits up.
His chest is covered in flour, his tanned skin pale.
Unable to stop myself, I reach out and draw through the dust.
EVIE.
His chest heaves as I slowly write each letter, his eyes boring into mine as I focus.
“Mine,” he whispers.
“Yours.”
The air between us crackles with electricity, and the current only grows stronger when my hand slides from his thighs in favour of rubbing his length that’s once again straining against the fabric.
“Evie,” he groans, a thick swallow making the column of his neck ripple in the most delicious way.
“What? Did you want me to stop?”
His eyes flare, the silver turning dark grey when I squeeze him a little.
“I—” He rolls his lips between his teeth. “I’m trying to be good.”
“Good is sweet, and I like sweet Alex, I do. But right now, I think I want bad Alex.”
A deep growl rumbles in his chest as his length thickens even more in my grasp.
Releasing him, I tuck my fingers under his waistband, and when he helps me out by lifting his arse, I pull them down, exposing him to me.
The second my fingers wrap around his shaft without the barrier of the fabric, he sucks in a sharp breath.
“Evie, fuck,” he groans, his dick jerking in delight.
Slowly, I start working him, my eyes darting around his body, watching his reactions.
His eyes are dark pools, his full lips are parted, but his jaw ticks as he clenches his teeth. The muscles of his chest and abs tense and relax as I work him. Then his dick… I’ve seen a handful through a screen. Never any other in real life. But none of those compare to his. Is it possible for a cock to be pretty? If it is, then Alex definitely has one of them.
It’s perfect. The skin smooth, long, and thick with veins running down the length that makes my mouth water to run my tongue down them.
“Jesus. That feels—” He swallows again, cutting off his words. “I think I need to return the favour.”
“What favour?” I breathe, my voice raspy with desire. It doesn’t sound anything like the shy, timid girl I know myself as. I love it.
I love the confident and brazen woman I turn into when I’m with Alex.
It’s almost as addicting as he is.
Reaching out, he drags my tank down, exposing my breasts.
“I’m going to leave my mark on your chest like you did me.”
He shifts, looming over me like a terrifying wall of strength and muscle. He makes me feel tiny and feminine and breakable. I love it.
“Like that,” he praises. “Keep going.”
I stroke him, spurred on by his words and the deep rumbles in his chest until his cock jerks. He throws his head back, my name falling from his lips as his hot cum hits my bare chest.
I don’t stop. I can’t. I’m too enthralled by watching him lose himself to even realise I’m still working him until his fingers wrap around my wrist, stopping me.
