Steal the Day (Thieves #2)(68)

“Drive until I tell you to stop,” Dev commanded over the intercom, and the limo pulled away.

“Jewel tones?” My heart rate tripled as he turned those gorgeous green eyes on me.

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, sweetheart, but they complement my skin tone. Since those gorgeous shoes end up around my neck, I thought I should get something that looks good on me,” he drawled as he shrugged out of his coat. “I’ll tell you something else that looks good on me—your very naked body.” He reached across the limo and pulled me into his lap. “I need to make a few things clear to you, lover.”

“I’m listening.” I sighed, leaning my head back against his shoulder.

I’d felt very neglected over the last two days. Dev spent much more time with Daniel than me, and I wasn’t secure enough to not be a little jealous. I wondered if I was going to lose both of the men I loved to power and politics. He’d come to bed late, and though he had pulled me into his arms, he’d kissed me and promptly fallen asleep. I wasn’t used to a Dev who didn’t try to get into my pants twice a night.

Now he was making up for lost time. He slipped his hand between my legs and up my skirt. With unerring accuracy, his long fingers started teasing their way inside my underwear.

I’d felt so alone the last few days. I worked with the Revelation and planned out my heist, but mostly I sat by myself and worried. I needed a few minutes where I didn’t think about worst-case scenarios.

“I would give anything to not send you into that welcoming party tonight,” he whispered. His tongue lightly traced the shell of my ear, sending shivers up and down my spine. His fingers played in my *, spreading my labia wide. I was already slick with desire. “It’s killing me that I can’t go with you.”

He was talking about the first party of the conference, one that was being hosted in his club. I’d expected that we all would go. I didn’t like the thought of being separated. There were too many things that could go wrong. It was getting hard to think though. He was teasing me, making me antsy and edgy. I wanted to force that finger inside me where it would do some good, but Dev held me tightly, unwilling to give up his game. “But it’s your club.”

“Not tonight it isn’t,” he explained. I caught my breath as one clever finger caressed that bundle of nerves that made me scream. Dev toyed with my clitoris, sliding his fingers along either side and twisting lightly. “Tonight it belongs to the vampires, and I’m not welcome. Vampires and companions only, with the exception of staff. I can go to the ball as part of Daniel’s retinue, but it’s still dangerous. I have to be prudent around you while we’re here. I don’t think you’re going to like that. I need you to understand that I hate this situation. I want to be somewhere f*cking you, teasing you, pleasing you. The last thing I wanted was to get involved in a coup attempt.”

Dev’s hand pulled away. Before I could protest, I was flat on my back. Dev’s weight settled on top of me. I hated the clothes between us. Skin to skin. That was what I needed. His body nestled against mine like puzzle pieces that fit perfectly. “Then why are you doing this?”

His hair fell across his forehead, and he was so beautiful, my heart skipped a beat. His green eyes were intense and filled with something far beyond simple lust. He leaned over, his nose nuzzling mine. Since he’d given up being strictly my lover, he’d become more and more affectionate, his sweetness growing daily. “Blame yourself, Zoey. I might have been happy with a nice long affair until you climbed on that altar. I know I was high, but don’t think I can’t remember that moment. I’ll remember it as long as I live. I was going to enjoy you, lover, for as long as I could. Then I was going to respectfully allow you to go back to your husband because I thought that was what you would want in the end. Fuck that, Zoey. You blew that plan all to hell, and I’ll do anything to stay in your life. You should have run.”

I brought my hands up, cupping his face. We hadn’t really talked about that night. “I couldn’t leave you.”

“All of my life I have been the expendable one.” He lowered his forehead to mine, cuddling up against me. “I was the spare, and after I proved too human, I wasn’t even that. Do you know how many people have told me they love me? I can get an ‘I love you’ out of a woman by looking at her. It’s meaningless. It’s a phrase designed to get me to do something. Even when you said it to me in the barn, I didn’t really believe it. I thought you wanted to keep your lover for a while longer. I was pleased that it wasn’t over, but I didn’t believe. You proved me wrong. You would have done anything to save me.”

I brought my hands up to hold his head to mine. “I love you.”

“You would have sacrificed yourself.”

“I love you,” I repeated because he needed to hear it. He needed to believe it. Despite his good looks and wealth, he was just a man with all a man’s insecurities. I loved him. I meant to be his safe harbor, as I once had been Daniel’s.

“You love me,” he whispered, wonder in his voice. “Know this, Zoey, I will do my best to advise your husband. I will do everything I can to see you on a proper throne with all due rights as his queen. I will stand in the shadows. I will concede my place at your side. I will never concede my place in your bed, and I will not concede your heart. Love Daniel all you like as long as there is a place for me.”