Sweet Reckoning (The Sweet Trilogy, #3)(71)

“Eww!” I squealed. I wanted to claw those words from my ear canals.

“See,” Kaidan said. “Completely immature.”

I felt suddenly upset, though I couldn’t place why. I unscrewed the bottle of gin.

“You’re trashed,” Kaidan said. “You don’t need any more.”

“Oh, shut up.”

He tried to swipe my drink, but I yanked it back and took a glug.

“No touchie the drinkie. That’s bad, bad, bad.” I waggled a finger at him. “Why’re you being so grumpy, anyways? We’re in Vegas, baby!”

I stood up, grabbing the top of the fridge when I almost fell. A laugh erupted from my throat and I felt hyper. I wanted to jump on the bed and run down the halls!

“You are being obnoxious,” Kaidan said through clenched teeth. “It’s bad enough I have to babysit. I’m not holding your bloody hair if you puke.”

He looked severely angry, which made me laugh again because I was pretty sure we were playing a game.

My words dragged out when I tried to talk. “It’s funny to annoy you.” I poked a finger into his chest, which was yummily hard. I leaned into him, even though I was trying to stand straight. “You’re, like, sooo hot when you get mad.”

“I’d watch it, if I were you,” Pharzuph purred into my ear from behind. I jumped because I’d forgotten that he was still here—the guy who made me feel gross. I felt his hands on my waist and his mouth at my ear. “He can get pretty rough when he’s upset.”

Something inside me screamed that I was supposed to be careful and scared, but for the life of me I couldn’t remember why. I pulled away from Pharzuph’s embrace. Both of the guys were giving me menacing stares. I tipped back the rest of the gin and threw the empty bottle on the floor. These guys were getting annoying. I wanted to have fun.

“Whur’s the music?” I spun, looking for a radio, and everything blurred.

Pharzuph stepped close, grabbing my arms and getting in my face. “Where’s the sword?”

For some reason an image of the sword in the stone came to mind.

“I ain’t got a swoooord, crazy ass.” I laughed.

“Don’t talk to him like that,” Kaidan warned, moving toward us.

Pharzuph chuckled, but he didn’t look happy. “We’ll see, little girl.”

“Yeah, we will!” I said, laughing gleefully and throwing myself onto the couch. I clutched my stomach as an onslaught of giggles overcame me. “What the heck are we even talkin’ ’bout? I thought we were gonna dance.” I rolled off the couch and crawled to the fridge. I needed another drink. And maybe I could make drinks for the guys since they weren’t happy.

“I make the bestest drinks, guys. I’ll make you sooo happy.”


“Not likely,” Kaidan mumbled.

Pharzuph slapped him on the shoulder and jutted his chin toward me. “Yeah, good luck with that. And be careful. I wouldn’t put it past her to use your lust inclination as a distraction to escape. Don’t let her get the upper hand, you know what I’m saying?” He winked, and Kaidan nodded. “Don’t leave the room, and don’t let her out of your sight.”

“Yes, sir.”

Pharzuph watched me again.

I cracked open a beer, throwing the bottle top with amazing accuracy at Kaidan’s face, but he snatched it from the air before it hit him. I fell back onto the couch and kicked my legs in the air. Kaidan pressed his fingers to his forehead.

“Aw, c’mon, Kaidan Rowe, hottie-boom-bottie. Let’s play.”

Dang, I was funny.

“I see what you mean now,” Pharzuph said to Kai, eyeing me with disgust. “It does seem ridiculous that we thought she was the one. Still. We need to find out what she knows.”

Kaidan nodded. My head turned in slow motion as I watched Pharzuph leave. Kaidan raised his arms and shot both middle fingers up at the closed door. He then leaned back against the wooden entertainment center and shoved his hands through his hair before crossing his arms. He looked angry. And sexy.

H-O-T-T.

I wet my lips, feeling bold and single-minded when I realized we were alone. He slowly shook his head back and forth at me. I set my beer on the coffee table, stood, and walked to him, wishing good riddance to the last shred of my inhibitions. I was invincible. I could do anything I wanted. But what I chose to do was the most dangerous thing of all.





CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN





ALLIES



I pressed my body against him.

He took my shoulders and tried to push me away, gently, shaking his head, but my busy hands were insistent on touching.

Nothing else in the world existed in that moment. Just us. Nothing else mattered. I wanted him. I loved him.

“Don’t,” I said when he tried to grab my hands. He quickly covered my mouth with his hard hand and spoke lowly against my ear.

“Shut. Up.” And even that was sexy.

I wanted his hand on my mouth to be his lips. I stopped trying to push up against him, and concentrated on his hand. I pressed my lips against his palm, looking up at him as I did it. His breathing went ragged. I took one of his fingers and slowly kissed it. He stepped back and I ran my tongue slowly over his fingertip.