London Bound: New Adult Romance (Chase Brothers) (9 page)

He chuckled. “Yeah, that’ll do it.”

“I’m waiting for the hallucinations to kick in any moment now. Will I really see a green fairy?”

He chuckled low, and Abbie wanted nothing more than to melt into that sound.

“I think you’re safe from little green fairies. The absinthe they serve these days is missing the wormwood, so you’re unlikely to hallucinate.”

“What? Then what was the point of all that? The sugar cube and the flame? I thought I was getting something really extraordinary.”

“Well, you got the experience at least, if not the buzz.”

She sighed and slouched. “Bummer. Not quite the London experience I was expecting.”

“Oh, come on, at least you came to a cool party.” He winked.

“Yes. There’s that.” Her arm accidentally grazed his, and she sucked in a breath as she shifted away. “Not what I meant. I meant the first time doing something out of my norm. Stepping out of the box.”

“Ahh.” He nodded. “Seems I have a little adventurer on my hands.”

“Ha. I’m hardly an adventurer.” She shivered.

Lex shrugged out of his jacket and shifted toward her. Unsure of what he meant to do, she stiffened and leaned away from him an inch. His grey eyes met hers and his smile was soft. Careful not to move too quickly, he slid his jacket around her shoulders. The warmth of his heat cocooned her.
Relax, Abbie, go with the flow. For once, be brave
. She closed her eyes, and without thinking, snuggled into his coat and leaned into him.

The moment her body made contact with his, they both stilled, and she didn’t dare breathe. When it finally came to a choice of inhale, or pass out, Abbie dragged in air quickly.

The moment she tried to slide away, he scooted closer and threw an arm around her. For three long seconds, she forgot how to speak. Her brain, unable to command her body to move away, took stock of her emotions. Anxiety level—DEFCON One. Fear levels—low. Lust levels—skyrocketing.

Minus a deep breath of his own, Alexi seemed completely unaffected by their close proximity. When he spoke again, his voice was mellow, modulated. “So you don’t think you’re an adventurer? How did you end up in London, if not?”

If he could be cool, then so could she. “Would you believe it if I told you I ran away from home? Left my life and my apartment and my b—” She halted just short of saying boyfriend.

She amended. “I left my family just to prove that I could do something extraordinary,
be
something extraordinary.”
And ditched my abusive ex.

He was silent for several beats, but she could tell his eyes were on her profile. Her skin tingled under his scrutiny.

“That’s brave as hell. You are an adventurer.”

“Well, the jury’s still out. Everyone back home thinks I’m going to give up and go back, if they bug me long enough.”

“Well, how long has it been?”

She grinned and forced herself to meet his gaze. “A couple of weeks.”

* * *

Lex held Abbie tighter as she shivered again. What the hell was he doing? This was not part of the plan. And there was something about the way she stiffened whenever anyone touched her. But she was relaxed in his arms now. He should let her go. But he liked her. Really liked her.

All the more reason to let her go, mate.

There was something so exposed and open about her. Something vulnerable but strong, unlike the girls he usually met. The over-processed, coy, game-playing girls who pretended they had no idea who he was or what he was about. But Abbie didn’t seem to know. She seemed real.

He wanted a slice of that reality. Wanted to touch it, if even for a minute. Hell, he was at his birthday party, and only a handful of those people would he call his friends. He would have preferred to be home with a pile of movies.

He smiled at her. “So, after a couple of weeks, what do you think of our little island?”

“Besides having fallen completely, unashamedly in love with the history, and the energy, and the diversity, and the atmosphere?” She shrugged, feigning indifference. “It’s okay. If you like that kind of thing. And school has been awesome so far.”

“School?” The hairs on his neck stood at attention
. Relax. There are a hundred schools in London.
She could be studying at any one of them. This didn’t mean she was Xander’s student. He could have asked, but he didn’t want to get into it.

“Yeah. I ran away from home to do a Masters in Fine Art Photography. My parents are beside themselves. It’s like I said, ‘Hey, Mom and Dad, I want to go be a drug dealer in London.’”

He laughed nervously. His brain kept trying to rationalize all the ways she couldn’t be Xander’s student. She could go to Camberwell or University of Arts. They were the most competitive with University of West London for fine arts degrees. All he had to do was ask. But he didn’t want that truth glaring at him. This was a complication that he didn’t need. So instead, he said, “I get the non-supportive parent thing.”

She shrugged. “Yeah. It’s no big deal. I don’t need their approval.”

But the way her shoulders slumped said she cared no matter what she spoke.

“So you’re here to become the next Annie Lebowitz?”

She beamed at him. “You know Annie Lebowitz?”

He made a mock wounded face. “I know things. I’m not just a playboy who has fabulous parties, you know.”

“I stand corrected.”

Her tongue peeked out to moisten her lips, and all he could do was stare.

She gave him a nervous smile. “What are you staring at?”

Lex nodded absently. “You. Your mouth, specifically.”

She rolled them inward. “Uhm, why.”

“I’m trying to talk myself out of kissing you.”

Abbie shifted away an inch to look at him more fully. “Why?”

“Because I’m probably not the kind of guy you should get involved with.”

Her eyes rounded, and she mouthed, “Oh.”

He liked her. And not just because she was that broken-looking girl he’d rescued from a Mini Cooper. But because she was brave and adventurous but didn’t know it yet. “But I’ve been doing a pretty crappy job of staying away from you.”

Abbie licked her lips again. He bit back a groan.

“I-uh.” She started again. “Alexi, I—”

Alarm bells rang in his head. This was a bad idea. A
very
bad idea. Worst idea he’d ever had. Worse than even dancing with her and getting a vivid picture of how her body would slide against his in bed. But he didn’t care. In the morning, he’d figure out a way to leave her alone. But right now, he just wanted to taste her.

Reaching out a hand, he cupped her cheek. “I really am going to hell for this.”

He dipped his mouth to hers. As soon as their tongues met, electricity coursed through his body. Lex pulled back in an effort at self-preservation.

Her lashes fluttered open, and she blinked up at him.

He reminded himself of the million reasons why he shouldn’t do this. With everything else going on in his life, he didn’t need complications. But Abbie briefly placed her fingertips against her mouth, and he forgot about what the prudent thing to do would be. Instead, he dragged her forward and kissed her again. On a shocked breath, she opened for him again. He angled his head to deepen the kiss, and all thoughts of good sense evaporated.

Barely aware of what he was doing, he cupped her face and rubbed a thumb over her cheek. Unable to stop kissing her, he delved his tongue inside, tasting her. Her unique flavor intoxicated him. When he touched his tongue to hers, she stilled and backed away, flattening a hand against his chest.

His heart thudded so fast, he worried he’d have a heart attack. Pain radiated in his chest as he waited for her response. Her fingers clenched in the lapels of his shirt, but she still held herself back from him.
Shit.
He’d taken it too far. “Abbie, I’m sorry. I got—”

She cut him off by tugging him to her and fusing their lips together. He didn’t need further invitation and dragged her onto his lap so she straddled him, her dress shifting up to expose her thighs.

His brain managed a few strangled messages like:
What are you doing? You’re literally making out with this girl in public. What if a photographer catches you?
But the rational messages were drowned out by the pounding need coursing through his veins.

Abbie dipped her tongue into his mouth, and his brain stopped functioning. Sliding his tongue over hers, he tried to decipher every flavor. Mostly, she tasted like something sweet like strawberries—maybe her lip-gloss, maybe the strawberry infused sake?

He sucked on her tongue, and she gasped into his mouth. When he did it again, she responded in kind by doing the same to him. The electric current flowing through his body sent a jolt of electricity straight to his dick.

Holding her tighter, his fingers skimmed her waist and slipped under his jacket to play with the skin on her bare back. Abbie gently rose on her knees, then resettled on his lap, bringing her molten heat more solidly against him. She repeated the action over and over again, and anything rational flew out of his head. He clamped both hands on her hips and rocked his in a steady rhythm. The more she rode him, the more he groaned.

Alarms rang in his skull. But he couldn’t stop. She tasted like heaven. If he wasn’t careful, he’d be reaching up under her dress to see just how wet she was. If he did something that stupid, he’d end up screwing her right here on the roof.

She was the one who slowly drew back. “What the hell are we doing?”

Lex’s brain struggled for purchase as Abbie’s question filtered into his consciousness. What was he supposed to say? If he said the wrong thing, she’d scramble back downstairs. “I haven’t a clue,” he muttered between shallow breaths. “But it feels really good.”

He gave her another slow drugging kiss that made him dizzy. Hell, he knew nothing about this girl except in this moment he could go on kissing her forever.

Abbie moved against him fluidly, and through their clothes, his erection sought out her moist heat. All he could think about was getting her closer and closer and burying himself so deep inside her that he wouldn’t remember his own name.

She trembled in his arms as he slid a hand between them, skimmed over her ribcage, pausing only as his thumb grazed the underside of her breast. His erection pulsed painfully against the fly of his jeans.

“Alexi…”

Through the fog of lust, he dragged his lips from hers and finally found his voice. “Y-yeah, Abbie.”

Her moan was low and throaty, but instead of pulling him toward her, she gently pushed him away. “I—Uhm…” She swallowed as he kissed the column of her neck. “We—I can’t do this.”

His body registered the command his brain gave to stop, and he dragged his eyes open to peer at her. Hers were wide and hazy with desire and something else. Not fear, but trepidation maybe? He immediately released her.

Lex forced his hands from her body and ran them through his hair. He cleared his throat and prayed it would help clear his mind too. “I got a little carried away.”

She blinked rapidly and slowly unfurled her hands from the front of his shirt. “Yeah, me too. That was…uh…intense.”

Intense
. Sure. That was one word for it. More like they’d both been doused in rocket fuel then lit on fire. “Yeah, I’ll say.” He prayed for some semblance of control. “C’mon. I’ll take you back to the party, and from now on I’ll be a perfect gentleman. I promise.”

She ducked her head. “Maybe if we could slow down for a minute.”

Lex lifted her off his lap and set her back on the ground before righting himself. She leaned on him for support to slip her towering heels back on. From the corner of his eye, he noticed a shadow in the far corner of the roof. He frowned but wasn’t sure what it was until he saw the flash.

Shit
.

Right away, he tucked Abbie into his side. “Let’s get out of here. It’s getting a bit cold anyway.” His mind tried to determine if he’d noticed any flashes while they’d been making out like a couple of teenagers. Had that scumbag caught a picture of her? Would he have to tell her who he was before they even got started? The mere thought put a damper on his mood.
Or was she the one who called the paparazzi
. He dismissed the thought almost as soon as it emerged.

Lex paused as they got to the door and hazarded a glance back toward where he’d seen the flash.

Abbie frowned. “What’s the matter?”

He rubbed the end of his nose. “Nothing. Sorry. I was just thinking. Or rather trying to force the blood to my brain so I could think. It seems you have quite an effect on me.”

She ducked her head again, and he deliberately tipped her chin up to face him. He smoothly stepped directly in front of her so anyone watching would only have a view of his back. “C’mon, what’s up?”

Abbie averted her gaze. “I don’t usually do that.”

“Enjoy a London evening on a rooftop? I highly recommend it.”

“No.” She chuckled. “I barely know you, but I was all over you like butter.”

Lex forced his hands into his pockets instead of on her. “It’s okay, Abbie. I’m not going to bite. That’s not how that was supposed to go at all. I’d been hoping for something a little less…combustible.”