It didn’t look like we would have any interruptions tonight, and the thought of what th meant-finishing what we started in the hotel-had me wiping sweaty palms against my jeans.
But then Lucian pulled out Uno cards, and the laugh that burst out of me carried away all the tension and anxiety.
An hour later, we were still sitting cross-legged on the carpet, a half-empty bottle of wine between us.
I leaned forward, hair tumbling loose over my shoulders as I smirked.
“Uno!” I flicked my last card onto the pile.
I giggled as Lucian groaned, dropping his cards down and accepting his sixteenth consecutive defeat.
“Your luck is terrible,” I teased. “Do you even know how to shuffle?”
He shook his head. “Those cards are cursed.”
I snorted. “They’re your cards. Awn, the big scary Alpha is shit at children’s games, that’s so adorable!”
His scowl was mock-serious. “Careful, Seraphina.”
I smirked. “Oh, what? You’ll pout me into silence?”
He narrowed his eyes, gathering the scattered cards with deliberate slowness. “You think you’re bold now…”
Before I could reply, he lunged, tackling me backward onto the rug. A startled squeal broke from my throat as he pinned my wrists to my sides, looming above me with theatrical menace.
“Lucian!” I gasped, wriggling, though laughter bubbled uncontrollably in my chest.
“This,” he intoned, voice low and dangerous, “is what happens when you mock the big scary Alpha.”
His hands tightened just enough to make me squirm, but his eyes shone with boyish mischief.
I kicked half-heartedly, laughing so hard my ribs ached.
“You’re a sore loser,” I wheezed.
“And you’re insufferable,” he countered, dipping close enough that his breath brushed my cheek.
I pouted, and I didn’t know if it was the wine or giddy happiness swirling in my veins, but the next words that came out of my mouth were: “Well, what are you going to do about it?”
Lucian’s eyes glittered down at me, heat and mischief tangled together like smoke curling into flame.
His weight held me pinned, wrists locked in his grip, but I knew I wasn’t in any danger-of being hurt, at least.
But the way his smile tilted, the way my pulse hammered because of it…
Yeah, that was the real danger.
“Well?” he murmured, leaning so close that every syllable brushed across my lips. “Is that a challenge, Sera? You want to see how I punish insubordination?”
My laughter faltered, caught in my throat.
The room seemed to shrink until it was only his dark hair falling loose around his face, tickling my cheek, the wine warming my blood, and the sharp, aching awareness of him pressing me into the rug.
I swallowed, defiant despite the way my body betrayed me.
“Yes.” The word was barely a whisper, but I forced my chin up. “Show me.”
Lucian’s grin widened, eyes glinting. “You’ll regret that challenge.”
I slowly bit my lips. “Somehow, I doubt that.”
For a suspended second, the world narrowed to his weight above me, his smile, the warmth of his body anchoring mine.
Then he released my wrists only to catch them again, pulling them above my head in one firm grip.
His free hand slid deliberately, unbearably slow, down my arm, my shoulder, my side. The trail of heat he left behind made my lungs stutter and my breaths shatter into uneven gasps.
“Lucian…” My voice broke, caught between warning and want.
“Still laughing?” he teased, his thumb grazing the curve of my hipbone.
MR JA
I shook my head helplessly, though a smile tugged at my lips.
He leaned lower, until our noses nearly brushed, until I could feel the faint hitch in his breathing that betrayed his own restraint.
The playful menace had softened into something else entirely, something charged and intimate.
The air between us thickened. My body arched without thinking, tugged toward him like metal to a magnet.
His lips brushed my jaw. “Say it again,” he whispered.
My breath trembled out of me. “Uno?”
He huffed a laugh against my skin, the vibration sending shivers down my spine. “Not that,” he growled, mock-offended, nipping lightly at my shoulder, sharp enough to send a zing of electricity through me.
I gasped, then laughed, then gasped again when his mouth lingered-higher now, at the corner of my lips, hovering in a way that set my nerves on fire.
His control frayed. Mine snapped entirely.
“Lucian,” I whispered, and this time there was no contradiction-it was all need.
He shifted, as if he might finally close that agonizing gap and devour me whole, when-
My phone rang.
The sharp, tinny sound cut through the tension like slashing claws. I froze. Lucian groaned low in his throat, forehead pressing against mine in pure frustration.
What was that saying? Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence-three times is WHAT
THE FUCK?!
“Don’t,” he muttered. “Let it die.”
But the sound pierced again, insistent. My chest tightened. “What if it’s Maya? Or Daniel?”
Lucian sighed, muscles taut, but rolled off me with obvious reluctance. I scrambled upright, hair rumpled, cheeks flaming, fumbling for the glowing screen.
The caller ID was an unknown number.
I hesitated, thumb hovering before I finally answered. “Hello?”
Static at first. Then a voice, rough and harried: “Hi, yeah. Uh…listen, your husband’s here at the bar. He’s drunk as hell, causing a scene. Can you come get him?”
My mind blanked. Husband? It took a beat too long to click. My stomach dropped.
“Kieran?” I blurted, pulse spiking.
“I dunno his name. I grabbed his phone, this number was number one on his speed dial, so
I figured you must be-“
Before I could process, another voice cut in, slurred, but unmistakable.
“I’m fine,” Kieran snapped.
There was a shuffle, and then his voice sounded closer, sharp with irritation. “This is a misunderstanding; I don’t need anyone. I’m fine, so don’t bother, Serraa.”
But the way he drawled my name told me that he wasn’t, in fact, fine, and I needed to, in fact, bother.
My throat tightened. “Kieran-“
The phone was suddenly plucked from my hand.
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