This is by far one of the most horrendous songs I’ve ever heard. Her tone of voice is jarring, and she’s singing to all different tempos. I’m lost in the moment, listening to the lyrics when I round the corner and face-plant into Kingsley’s chest. I jump back, and my mind quickly fizzles back to reality. “Holy shit,” I say under my breath. He’s dressed only in a pair of sweatpants. Shirtless. ‘Holy shit’ is an understatement.
“Maddy?” He grabs me by the shoulders. “What the hell are you doing here? How’d you get in?” He’s holding most of my weight as I stare into his deep green eyes. “Maddy,” he growls.
Dazedly, I stumble along behind him as he drags me back to his room. When he closes and locks the door behind him, he lets go of my wrist.
I don’t know what to say. He’s perfectly fine. I’m . . . I’m so stupid. I don’t say a word as I turn for the door to his balcony, but just as I’m opening it, his hand clasps over mine, and he pulls it shut.
His fingers brush over my arm, down to my hands until his fingers are intertwined with mine, and he pulls me around to face him.
“You snuck in here?” I raise one eyebrow, and he smirks. “I don’t know why I’m surprised.”
I yank my hand from his and shove him in the shoulder. He laughs before his hands find my waist and he pulls me towards him hard. My breath hitches as I’m pressed up against his bare chest.
“I’m not letting you out of my sight again,” he breathes into my neck, causing the little hairs to stand on end.
“Where have you been? I thought something was wrong.”
He pulls back, and there’s a ghost of a smile on his face. “You were worried about me.”
I scoff but he ignores it. He presses his lips into a firm line, looks over his shoulder towards his door and grumbles. “My dad is what’s wrong. He put me on fucking house arrest.”
I don’t understand. I know his dad disapproves of me. Heck, I was even ready to end it completely, but now that I’m here in his arms, it’s too good. So you know what? Fuck him.
My legs are taken out from underneath me, and Kingsley carries me across the room, gazing down at me with the widest of smiles, showing off two dimples. I deflate in his arms. I don’t know what it is about him, but he seems to weaken me in a good way.
“I’m so happy you came back. I don’t even have your number and I was going crazy.” He lays me down on his bed, resting above me on his elbows. My mind is groggy, and all I can do is laugh. “Maybe,” he arches an eyebrow, “your criminal exploits come in handy after all.” He falls onto the bed beside me, then lets out a breath and lies on his side to face me.
My eyes trail over his face and neck, and I gasp at the faint bruises there. “What happened?”
Kingsley shakes his head. “Let’s just say my dad wasn’t too pleased the other day.” He gives me a half-hearted smile, but his eyes are dark, and I see the warning in them. Not wanting to push on the subject, I continue my perusal of his body, my eyes slowly appraising his bare chest. My gaze stops on a scar below his collarbone just at the top of his pec. I lift my finger and run it down the length of it. It’s about two inches wide and four inches long. It’s smooth, and I know it’s been there a while. “I thought you had shown me all your battle wounds.”
His expression hardens, and I’m afraid I’ve stepped completely over the line now. He clears his throat and abruptly moves away. The warmth is gone. He walks into his closet, and comes back with a shirt on. I know I’m not going to get an explanation, and I wonder if I ever will.
“Being stuck here, I’ve had a lot of time to think, and God, you haven’t left my mind.” He drops back onto the bed beside me, and I’m relieved to see that smile is back. I smirk which causes him to groan. “Oh, that smile.” He leans forward, and kisses my jaw, my neck, and a tingle shoots through me like a live wire.
“So, I’ve been keeping you up at night?”
“All night, baby,” he winks, and I roll my eyes. In an instant, he’s serious again, but a different serious. It’s not pain that plagues his expression, it’s concern. His smile is gone, replaced with a tight line. “I don’t want you doing that stuff anymore.” He pauses. “I will do anything for you. If you need anything, I will help you. But Maddy, you have to stop. I can’t let you do that. Breaking into houses, stealing, doing drugs—”
I jerk my head back out of his grasp. “I don’t do drugs, not anymore.”
The tenseness in his eyes softens, and then he frowns. “But you’re friends with Cynthia?”
“You know Cynthia?”
“I know a lot of people. But you promise me you won’t do any of those other things?”
I already told him about my situation, and I can’t make that promise. He has to understand that. “Kingsley—”
“Maddy, I know you don’t live at Cynthia’s house, and I know you need the money and food. I don’t know why your foster parents don’t take care of that, and I know you don’t want to tell me anything. So, like I said before, I’ll take care of that for you.”
He knows Cynthia’s house? He wants to give me money?
I’m not a charity. I don’t need him. This is what I’ve always done. I pull myself away from him, and mutter, “I can take care of myself.” His hands wrap around my waist, and he pulls me into him, nestling his head into my neck.
He whispers, “Trust me, babe, I know you can take care of yourself.” His lips press against my skin, and a trail of bumps run across my body. Babe? “But I want to take care of you.”
God.
I don’t protest and his hold on me tightens. My entire body melts in his arms. His lips trail up and down my jaw, over my cheek, my nose—I’m sure just about every inch of bare skin available to him—and then he pauses just as he’s about to touch my lips, making direct eye contact. “Let me take care of you.”
My whole life I’ve been desperate to hear those words, even though I know how weak it is, how pathetic it makes me, it’s all I want. All I’ve ever wanted.
His lips brush up against my own, and his hips press against mine. His knee pushes my legs open, and sparks of heat ignite between my thighs.
I didn’t ever think I could feel like this. That my heart could beat so fast, that I could be lost in someone, entranced by . . . everything. This is what it’s supposed to be like in the movies; not real life.
“You’re so sexy,” he whispers, and I laugh. He pulls back to look at me. “What?”
I cringe. “Cheesy much?”
He rolls his eyes and snickers. “Am I not allowed to tell my girl how sexy she is?”
Yes, yes you are. I don’t respond, but my cheeks warm. He smiles as he presses his lips against mine, and as he’s kissing me, he’s mumbling, “You’re so fucking sexy.”
If anyone is sexy in this relationship, it’s most definitely not me. But his hands on my ass feel good—too good, and then he abruptly stops and falls into the pillow. “I’m sorry, I’m getting carried away.”
I let out a shaky laugh. I like it, but I don’t tell him. We need to take things slow. I stare at him, his chest is rapidly rising and falling. My throat has gone dry so I clear it to make sure it’s not going to let me down. “How long are you locked up for?”
“Until I agree to get back with Rebecca, or until they leave tomorrow. They can’t keep me locked up from London.”
My stomach clenches. He has to get back with Rebecca? He lifts himself up onto his elbows, frowning. “Don’t worry. I’ll figure it out.” He kisses my forehead and lies back beside me.
I wake in the same position I fell asleep, wrapped in his arms. I try to move, but his hold on me is tight. Even though this is the first time I’ve ever slept in the same bed with a guy, strangely, I feel content. I look up at his sleeping face. He looks so good. Too good. His mouth is parted slightly, and his face is calm. I stay there for a while longer, resting my head against his chest, listening to the rhythm of his heart, taking him in. His smell, his body, his aura.
; I manage to slip out from his grasp and sit up. My feet skim the polished, dark wooden floors, and I shift my weight slightly so I don’t wake him. Before I can stand up, a firm hand clasps my waist and pulls me back. He cradles me into his chest and buries his head in my neck.
“You’re not going anywhere.”
I chuckle and turn to face him. “I only came yesterday to see if you were still alive.”
He smiles lazily and struggles to hold his eyes open. “Surprise.”
I roll my eyes. “I can’t be here, remember?”
He rubs a hand down the side of his face, then through his hair. He lifts himself over me and out of bed. I don’t remember him taking off his pants, and I can’t take my eyes off him in just his boxers.
He sits on the end of the bed, pulling his shirt on. “If I can’t leave, then you can’t either. It’s only fair.” He looks at me with a mischievous smile.
“What?”
He pulls his jeans on. “You’re staying right here with me.”
“What about your parents?”
“They won’t come in.”
“You didn’t think that was the case the other day,” I mutter.
He sighs, gets down on his knees, and takes my hand in his. “I freaked, okay? I hadn’t told my parents about Rebecca, and with my dad . . . I just—”
“You just didn’t want them to know that you’re going out with someone like me.”
He frowns, quickly bringing his hands up to cup my cheeks, and shakes his head. “That’s not true. Where you’re from, or how much money you have has nothing to do with why I’m falling for you.”
“It must be my charming personality and super stylish clothes.”
He laughs, pulls himself up off the floor and flops onto the bed, scrunching up the pillow beneath him. He stares at me. “It’s definitely your charming personality,” he pauses, lowering his gaze, “and that fine ass.”
I pull the pillow out from underneath him and smack him in the head. He lets me, and then he grabs my arm and pulls me into him.
I lay there for a moment, listening to the rhythm of his breathing, and then I pull back. “I need to wash my face, can I use your bathroom?”
“You can use whatever you want.”
I slip out from his hold and walk across his room, his gaze burning into my back. His bathroom is floor-to-ceiling marble. A white, freestanding bath sits below a window that overlooks the beach. He doesn’t have much stuff, a few bottles of cologne, a bowl of new soap from which I intend to take one, a watch, and a photo. I pick it up. It’s of him when he was a child sitting on a couch with a newborn in his arms. He’s bearing the widest of smiles, and my heart breaks for him. I wonder where that happy boy went. Every now and then, I’m sure I see a glimpse of him.
I get a fright when I feel him behind me. His hands slide around to my stomach, and he presses his lips to my neck. I lean my head back.
“What’s her name?”
“Sarah.”
“She’s beautiful.”
“I know.”
I place the photo down and turn to look at him. “I bet she’d be proud of you.”
He laughs. “You think?”
I nod, and his eyes warm. He scoops me up off the floor by my waist and balances my ass on the counter between the two basins. I bring my arms up to his shoulders. When he glances down at me again, he releases a rough breath and I mimic him.
He spans his hands on my waist and presses me against the mirror. When he puts one hand on my jaw and tilts my head back, I wait for the squeeze to start.
One of his fingers is behind my earlobe, and I shiver when it slides up into my hair. My heart pounds, my eyes flick from his lips to his eyes, and when our gaze meets, he smiles. In an instant, his lips are against mine. Strong and purposeful. He leads the way with his tongue.
His teeth catch my bottom lip in a faint bite, and goosebumps spread across my skin. My toes curl. He pulls back slightly and looks me in the eye. His fingers are entwined in my hair, his hands cupping my head. His breathing is rough, and the excitement in his eyes causes my pulse to jump. This is fun. My brain whirls as my body desperately begs for more. I pull his mouth back to mine with my hand fisted at the scruff of his neck. His lips are firm, but his kiss has softened.
He hoists me up higher with a hand on the back of my thigh, and I let out a gasp.
“God, Maddison,” he breathes out in a rush.
“God, Kingsley,” I say condescendingly.
He smiles into my lips, and it only makes me want to kiss him more. His tongue teases me, and I tease him back. My hands are roaming his body, and then he pulls away, running a hand through his hair. “Fuck.” We’re both out of breath.
I pull him back into me, pressing my lips against his. He breaks the kiss off again. “Okay, you keep grabbing me like that, you can forget about that going slow crap.”
My mouth hooks up at the corner. Right now, I kind of want to forget about it.
“What I can’t work out is if you really are innocent, or if you’re a tease and you’re messing with me.”
“What, you don’t believe me?”
“You aren’t known for telling the truth now, are you, my little thief?”
I laugh. “Well, there was that one time.”
He straightens up, and I laugh again. “Kingsley, just ‘cause I live in the ghetto, doesn’t mean I’m like every other girl there. Well, kinda.” His lip quirks. “I haven’t even kissed a guy before you.”
“Okay, now you’re fucking with me.”
“I’m not.”
He runs a hand through his hair and steps back. “Holy shit.”
“What?”
“You’re like fifty times hotter now.”
My cheeks warm and I look away, but his hand brings my face back to his. “I like it when you’re shy. It’s real. I get to see the real you.”
“Yeah, well, I bet you’re not as innocent.”
He grabs the back of his neck, and his eyes dart from mine.
“Kingsley, I’m not an idiot. I know you’re, like, the player of school.”
His hand is still rubbing his neck as if he’s trying to loosen the muscles there. “I don’t want that reputation anymore.”
I laugh. “Too late for that, buddy. How many people have you had sex with?”
He scowls. “Not many.”
“I hope not,” I say under my breath, and raise an eyebrow. “I’m not getting no diseases.”
He laughs. “Fuck, you really think I’m a manwhore, don’t you?”
“You are.”
“I don’t know how many people it takes to get that title, but I’ve only had sex with one.”
“Only Rebecca?” I ask, startled.
“You have so much faith in me.”
“It’s just, it’s—”
“I promise I’m telling the truth.”
I scowl at him with a small smile on my face. “You better be.” The amount of trust I have in him scares me, but I know he’s not lying.
He sighs, leans forward, and breathes me in. “God, I’m falling for you, Maddison.” My heart stutters, and my palms sweat. I freeze with my back against the mirror. “If I could take it back, I would. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize. I know you can’t control your male parts.”
The corner of his mouth tugs. “You’re right, and if you keep licking your lips like that, I’m going to show you what I’m apparently known for.”
I laugh and shove him. He stumbles back, dramatically. I turn to the basin and splash my face with cold water in the hopes of regaining my dignity. I pat it dry with a towel, then look at myself in the mirror. My skin is vibrant and my eyes are just the same. What is he doing to me?
I walk past him leaning against the wall, watching me. I grab my jacket from his bedroom floor and slide it on. “Okay, well, I really have to go now.”
“Just wait until my parents go, then we can hang out today, and go to the party together tonight.”<
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“I can’t. I need to go see my brother and sisters.” I have to get them some food somehow.
“Fine, but it was torture not having your number, so I’m getting it and texting you as soon as you leave.” He hands me his phone. I roll my eyes and add my number to his contacts.
When I hand it back to him, he grasps my hands and pulls me into his chest. I press my head to his pecs and listen to the smooth rhythm of his heart as I feel his hand slip something into my back pocket. I jerk back out of his grasp, shove my hand down my back pocket and pull out a gold credit card. My eyes widen, and my jaw drops.
I shove it back in his chest, but he raises his hands and takes a few steps back. “That’s not mine.”
“Yes, it is, Kingsley. So don’t be stupid.”
He swipes the card from my hand, grabs my wrists and crouches down so we are at eye level. “Maddy,” he sighs. There’s no humor in his expression now. His eyebrows are on the cusp of being drawn together, his lips are pursed, and he’s staring deep into my eyes. “I know you can take care of yourself. The thing I admire most about you is how you take care of yourself and all your foster siblings.” He shakes me gently. I look back at him. “I’m serious, Maddy. That’s what I love most about you.” Tears form in my eyes and they have nothing to do with what he’s trying to do. No one’s ever told me what a good job I’m doing, and I didn’t think hearing the words would make me so weak. “But I don’t agree with you stealing. Like I said before, I don’t want you doing that stuff anymore. Please. Let me take some of that weight off your shoulders.” His thumbs brush my arms, as he holds onto me. “At least, just for today.” There’s a look in his eye that suggests it won’t just be for today, in fact, I know him well enough to know just for today is just an excuse.
It takes me a moment to protest. “Kingsley, I can’t.”
His hands fall and he pinches his nose before he runs one through his hair. When he looks back at me, there’s no pity in his eyes, no doubt, only concern. “Accepting this doesn’t diminish you. It doesn’t mean you’ve failed. Maddison, I need you to know that.”
I still can’t find the words to speak. I close my eyes and shake my head. His hand brushes under my chin, and tilts it back. “Did you hear me?” His voice is sterner. We stare at each other for a moment longer. “You’re my girl, and it’s time for someone to care for you.” I swallow back the lump of nerves and apprehension as I stare up at him. His thumb brushes my chin. “And I want that to be me.”
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