Crowed (Team Zero #2) - Rina Kent Page 0,41

become completely foreign ever since Crow touched me.

Charlotte whines in her sleep as if reprimanding me for moving while she’s lying on my lap.

I can’t help it, ma petite.

“This is fucking crazy. I can’t believe I’m waiting for death with folded arms.” Crow groans, finally leaving the window to shoot daggers at my face. “We’re leaving.”

“No, we’re not.” I smile. As much as his bossiness is sometimes over the top, he kind of looks like a kid when he’s grumpy.

“What are you smiling for?” He stalks towards me with a dark gleam in his bottomless blue eyes.

“Nothing.” I try to focus on the novel for the thousandth time.

“Nothing, huh?” He pulls both my legs in a single yank.

I yelp as I lie on my back. The novel drops by the side of the bed. My pulse skyrockets, and as usual, my skin grows a mind of its own under his touch.

Charlotte whines aloud as she hops from the bed to avoid falling over.

“Shut it, Cheerio.” He doesn’t even look at her, his fingers sliding up my leg and underneath my satin gown. “This is my place now.”

Shivers break on my skin, and my stomach throbs. I don’t have a way to stop this flow of energy coursing through me even if I want to.

And I don’t want to.

Crow digs his fingers in my thighs until I whimper. “Are you going to stop this nonsense and leave with me?” He’s growling, trying to scare me, but he can’t hide the lust blazing in his eyes.

I reach out a hand, cup him through his boxers, and stroke lightly. His erection surges to life in an instant. A guttural moan rips from the back of his throat as he tilts his head back.

In the time he’s been trying to take me away, I’ve been doing my best to distract him. Not only to alleviate the tension residing in his shoulders, but also to make us both come alive.

Even if it’s for a short period of time.

The safety I find in his arms is addictive.

He’s addictive.

“You can’t keep seducing me forever, you know.” He sounds strained as his erection keeps growing underneath my fingers.

I lick my lips, looking up at him. “I can try.”

His mouth crashes into mine, and he pulls me towards him with so much ferocity that it knocks the living breath out of my lungs.

I hold onto his neck with all my might because this, the now, is all I have.

And if it’s everything I get out of life, then so be it.

*****

I yawn as I stumble into the kitchen, Charlotte hot on my heels.

It seems like all the sleepless years are taking their toll on my body. Or it’s because Crow exhausts the hell out of me that I have no energy.

Or both.

Thankfully, I don’t have to work for the time being. I miss Céline and the patients, and Xavier has been calling to check up on me, but I needed this holiday.

I haven’t taken an appropriate time off for years. Not even after Maman died.

“Merde,” I curse when I find Charlotte’s food can empty. “No more food, Charlotte.”

She stares between me and the can with those puppy eyes and barks.

I bite the inside of my cheek. That look has always been my weakness. “I’ll go fetch you some.”

“Go where?”

I startle at Crow’s low tone and turn around, a hand on my chest. “You scared me.”

“You’re not going anywhere.” He stands in the doorway, arms crossed, wearing black trousers and a T-shirt. His shadowed features make him appear like a faceless grim reaper.

Which I guess he is, in some way. But I couldn’t care less about that part. All I see is the man inside him.

“Charlotte has no food left,” I say. “I need to get her some.”

“I’ll give her my ham.”

I sigh, approaching him. “And then what? We will both be out of food. I haven’t done grocery shopping for a week.” He opens his mouth but I cut him off, “And don’t even say delivery. No one comes out here. I have to fetch my own mail from town.”

He closes his eyes for a mere second. When he opens them, there’s a raw desperation in them. “I wasn’t going to say delivery. They’re the easiest way to send a killer.”

I palm his cheek, stroking the slight stubble. “I’ll be fine.”

He picks me up and sets me on the counter. At this level, I’m almost eye to eye with him. He pries my legs open and settles between them,