Delinquents Turned Fugitives - Ann Denton Page 0,138

mattress beside me instead of Evan, who’d fallen asleep with me in his arms. Immediately, I was wide awake.

Gray was the only holdout of the crew.

And since we’d rescued Matthew, he’d avoided my bedroom like the plague. It didn’t matter what house or apartment he dragged us to, as soon as a room was declared mine, he acted like it was a nuclear fallout zone. He would not step foot inside.

He’d kissed me and fooled around with me on the couch. He’d fingered me up against the bathroom wall the other day. But we hadn’t gone all the way. And the only damn excuse he’d given was, “I want it to be right.”

According to his hot, stubborn ass, it never was. At first, I thought he was just paranoid about the Pinnacle, trying to do his part by staying alert. After a while, part of me worried he wasn’t over his ex—that part of me selfishly didn’t even want to remind him about her, so I kept quiet and took out my sexual frustration on the other four. They didn’t seem to mind.

But this, planting himself in my bed, that seemed like a pretty damn big statement for Mr. Mars, so I made sure I stretched nice and long, arching my back and sliding the covers down to give him a good look at what he was missing or—hopefully—what he was about to get.

“Get dressed,” Gray’s eyes were distracted by the way my nipples peaked through my shirt for only a minute before he tossed a little black dress and some black stilettos onto the bedspread. “Do your hair and makeup. Be downstairs in ten.”

I shot up in bed. “In ten? Are you joking?” That wasn’t enough time to shave even one of my legs. Not unless I used—

He tossed a disposable wand on the bed. “Ten, that’s it, or I’m carrying your ass down.” Gray left my room, closing the door behind him.

I scrambled off the bed and into my cramped little en suite to use the facilities.

Then I wrote spell after spell as fast as I could to get my sweaty, tired ass sexy for Gray. Because if he was finally ready to play, then dammit, I wasn’t giving him an excuse not to.

He knocked on the door after exactly ten minutes and I was standing there waiting for him. My hair was piled up on top of my head with twenties-style pin curls held in place by nothing but magic in the hope that he could run his hands through them later and just make them tumble down without any issue. My eyes were smoky and my lipstick was a tempting cranberry. The black dress he’d given me was too tight and low cut for a bra, so I’d left it off, letting the fabric cling to my breasts. Under the thigh high skirt, I wore a tiny lace thong, one that was easy to pull aside or rip in half. I hoped he’d do the latter.

Gray’s eyes scanned me from head to toe, zeroing in on the juncture between my thighs. I hoped like hell that meant he was thinking what I was thinking.

He wore a suit, like we were going on a date, so my hope ratcheted up another notch.

“Where are we headed?” I asked.

“You’ll see.” He took my hand and led me down the narrow, uneven carpeted stairs. The lights to the stairwell were off for some reason so I lifted my hand to give us some illumination, but he covered it up. “Nope, not yet.”

When we reached the bottom of the stairs, I realized the entire living room was dark, the couches shoved up against the walls, coffee table missing.

“Where is everyone?” I asked.

“The vampires all took off for the night.” Gray said.

“You bribed them, didn’t you?”

“Maybe.”

A beautiful suspicion started to build inside my head that Gray wanted to be alone with me.

But then I heard Z’s whispered whine, “How long are we going to have to wait to see her?”

I leaned into Gray. “You didn’t get rid of the rest of them?”

“They’re unbribable when it comes to you.” He sounded put out, like he’d tried and failed, which made me smile and squeeze his hand.

“Hey, this is our date, right? We can pretend they aren’t here if you want.”

He chuckled and turned to nuzzle my ear. “That sounds perfect.”

“What are you saying?” Zavier called out in the darkness. “I can’t hear.”

There was a thump and an “ouch,” and I was pretty sure