Risking the Crown (The Crown 2)

“It doesn’t matter what you call me. You can call me anything you want, Em. Call me Vaughn.”

“Please go,” I begged. “Please. I can’t do this. I can’t be a part of whatever phase this is in your deranged reality.”

“No.” He shook his head. “I can’t leave. I have to make it right. I have to fix this. I need you to believe me.”

“There is no fixing it. You’re wanted by the government. There are federal agents searching for you. Turn yourself in.”

I didn’t expect the smirk. “That is also not going to happen.”

“You don’t have a choice. They’re going to catch you.” I sniffed.

“Sweetheart, I’ve been in this game a long time. I haven’t been caught yet.”

I felt it. The dangerous flicker that wicked the first night we met. The glimpse into the layers Vaughn carried. The draw that I tried to deny.

“What does that even mean?” I was mesmerized by him. By his audacity. By his presence. By the fact that he was here in the flesh, kissing me, touching me. Promising me that everything I felt was real.

“I’m not turning myself in.”

He tipped my chin forward. My lips quivered.

“Let me go. Just let me go before there’s nothing of me left,” I begged.

“I’m not going to let go. I’m going to protect you. Take care of you. Save you when you need saving. Push you when you need it. Hold you. Kiss you. Get drunk on you.”

I stopped crying. “You want a second chance.”

“It’s not a second chance. I fucking love you, Emily Charles. I never stopped. I left to spare you. And it almost killed me. I thought you would be better off if I didn’t come back. That my life would drag you into darkness, but I didn’t realize that without you I couldn’t find the light again. I can’t live like this anymore. I came back for you.”

I fell into his arms. The kiss turned to liquid fire, engulfing us in raging flames. He pulled me from the floor, lifting me into his arms.

I stared into his eyes.

The sliding door closed behind us and he carried me to my room. He lowered me to the bed, then turned to close the door and pushed a chair under the handle.

“Just in case.” He winked. “No interruptions.”

I didn’t care. I didn’t care about anything but him. He was back. Back for me. For us.

Chapter 28

There was a fraction of a second. A moment when Vaughn stepped from the chair blocking the door back to the bed. It was the sliver of time I could have backed out. The time I should have told myself I didn’t need him anymore. That I was about to make the biggest mistake of my life.

But he crawled toward me on the bed. I looked into the depths of his eyes. He brushed a kiss across my lips and I knew I would go up in smoke with him. I would give anything for this. For him.

I raised my arms overhead as he pulled the sweater from my body. His mouth found mine and I kissed him like that first night on the street. Like there was mystery and magic between us. I couldn’t think about what would happen when this was over. All I could do was live in it. Too hold him close. To love him like I had never loved him before.

His hands roamed my body, tugging, caressing until my clothes were a pile on the floor. He ran a finger over my breast, circling my nipple until it perked under his command. His teeth grazed over, biting harder with each gnash of his teeth. I ran my hands through his hair, pressing harder into him. I moaned when he sucked my breast between his lips.

My legs parted and his fingers slid over my navel and dove between my folds. He flicked and rubbed my clit while he sucked my tit with commanding force.

“Ohh,” I whimpered. My hips rocked and swayed, urging his fingers to slide deeper and farther until he finally pushed inside me.

His lips broke free of my nipple as he pressed a rough kiss on my mouth. I yielded to his tongue. Hungry for his taste.

“I missed you, Em. I missed you so fucking much,” he growled, taking my face in his hands.

I nodded in agreement. Was that the word? Did that describe the emptiness and loneliness that moved in when he left. I did more than miss him. I mourned him.