Cruel Temptation (Underground Kings 1)

Three days later, the doctor allowed me to take Quinn home. She still didn’t remember anything, and every day that went by, the more nervous I got that she wouldn’t.

“You live here?” she gasped when she saw the Cliff House.

“We live here,” I corrected her, pressing the code to the garage, so the massive metal door opened.

“Holy shit,” she said like she always did.

“The holiest.” I parked the car in the garage, and the light above us came on, so we weren’t fumbling our way in the dark.

“What did you say?” she asked.

“The holiest,” I repeated, wondering if she was having a memory. I waited, hoped, and gripped the wheel tight.

“Sounds familiar,” she said.

“It’s because I’ve said it before, baby.” It was a good thing. At least, things were familiar for her. I had to have faith, just like I had before, that she’d come back to me. If she didn’t, I’d love her through it and create new memories, but the memories we have built were what brought us here. I really didn’t want her to forget us.

What about the last ten years of me being in prison? It would be all for nothing, and I’d find myself in another prison, just an emotional one.

“Oh.” Her shoulders slumped with disappointment.

“Hey, it’s okay. It’s a good thing that it sounds like you’ve heard it before.” My fingers slid under her chin and raised her head up, forcing her to look at me with those sad fucking eyes that were piercing me right through the chest.

I wanted to lean in and kiss her, but since she had no idea of who I was, not really, I had no idea if my kiss was welcome. I decided to pull back to give her space instead when really all I wanted to do was reassure myself of what her lips felt like.

I hoped like hell this didn’t go on long. I needed her back. I only had half of her right now. I missed the entirety of her.

It was hit after hit with us. We always had something to overcome, and to be honest, I was getting sick of it. I wanted to live in peace for fucks sake.

I got out of the car and made sure I didn’t slam the door with the frustration I felt. I ran my hand along the hood of the car as I walked in front of it and opened her door, helped her out, and lifted her in my arms.

Something I loved to do, something she wasn’t used to anymore, and maybe I should have asked if she wanted me to.

No, fuck that. I was going to hold my damn woman. If I couldn’t kiss her, I was holding her.

“Oh, wow. You’re strong,” she chuckled and squeezed my bicep since it was flexed as we walked inside. “It’s sexy.”

Alright, it felt good that she was looking at me like it was the first time. I hated that it felt like we were starting over, but I loved that she found me attractive. I lifted a brow at her and licked my lips. “You think I’m sexy?”

“You know you’re sexy. A guy like you doesn’t not know,” she scoffed and rolled her eyes dramatically.

“Maybe but hearing it from the woman that matters makes all the difference.”

Her cheeks turned a seductive shade of red, and she hid her face against my shoulder as we walked through the door. Now that was new. She had never hidden from me before. “You smell so good,” she moaned in appreciation as she sniffed my chest.

I almost tripped over the step entering the house when I heard the sound.

“You seem perfect so far. Good looking, you smell good— I love a man that smells good— and I bet you’re smart too. There has to be a catch.”

Yeah, I was a criminal, but I would lead in with that later.

“Why do you think I wear cologne? I just as hell don’t wear it for me, baby.” I hopped onto the elevator and pressed the button to the main floor. The silence wasn’t awkward, but it was full of sexual tension. I never thought someone’s memory loss would make me feel like a teenager who had no idea what he was doing, but here I was, debating with myself on what to do or say. I didn’t want to make the wrong move.

Moves were critical right now, and I had to make the right ones.

“What was prison like?”

That was the one question she had never asked me. I thought it was because talking about it would make her feel bad for not believing in me, but since she didn’t have that memory, her filter was completely off.