At the Stroke of Midnight (Naughty Princess Club 1)

“I can see you have your hands full. I’ll stop by another time,” she finally says, giving me another murderous glare as she grabs her purse from the side table, flings open the door, and stomps her stiletto heels against the floor as she walks outside.

“If you stop by another time, I will shove my foot up your ass!” I shout after her. “I may be small, but I’m scrappy!”

With that, I reach over and slam the door shut.

When I look back at PJ, he’s giving me a small, sad smile.

My eyes fill with tears again, and all the wine I drank starts churning in my head and my stomach, making the room spin. I sway a little on my feet.

“Are you okay?” he asks softly, quickly closing the distance between us.

Just like always, his voice sends tingles up my spine, but his words annoy me.

“Uuuughhh, stop asking me that. I’m fine. I’m just great. It was awesome showing up here and seeing why you’ve been ignoring me. Just awesome. I’ll show myself out now.”

I take a step back from him, trying to get my thoughts in order and remember what it was I wanted to tell him, but my feet tangle together and I almost go down again until PJ swoops in and grabs me.

The foyer spins, but not because of wine this time. It’s because PJ bends down, slides his arm behind my knees, and easily scoops me up into his arms, turning as he does and heading for the stairs.

“I didn’t invite her over here and nothing happened, I swear on my life. She showed up, like I said, right before you got here, and I was in the middle of telling her she needed to leave when you rang the doorbell.”

I can hear the sincerity in his words, and it feels so good being in his arms again that I let the wine take over and make all my decisions for me. He makes me feel so safe and cared for that I instantly relax, wrapping my arms around his neck and resting my head on his shoulder. I don’t realize I must have dozed off for a few seconds until I feel myself being lowered to a bed.

My eyes blink open and I see PJ hovering over me, using the tips of his fingers to brush the hair off of my face. He looks so sad, leaning over me and gently touching my face. Why is he sad? I’m here. I closed the distance. If he wouldn’t mind giving me some assistance, I’ll gladly take off my clothes and reduce the space between us even more.

In my head, I picture myself sitting up and taking my clothes off, but in reality, I just snuggle deeper into the mountain of pillows he laid me on. It’s so soft and fluffy.

I feel him pull the blankets up over me, and when the bed dips, my eyes fly open to find him moving away from me. I quickly shoot my hand out and grab his arm.

“Stay. Don’t leave,” I whisper.

That sad look is back on his face, and I just don’t get it. There’s nothing to be sad about. I’m gonna take off my clothes and we’re gonna have sex, and everything will be back to normal.

While his palms still rest on the mattress next to me as he leans over the bed, I try really hard to keep my eyes open and remember what I’m supposed to say to him, but he’s so sad and pretty, I just want to kiss him and make it all better.

“I can’t come between a family, Cin. I might not be the most honorable, decent guy sometimes, but there’s no way I can do that,” he says softly.

His words get all scrambled in my head, and I don’t even hear half of what he says. I just know I need to say something.

“Don’t you dare change for him. You stay the same sexy, independent, amazing woman you are, do you hear me?” he asks quietly.

“Yeah, that sounds nice,” I mutter, having no clue what he said to me but it sure sounded soft and nice.

I should probably say more, but this bed is so comfy. I close my eyes and wait for him to get in beside me and pull me into his arms, but he never does.

Chapter 31: They’re Called Tits, Brian

“I feel like I’m going to throw up. Why did I let you talk me into coming to this thing again?” I ask Ariel as I pull our tickets out of my small, light-blue clutch and hand them to the man at the door.

The local Animal Protective League throws a huge fund-raiser every year, and I’ve gone to this thing every year since Brian and I got married, because this charity is very near and dear to my heart. I completely forgot about it until the tickets showed up in the mail yesterday morning.