Cruel Temptation (Underground Kings 1)

“No,” I groaned, flipping over in the other direction so Jaxon wouldn’t bother me.

“Quinn,” he said my name with humor.

I didn’t find it funny to wake me up at the ass crack of dawn when the roosters crowed. No. That was one thing that had not and would not change about me. I was not a morning person. Sure, I had my sleepless nights, and sometimes I woke up early, but not because I freaking wanted to. My body hated me in those days. There was a difference between waking up early because you had to versus waking up early because someone made you.

And Jaxon was making me.

Did he care about his life at all?

“Come on; I have the entire day planned for us. You must get up now. I brought coffee.” He must have placed the mug in front of my face because I got a strong whiff of delicious coffee. I pried one eyelid open, much to my dismay, the only way to get me up calmly was with coffee.

“That’s it. Come on,” he laughed at his own tone of voice because it sounded like he was trying to coax an animal out of a corner.

I slowly sat up, not opening my other eye yet because I wasn’t ready to let go of the sleep yet.

His chuckle annoyed me when it sounded again. “Still not a morning person, I see.”

“And never will be,” I yawned, debating if the coffee was worth it. I could go back to sleep for a few hours and then warm up the java. That was a good plan.

“I brought your favorite food. Loaded hashbrowns.”

That had me lifting my other eyelid.

“Uh-huh. That got your attention, didn’t it?” He shook his head but kept the smirk on his handsome face. He lifted the lid off the tray, and my stomach grumbled when I smelled the biscuits and gravy.

“Did you bring A-1?” I gave him a chin lift and lifted one brow as high as it could go to see if he passed the ultimate test of knowing me. Anyone that had ever been close to me knew how much I loved A-1 on nearly everything. If he forgot…well, maybe we weren’t meant to be after all.

Kidding.

Kind of.

“Did I forget the A-1?” he mocked me and blew a raspberry. “Did I, me, Jaxon Steel, forget the A-1? What kind of dumbass do you take me for, baby?” He bent over for a moment, and I stole a glance at his perfect ass. Jaxon looked over his shoulder and caught me. “Perv,” he poked fun at me.

I shrugged a sleepy shoulder. “Well, when you put it out there like that, you’re asking for the attention.”

He straightened and sat the biggest damn A-1 bottle I had ever seen in my entire life on the table. “I should make you wait for this, for staring at me like I’m a piece of meat.”

“Whatever, you like being my piece of meat.”

He marched toward me, gnarred playfully as he swung me into his arms, and lifted me off the bed. “Damn, fucking right I do.” He pressed our lips together, and I tried to pull away because morning breath, but he wasn’t having it. He cupped the back of my head and pulled me closer.

When he pulled away, I was breathless, a bit turned on, and hungry all at the same time. Hungry for him and hungry for my food.

If I could find a way to do both…

“Good morning, sleepy,” he said, eyes darting all over my face as he brought the coffee to my face.

“Mmm, good morning, handsome. You sure know the way to a girl’s heart.” I tilted the mug against my lips, and my body warmed and came alive when the warmth of the vanilla coffee slid down my throat. “That’s good.”

“I’m glad. Now, you have an hour to get ready. We are finally going to go shopping for some clothes, and I want to take you ziplining through the redwoods.”

I nearly choked mid-swallow. “Ziplining? In the air? High…in…the…air?” I repeated and wanted to crawl back into bed. “You know how I am with heights. I can’t. It’s sweet that you want to do that for me, but I can’t, Jaxon.”

“You’re in a house, built in a cliff, above the water, Quinn. How is that not just as scary?”

“I’m inside! I’m safe inside. I can appreciate the beau

ty from a safe space, but I don’t want to be flying through it. You know, zeeeermmm,” I made my go-to flying noise and whizzed my hand through the air, showing him what would happen if I did what he wanted me to do. And then, I made myself crash and burn. I made an explosion sound, bringing my hand back and spreading my fingers. “And then, I’d be dead, Jaxon. Dead.”