Tempting the Crown (The Crown 1)

I sighed. “All my problems aren’t sharks.” I didn’t want to tell him my brother’s cycle had cracked through the protective bubble I created here. I didn’t want to talk about Garrett at all.

Garrett was a pain I carried with me. At times it was so deep, I didn’t think I could breathe. And the guilt I had for leaving him behind crippled me. I didn’t know how to move past it. I didn’t know how to move inside it. It was with me, hovering on the outer edges of my thoughts.

And he was here again in this moment. A

moment that should be mine.

Vaughn rotated me toward his chest. I looked at his face in the shadows. I could feel the warmth of his breath on my cheek.

A new fire started under my skin. It was the way Vaughn looked at me. The anticipation was like a drug.

He threaded his fingers through mine. “Come on, I think I owe you dinner.”

“I wasn’t going to say anything again, but I am starving.” We strolled along the path next to the cherry trees. I would never look at them the same way again. “Thanks for showing me your secret spot.”

“It’s not so secret.”

“You know what I mean.” I stopped him at the bridge. The rotunda rose behind us, illuminated like a jack-o-lantern. “I do need a place. Everything has been frantic and chaotic since I moved. I didn’t know how much I missed the quiet. This kind of quiet.”

I hadn’t meant to turn somber. Maybe it was the heaviness of the monument, or the darkness falling on our shoulders. I was spending the evening with a gorgeous man and yet the weight of the day was still on me. I was letting it sink into my skin and ruin the romance of what Vaughn tried to accomplish.

I looked into his eyes just as his palm caught the softness of my cheek.

“Come here,” he whispered, dragging his lips across mine.

I inhaled deeply. It was what I needed. What I sought.

The perfect way his mouth moved over mine, while his hands tangled in my hair. I couldn’t help the tiny whimper that escaped from my throat. His kisses had quickly become everything. They stopped the loneliness. They stopped the unavoidable feeling of panic and uncertainty. When he kissed me the only thing I felt was the path to escape. The way out of chaos. I sighed lightly as his lips fell on mine, raking over me as if he was trying to memorize the lines of my mouth.

The kiss burned my tongue.

“You make it hard to remember what I’m doing, Emily.”

I nodded. I wanted the kiss to continue. I wanted to forget everything else that had happened today. The only thing worth remembering was this. Vaughn’s mouth devouring me under a dark D.C. sky.

Chapter Five

I needed a strong cup of coffee the next morning at the clinic. Meg brought in two cups and sat one in front of my desk.

“Rough night?” she asked.

I greedily sipped the hot liquid. I didn’t care that she hadn’t bothered to add cream or sugar. My body craved the caffeine. By the time Vaughn had dropped me off at the apartment, it was close to one.

I yawned. “Not rough, but late.”

“Well, drink up because you are double booked today.”

My eyes widened. “Why?”

Meg nodded toward the empty desk adjacent to me. “She’s not coming in today. She called in sick.”

“Addie’s sick? But it’s only the second day.” I hadn’t stopped long enough yesterday to pay any attention to her. If she had a cold or any symptoms, I didn’t notice. We saw one client after another.

Meg shrugged and carried her cup out to the reception area. “I would cancel lunch plans if I were you. You have three waiting outside.”

“Already? Oh shit,” I whispered.

My head was in the wrong place.