𝐒𝐲𝐧 ┃𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞

15. 𝐺𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑑

May 2, 2023

Queen

His soft lips moved against mine as our tongues clashed, and I lost myself in the kiss. I felt dizzy as I stood on my own, but with him...like this, my mind felt clearer than it had in years.

My grip around his shirt loosened as his hands moved to my hips, and I snaked my arms around his neck, deepening the kiss. I cherished the feel of his lips and my heart soared that this part of him didn't change. He still kissed me and reached emotional caves inside of me that no one had ever managed to do.

No one. Not even—

I pulled away from the kiss abruptly at my sudden thoughts and it was like the world around me began spinning. The steadiness I had gotten from him was flipped upside down from the loss of contact. Syn held my waist to steady me and I held on to his strong forearm. "Breathe."

His single word calmed my nerves, but it wasn't enough to replace the solid foundation he had just given me. My eyes fluttered shut and my body became weak as I lost my footing. "I got you, Princess..." Was the last thing I heard before I collapsed into his arms.

꧁꧂

May 3, 2023

I nestled into the large and comfortable sheets as the sunlight beamed onto my face. It was tugging me to consciousness, but I was too cozy to pay it any mind. The opening of a door in the distance was the nail in the coffin of my rest, and I immediately sat up.

My head throbbed and I winced as the sun hit my eyes and I groaned as I held my hands over my face. "You're awake." My eyes snapped to the location of the voice to see Syn sitting at a desk and typing away on a laptop. There was a towel wrapped around his waist and the brightness in the room seemed to make the water droplets look like crystals against his tan skin.

I swallowed a breath and looked around the unfamiliar room before looking back at him. "Do you want breakfast?"

"What?"

"Breakfast. Would you like to go get breakfast with me?"

I nodded slowly and picked at the black blanket. "Sure." I wrapped my arms around myself as I did when I was nervous, and when I felt my bare skin, my eyes snapped back up to him. "Why am I naked?"

"You're not naked." He smirked in the direction of his screen and I rolled my eyes. I was wearing my bra and underwear, but that was close enough to naked. I forgot how much of a smart ass he was.

"You know what I mean," I said lowly in annoyance.

"You threw up on your dress," he said as he swung his head in my direction. "So I threw it away."

"Oh." I cringed in embarrassment as I looked around the large bed and the suitcases standing in the corner of the room. "Is this your room?"

"However did you come to the conclusion?"

"Oh, because of..." I began to answer until the clipped sarcasm in his voice clicked into my mind and my heart sunk. I looked at him to see him looking at me with a small smile and I averted my eyes. That was something I noted about him in my mind that hadn't changed. He was still amazing at making me feel stupid.

"I'm sorry," he said.

"No worries. Where—"

"Don't say it's no worries if it's not no worries."

"What do you want me to say?"

"The truth."

"Okay." I nodded. "It's not 'no worries'. You're kind of an asshole. I just woke up and I can't detect sarcasm. You just came back and you're already making me feel slow."