Alabaster Cities (Kings and Thieves Book #2)

Chapter 30

**hope y'all like this chapter! it's a fun one... **

Chapter 30

"I can't stay long," Eli said, his hand flying out to stop the door before Aveline could close it on him. "May I come in? Please?"

Aveline cast a glance to the dark, cranberry-colored cloak she'd laid out on her bed. It was still early. "Fine."

Slowly, Eli strolled into her bedroom, folding his hands together behind his back as he carefully scanned the space. "Are you going somewhere?"

Perhaps Eli was more observant than she gave him credit for, Aveline thought in mild frustration. "Nothing. A walk."

He pivoted on his heel to face her, a dimple forming in his tanned cheek.

After their conversation with Lord Guernot, Aveline had went right back to her room; she had her own research to do, and she hadn't particularly wanted to be around anyone. Not that Eli had allowed this; he'd come knocking only a few moments later.

Aveline looked at him now, reluctantly. When he angled his head to give her a knowing stare, a blonde lock of his hair fell messily to the side, and Aveline swallowed.

Eli couldn't stay here another moment. Any longer, and Aveline would push him up against a wall and kiss him senseless.

The thought made her blink. She wasn't normally a reckless person. Lately it seemed like her impulses were controlling her, not the other way around.

Eli collapsed onto her sofa and let out a frustrated groan.
"Look, Aveline, you're upset that I didn't tell you about my father, I know that. Can we at least discuss this?" He extended a hand for her to join him, the gesture soft and almost pleading. Aveline sucked in a nervous breath. Dammit.

She took his hand and, as he pulled him towards her, she slid onto his lap— not because it was necessarily the wisest decision in that moment, but because she wanted to.
Eli closed his mouth with a snap, his hands clasping almost mechanically around her waist.

Aveline let her fingers tangle into his hair.
"I don't want to talk about that."

Eli pushed towards her before she could say anything more, and as she let her lips skim lazily over his, Aveline wasn't thinking about the ever-present unsettled, borderline nausea she'd been experiencing in her stomach, or the jumpiness she felt whenever she heard a noise. Finally. She sighed, like a release, at his mouth moving under hers.

For just a few short moments, Aveline let Eli take her breath from her in a tangle of messy, desperate kisses. His stubble scratched lightly against her skin, and she dug her nails into his scalp.

She knew she was making a mistake, she knew it because she wasn't thinking, about anything other than how good he felt, and how he tasted, like wine and something sweet, and-

A knock sounded at the door, yanking Aveline out of her haze. She hastily pulled away from Eli as he froze under her.

Aveline wiped her mouth self-consciously, sure her lip rouge had smeared to nonexistence. "Who is it?"

"Eli?" Someone said uncertainly.

"I know, Jack. I'll be there in five minutes." Eli sighed, his eyes closing in exasperation, and then opening again. "Guernot called a meeting about this whole Verignes drug business."

"That's alright. I have to go, anyway, I'm meeting Ari." Aveline's hands fell from Eli's shoulders, but he tightened his grip on her waist as if to secure her there.

"I wish I could just keep you here, with me."

Aveline leaned forward to steal a kiss on his nose, and was rewarded with a lopsided grin.
"I am here." But she knew what he meant, and her stomach tightened at the thought.