Exported [Book 3 in the Expiring Series]

40 House Guests

Colton~~

Vienna straddles my lap, her mouth on mine. With one hand I grip her waist while the other I run up her side, her shirt bunching underneath my fingers. She groans, pulling her hand from my shoulder to yank her shirt back down.

"Andrew. Basile."

I pin her hand to her hip. "Are probably doing the same thing we are."

The lighting is dim making her eyes not their usual bright blue.

I lean forward pressing my lips to hers. She relaxes against me, and my back presses into the couch. She digs her fingers into my shoulder, and I kiss the corner of her mouth before working my way down her neck.

She sucks in a breath, her eyes closed. My mouth curves into a smirk against her skin.

"Wait."

I close my eyes, throwing my head back against the couch.

"What if Erik walks in?" she asks.

"Then he'd be doing a horrible job keeping watch."

"It's cold out there."

I cup the side of her face in my hands. "And I'm just now getting warm." I sigh, dropping my head into her neck. "What's really bothering you?"

She places her hands over mine and pulls them away from her face. "We're being foolish."

My eyes soften even as my heart tightens. "We're foolish for not taking time for granted?"

"We're only hurting ourselves."

"I'm going to figure something out."

She shakes her head, her lips turned down in a frown. "You won't."

"Don't you have any faith?"

"From the moment you found me in the library, our future vanished."

She's right. In a way. It had felt like our future was pulled out from underneath me.

I wrap my arms around her, nose nudging her neck, inhaling her scent. She smells like eucalyptus, Andrew's body wash. It's unsettling she smells like my cousins and brother.

I let out all of my frustrations in a groan against her skin. "I gave you up once. I can't do it again."

She rests her cheek on my head, her hand buried in my hair.

Neither of us say anything. Words can't comfort us. They've failed.

A door creaks. It's not the bedroom door; I'm facing it. Vienna and I pull away from each other. Erik shouldn't be coming inside anytime soon.

We both drop down off the couch, reaching underneath it for the handguns strapped there.

Two shadows spread across the wood floor.

Maybe it's Jonas and Iris.

But if that's the case, it'd be nice if they would say something before we shoot them.

The newcomers step around the corner, dressed head to toe in black and wearing vests and helmets. They each hold a raised silver gun with a long sleek barrel. A kind of gun I've never seen before.

Vienna fires, hitting Intruder Number Un—I've been picking up some French— in the leg. Their legs have padding though, and Un merely shakes their leg as if it had fallen asleep and they're waking it up.