"Batman?" I echoed.
Azura gave Tristan a hard glare and bit out through tight lips, "I told you not to."
Tristan cleared his throat, pocketing the band, and then held up the bottle of wine. "Any objections to opening this?"
"None," I assured him. I would have to poke around and find out what the Batman inside joke was about. Something told me that it had everything to do with Kael being called "Ghost" and Azura acting like the leader of the Justice League. Maybe another story for another time.
Spencer, Knox, and Emma joined us after their game ended, and while everyone got to know each other, Knox and I pulled the casseroles out of the oven. We had already set plates out for nine, and we brought the food, and then finally the turkey we'd kept warm in the lower oven, to the center of the glass table. While we worked, Knox sent me occasional warm glances, and we purposefully brushed arms, or he would glide his hand along my lower back. Finally, we had everything set, and while our guests took their seats, I looked around.
"Arabella," I sighed. "She's still out back. I'll go get her."
Knox looked away from the conversation he'd been having with Tristan—Tristan Valehartfor God's sake—and set down his whiskey sour. "I'll come with you." He took my coat down from the rack by the elevator, and holding it out, he helped guide my arms through it.
I gave him a worried glance over my shoulder. "How are you? I invited a lot of people over. It just seemed like the right thing to do."
"Gem, stop worrying. It's nice to have this big place full of people." He pressed the button, and when it lit up, he added, "And actually, I recognize Mattie. I subbed in at her residency hospital once."
"Seriously?" We got in, and he pulled me to his side automatically.
"Decent group of people," he nodded. "And I know you would have invited Ruth, too."
I sighed. "Yeah, I guess Cal's parents are actuallynice.Like, they want to spend time with them."
"Weird."
"I know, right?"
As the elevator doors opened, I just barely glimpsed Arabella walking through the downstairs gym that would lead to our stairway entrance. I went to go after her, but Knox yanked me back against his solid body and slammed the door closed button. "What are you—?"
"Looks like we're too late," he murmured in my ear, holding me tightly against his body. He slapped the emergency stop button on the elevator, and it froze in place, doors locked shut and gears silent. "Now what should we do?"
I fought an incredulous smile. "Knox, we haveguestsupstairs."
"Do you know," he went on smoothly, ignoring my protest, "the first time I wanted to press you against a wall and pinch your nipple between my teeth?"
My body melted and my limbs went liquid. With some difficulty, I eked out, "When?"
"An elevator," he whispered. The sound carried down my arms and left goosebumps in its wake.
"No way," I managed to choke out.
Knox turned me in his arms, and walking me back two steps, had my back pressed against the frosted glass interior of the elevator. He surrounded me with his scent, with the safety of his size, and then he bent down to whisper against my temple. "See, there was this one time you took your bra apart…"
I gasped silently, pulling away to hold his gaze. "You're lying."
Knox shook his head, his crystalline eyes unwavering. "I wanted you so badly, I didn't stop thinking about you all day."
I opened my mouth to call him a liar again, but Knox swooped down and kissed me. And then I had no breath for words because his lips on mine, his tongue sliding smooth and velvet between our needy kisses, his strong hands pressing me against his body—all of it took over the higher functions of my brain. I moaned into his mouth, tilting my hips up to grind against his erection. Knox lifted me, and I wrapped my legs around him, clinging to him like he was my last breath.
Knox pressed me against the elevator wall, and we fumbled with our clothing, our breaths jagged and our need for each other suddenly so intense, it was like we had ceased to be separate people at all. But as Knox yanked at my underwear beneath my dress, I halted him, pulling back and taking his face in my hands. "Wait, wait." Embarrassment flooded my cheeks, and panting hard, I admitted, "I can't. I just… I'm on my period."
Also steadying his breathing, Knox searched my face, but instead of repulsion, he smiled. "The muscle relaxers are helping, then?"
This man. Was there anyone more thoughtful and gentle on this planet? Swallowing, I nodded. "It's way better."
Knox kissed me again, slower and more relaxed. He hadn't loosened his hold on me, and he kept me in his arms and wedged up against the elevator wall. "Baby, I'm so glad. We'll change it up whenever you need to." Knox had also been regularly massaging pressure points on my body before bed at night after reading research journals on the topic. He brushed his lips against mine playfully. "But do you not want my cock because you don't want it, or because you think I care about a little blood?"
I opened my mouth, but I realized I didn't have an answer for that. "I… have no idea."
