The Lair

by Lisina Coney

“No one’s gonna mess with you.” “You don’t know that.” “I’ll break his goddamn legs if he so much as thinks about it.”

“Careful, boss man. I might start thinking you tolerate me after all.” “I more than tolerate you, Allie.”

“Careful how you speak to my girl.” The air whooshes out of my lungs. My girl. Me… Travis’s girl?

“You have no idea, do you?” One of his hands hikes its way up, up, up, until the weight of his fingers settles on the nape of my neck. Fingers that start kneading my skin softly, as if he’s scared to break me. My lips part at the possessive gesture. “You have no idea what you do to me. Do you, sweetheart?”

My nose nuzzles his. My voice is barely above a whisper when I ask him, “You don’t want me to go on a date?” “Only if it’s with me.”

“You have no fucking idea,” he whispers between kisses, his voice as hungry as his touch. “How badly I need you. Like the fucking sun.”

“I don’t know you?” It sounds like a question, but I know he’s not waiting for an answer. “You’re gonna look at me with those beautiful eyes and tell me I don’t know that you’re the strongest fucking person I’ve ever met, and that I admire you more than I’ve ever admired anyone? You’re gonna tell me I don’t know that you love carrot cake beyond reason, that you change into your pajamas as soon as you get home because you can’t stand sitting on the couch with your outside clothes on, that you love cooking because it brings you peace, that math gives you a purpose, and that your lips aren’t the sweetest fucking thing I’ve ever tasted? That’s what you’re gonna do, Allie?”