King of Sloth (Kings of Sin, #4)

by Ana Huang

“I said your hobbies are boring, not you. I don’t find a single thing about you boring.”

she read way too much dinosaur erotica to safely possess such a power—but

“Because I want you.” Simple. Matter-of-fact. And a fierce, unexpected blow to my chest. The air evacuated from my lungs as I stared at Xavier. His eyes and mouth had sobered, wiping away the irreverence and leaving only sincerity behind. “I don’t want a kiss or a one-night stand,” he said. “I want you. I want to know you outside work. I want to take you on real dates. And I don’t know if it’ll work out in the end, but I want us to at least try.”

But there were slivers of time when I wondered how it would feel to exist in the world knowing there was someone who loved me totally, unconditionally, and whole-heartedly for who I was instead of who they wanted me to be.

“You think you know me so well,” I whispered, even though he was right. “Only parts of you.” The gentle brush of his thumb against my hand unlocked a colony of butterflies in my stomach. “But we’ll get there.”

Ayana gave me a brief smile in passing. With her luminous dark skin and high cheekbones, the supermodel looked even more ethereal in person, but I felt a grand total of nothing. Not even a flicker of lust or attraction. Sloane and I had kissed once, and she’d already ruined me for other women.

I was a firm supporter of hard science, but astrology was too fun to give up.

“Luna is short for mi luna. My moon. Because no matter how dark the nights got, you were always there, shining so brightly that I always found my way through.”

“I’ll make it as hard as I can,” I said fiercely. “I love you, Sloane, and if you think I’m letting you go that easily, you’re mistaken.

“Then I met you, and I finally understood what people meant when they said love is worth fighting for.

“Oh, Isa’s love for dino erotica runs far deeper than her own career ambitions,” Sloane said, her grin widening. “Trust me.”

That was the best part about being with the right person. Some days, we could talk all night; other days, we didn’t need words at all. Just being with each other was enough.

“I didn’t think I’d miss having a goldfish ignore me so much,” Sloane said, her voice thick. “He’s perfect. Thank you.”