Distraction: An underground kings novel by Aurora Rose Reynolds Page B

bit, but she was busy.” I end letting my words hang in the air between us.
    Leaning back, he pulls his hand from my thigh and runs it over his face. “When I got to the club, you were laughing and having a good time, but you weren’t blitzed.”
    “I don’t know. I don’t remember anything. I don’t even remember seeing you.”
    “Jesus,” he groans, wrapping his arms around me, burying his face in my neck. “You had to have been roofied and I didn’t even think about it. I just knew you were finally opening up to me and that was all I saw, so I took my shot.”
    “Wouldn’t I have been passed out or something?” I whisper.
    “I would never have gone there if I believed for one second that was the case, Mags. You have to believe that.”
    I do actually believe he wouldn’t take advantage of me. I know deep down that if he thought for one second I had been drugged, I would have been in the hospital, not in his bed doing whatever it is we did last night.
    “I believe you,” I tell him, running my hand through his hair. When his face comes out of my neck, the worry in his eyes is still there. I hate that look on him, but I have no idea how I can fix it.
    “Where do we go from here?” he asks so quietly I’m not even sure those are the exact words.
    “What do you mean?”
    “You told me last night you were in love with me. Was that real? Do we even have a shot at fixing this?”
    “You’re my best friend. I don’t want to lose that,” I tell him my deepest fear. Before Sven, I didn’t have anyone to lean on, anyone to protect me. I wasn’t sure I could trust what he was asking of me, but I also knew in my heart I would be stupid not to find out.
    “What exactly are you looking for?”
    “Forever,” he says immediately, catching me off-guard.
    “I’m barely accepting the fact you would want to be with me. I mean, there was a woman in the house naked when I came home tonight.” A woman who looked like she could have been on the cover of Maxim , for God’s sake , I think but leave out. I know I’m pretty. I have been told that my whole life. I have no qualms about my size-twelve shape, but I have curves that take a lot more to cover.
    “I have no idea who she was or how she got inside. I haven’t touched another woman since the night we met. I want you, Mags, and no one else.”
    “You haven’t been with anyone sin…since we met?” I breathe out, searching his face for any sign of deceit.
    “No one.”
    I swear I feel my eyes pop out of my head at that comment. Sven is young, wealthy, and attractive. I know for a fact women throw themselves at him all the time. I have been there on more then one occasion when it’s happened, but if I really think about it, he’s not lying. I have not seen him return any of the advances he’s received. I don’t even see his phone light up constantly like it used to when I first started working for him, with names like Bambie and Lexus. I haven’t heard of him hooking up with anyone at the club.
    “I’m no good at relationships,” I admit.
    “I’ve never been in a relationship, so my standards are pretty low.” He smiles and I shake my head, wrapping my fingers around the side of his neck, needing him to understand how serious I am.
    “After I broke up with Wyatt, I did some soul searching,” I say, ignoring the way his nostrils flare at the mention of my ex. “I realized I’ve constantly picked men who couldn’t let me down, because I didn’t have any expectations for them to live up to. Like Ace—I knew he wasn’t looking for anything serious, or Wyatt, who lived hundreds of miles away. I wasn’t invested in them, because I didn’t have to be.”
    “Don’t put me in the same category as them,” he flips me to my back, making me squeak as he moves his face above mine. “This is me and you. I’m invested in us, and I expect you to be, too. I won’t let you off the hook or let you downplay what we have between us.”
    “I