I take a moment to close my eyes so I can steady myself. Heather’s words keep replaying in my mind, but I clench my jaw and refuse to let them make me weak in the knees. I have to tighten up. Either this woman is wrong, and I have no reason to concern myself with one of Nas’s exes, or she’s right, and I have to protect myself from whatever it is he’s capable of.

Fine. There’s no time to cower and wait for the train to hit me. I have to find out if there’s a train at all. So, I gather my thoughts and compartmentalize them into a box that I seal for now. I’ll continue to enjoy my dinner with the man I think I might be falling for, and when the time is right, I’ll remove the tape from the box and inspect what’s inside. There’s too much at stake for me to just let this go, so if there’s something dangerous lurking beneath the surface, I have to find it before it finds me first.

Chapter Thirty-Four

I wake up to the vibrations of my phone under my pillow in the Kingdom, and even though I set the silent alarm before I came to Nas’s house tonight, it still scares the shit out of me. I fumble to reach under the pillow, scrambling wildly while trying to stay quiet so I don’t wake Nas up. My fingers find my phone and press the button on the side to stop the vibrating, then I pull it out and make sure the alarm is off for good. The clock on the screen tells me it’s two in the morning, and I look over to find Nas fast asleep on his back, his bare torso completely uncovered by the black sheets, showing off striated muscles even while he rests. Admittedly, I take a moment to look at him before I begin. He’s so perfect, laying there like a sleeping Adonis with a six pack that becomes more visible with each exhale. I have to fight the urge to lick a trail down his stomach that ends with his cock in my mouth, but I manage. We already played that game tonight.