“We both won’t fit in that bed,” I explain and carry her into my room.
My bed is a fuck of a lot bigger. I carry her to my side and gently put her down. She stares up at me as I contemplate putting on at least a shirt. In the end, her doleful eyes have me urging her to move over and climbing into bed with her. I pull the blanket over us both. She turns away from me, and before I can think better of it, I mold my chest to her back, and hope like fuck she’s okay with it. I keep my hips away from her ass, because my stupid fucking cock has taken notice of the warm body against me and has decided he wants to snuggle too.
I wrap one arm around her waist and one under the pillow behind her head, and I swear it’s one of the best feelings in the world. It’s so much better than I’ve imagined it would be. Her hands grip my arm, as if she’s trying to tighten my hold around her. Unashamedly, I bury my face in her hair and breathe in deep. Even her hair smells like wildflowers.
I pull my face away so she can hear me. “Is this okay?”
It takes her a moment to answer, and I’m just about to move away from her when she replies, “Yes.” Then adds, “Thank you.”
I use my chin to push away her hair that’s stuck in the prickles on my face. As much as I don’t want to hear her confirm that her nightmares are of me hurting her, I still ask, “Your dreams… do you want to talk about them?”
Her fingers dig into my forearms for a moment before they relax.
“There’s not much to talk about.” She stops and pulls in a breath, her ribs expanding against my arm. “I don’t remember what happened in my dream, except for being scared and hurt.”
The painful sound of her voice has my eyes closing, and I silently curse myself to hell. Why she’s lying here, willingly allowing her tormentor to hold her, is beyond me. She should be terrified. She should be kicking and screaming for me to let her go. She should be running scared and praying she never sees my face again. But she’s not. She’s here, her arms pressed against mine, holding me just as tightly as I’m holding her.
“I’m sorry,” I mutter. I know I’ve said it before, but no matter how many times those words leave my lips, it’ll never be enough. There’s nothing I could ever do to make up for what I’ve done.
She’s quiet after that, so I stay quiet as well. After a while, her breathing evens out, and I know she’s asleep. Sleep isn’t something I’ll get tonight. Not only because I literally have the girl of my dreams in my arms, but also because of the misery raging inside me. After all the years of dreaming of this woman, of watching the pain flash in her eyes and her screams of agony, of being angry that she took over my dreams and left me with so many unanswered questions, and of discovering I was the reason she was in a coma because of some weird obsession, I finally know what it feels like to hold something so precious I’d give my life for it.
And Lord fucking help me, I’m not sure I can ever let it go.
I COME AWAKE TO feel hot breath on my chest and a slender arm lying over my stomach. Looking down, there’s a head of thick brown hair spread across my chest and onto the pillow. Memories of the night before flash through my head.
My arm is still around her waist, but my palm has moved down to just above her ass. My other hand is on top of hers that’s lying flat against my lower stomach. My dick is as hard as iron. I blame it on natural morning wood, but it’s a fucking lie. It’s from the woman who is quickly consuming my every thought.
She shifts in her sleep, and a warm rush of breath fans across my skin, causing goose bumps to appear. Never has a woman affected me so quickly.
I know she just woke up because her chest stops rising and falling. I hold still, not sure how she’s going to take being wrapped around me. Last night, her emotions were high from her nightmare. There’s no excuse this morning for our cozy position. I should have taken her back to her bed once she fell asleep and I knew her dreams weren’t coming back, but I’m a selfish bastard and wanted to relish in having her in my bed.
After a few tense moments, her head moves, and she lifts her eyes to mine. Uncertainty pulls her brows into a frown.
“Good morning,” I say, hoping to put her at ease.
She licks her lips and murmurs softly, “Good morning.”
I sift my fingers through her long hair. “How did you sleep?”
“Better once I was in here.” Pretty pink tints her cheeks at her confession. It makes me feel ten fucking feet tall, knowing I’m the reason she felt better, even if I was also the reason for her distress.
“Are you hungry?”
Her answer is a nod, then a whispered, “Yes.”
I expect her to move away, so when she lays her head back down, it surprises me. What surprises me even more, and sends raging blood to my already stiff cock, is when the tip of her finger flicks one of my nipple rings.
I hiss out a breath and her fingers stop. Closing my eyes, I will my body to calm the fuck down.
“Did… uh… it hurt when you got your nipples pierced?” she asks hesitantly.
“Yes,” I answer. “Like a bitch.”
Her breath fans against my chest when she giggles.
“Why do it then?” Her finger traces the ball on one before moving to the other and doing the same.
“Because it feels really fucking good when they’re played with.”
Her fingers stop again, and it takes her a moment, but then she lets out a breathy, “Oh.”
I smile, because I know her cheeks are probably blazing right now.
When she moves away to the pillow beside us, I lift up on an elbow and gaze down at her. Unable to help myself, I interlock our fingers together and kiss the back of her hand. Desire pools in her eyes, and the look ramps up my need. I place both of our hands beside her head.
Her amber eyes are soft with sleep, but still hold the same heat I feel running through me.
When her free hand flattens against my pecs, one of the strings around my control snaps. I keep my eyes on hers as I slowly lower my head. Her eyes are wide, but there’s no fear, so I close the distance between our mouths.
I’ve fantasized about how she would taste for weeks, but never in my wildest dreams did my imagination do it justice. Even just her lips taste heavenly. A groan rumbles from my chest. My tongue peeks out and runs along the seam of her mouth.
This is such a fucking mistake, but at the moment I don’t have the willpower to stop. The need to know what it’s like to kiss her is too great.
When she parts her lips, my tongue dives inside. My dick pulses in my briefs when her tongue hesitantly meets mine. Her fingers bite into the flesh on my shoulders.
Fuck, I could kiss her all day long and never want to stop. This woman is my addiction, my obsession, and I could so easily get lost in her and never want to find my way out.
With a will made of iron, I lift my head, not wanting to frighten or push her. Her eyes are glazed over with lust.
“You get dressed, and I’ll cook us breakfast.”
“Okay,” she says breathlessly.
As sick as it is, I wonder if she responded to Theo all those years ago the way she just responded to me. I shake my head, because it only pisses me off to think of Theo’s hands on her.
With a smile and a small peck to her nose, I climb from the bed. Her sharp intake of breath alerts me that she saw the hard-on I have going and the piercing I have on the tip of my cock. I keep my back to her and slip on a pair of sweatpants before grabbing a shirt.