That knocked the breath out of me and cut me deep.
So deep, to hide how much it hurt, I did as he told me to do and settled into his side, my body mostly on him because my right wrist was cuffed to his left and his arm was thrown out wide to keep me there. Without anywhere else to put it, I rested my head on his shoulder. Still, I held myself tense because I was totally freaked out.
Woo hoo! We’re in bed with Luke! Bad Ava crowed.
Oh, this feels nice. His chest is so hard and his body is so warm, Good Ava breathed.
If Good Ava and Bad Ava could get close, I was certain they would high five.
Jeez.
I lay there, trying to relax. I couldn’t relax.
So I started talking. “I won’t get shot at again,” I muttered into his shoulder.
“I’m not taking any chances.”
“I certainly won’t get kidnapped, the idea is ridiculous.”
He was silent.
“And a car bomb, what on earth?” I mumbled.
“Babe.”
“What?”
“Please be quiet and go to sleep.”
“Fine,” I snapped.
His arm around my waist tightened and his other hand came close to rest on his chest, forcing my hand to rest on his chest too. I slid off his body but he held me close to his side.
I figured I’d never in a million years, snuggled up next to Luke Stark, man of my dreams, wearing his t-shirt, lying in his big bed, in his huge loft (and handcuffed to him for God’s sake), get to sleep.
It took, like, five minutes and I was dead to the world.
Chapter Four
Payment
I woke up in the middle of the night when my body moved, not of its own volition.
I opened my eyes; it was still dark. Luke had turned into me, his arm holding me close, pulling me over the top of his body.
“What’s going on?” I whispered, my voice sleepy.
“Shh,” he shushed me and rolled, taking me with him, settling me on my other side.
Our cuffed arms were cocked and up between our bodies and he had me close so his and my forearms were pressed beneath my breasts. His free hand slid down my hip, to my thigh, pulling it up, gliding down the back of my thigh to my knee and hooking my leg over his hip.
If I hadn’t been mostly asleep, I would have probably flipped out at the intimacy of this position, struggled and maybe thrown a hissy fit.
Instead, I was warm, tired and the position was ultra comfortable.
I snuggled into his warm body, his arm moved to rest at my waist and I fell back to sleep.
*
I woke up and blinked at all the sunlight coming into the room. Denver was a sunny place but this was crazy.
I stared at the wall of hard-muscled chest that was right in front of my eyes and for a second felt confusion.
Then it all came back to me and I tensed. Inventorying my situation I realized I was pressed against Luke’s side, he was on his back, our cuffed arms on the bed under our bodies, my thigh thrown across both of his, my head on his shoulder, my free arm resting across his abs.
Ho-ly shit!
I rolled away onto my back.
“You’re awake,” Luke said.
Fuckity, fuck, fuck, fuck!
“Yeah,” I said to the ceiling.
He rolled toward me, hand going to my hip, his fingers putting pressure there so I turned into him and we were face-to-face. Since we were close and it was light, I could see him pretty well. He looked very awake, very alert and very gorgeous.
Holy cramoly.
“Time to talk,” he said.
Eek!
I was a morning person. I usually only had to brush my teeth and have a couple sips of diet cola to clear out the sleep-cobwebs and then I was all morning energy. Still, I wasn’t ready to talk, certainly not lying face-to-face in Luke’s bed.
“I need to brush my teeth,” I told him.
“After we talk.”
“No, seriously, I can’t face the day without brushing my teeth.” As I mentioned before, this was the truth.
He stared at me, probably trying to decide if I was lying or not. I didn’t blame him. I had lied to him a lot in the last less than twenty-four hours.
He must have made his decision because he rolled into me, over me and reached to the nightstand, opened a drawer and pulled out his keys. He rolled back, lifted our wrists and unlocked my bracelet. I was silent through this as I’d had another close-up view of his chest and I was fighting the urge to press my mouth to it (and I won’t even mention what I wanted to do with my tongue).
The minute I was free I didn’t hesitate. I jumped off the bed, hightailing it to the bathroom, totally intent on escape. It was after I used the facilities, splashed water on my face to wash away the sleep, brushed my teeth and put in my contacts that I realized my mistake.
I should have brought my clothes in with me.
Hell and damnation.
I pulled my hair back away from my face with both hands and stared into my light brown eyes the mirror (both my sisters had sultry, dark brown eyes, which sucked and wasn’t fair, I couldn’t dye my eyes and colored contacts I thought looked fake).