“I guess they were right. I am a total lightweight,” I laughed. Before I had a chance to move, he leaned down and slipped his arms under my legs, positioning me into a bridal hold. Feeling safe and cozy in his hold, I laid my head on his shoulder and let him carry me inside. It felt so right to be there in his arms, feeling secure like he had made me feel from the first time we’d met. He took me into the living room and gently laid me down on the sofa.
“I’ll be right back. Gotta lock up,” he told me before disappearing into the kitchen.
I glanced around the room and was surprised to see how beautiful it was. It had all the elements of a log cabin that I adored, right down to the cobble stone fireplace and large brown and white fur rug. The furniture was simple and masculine, yet there was a warmth to the room that made it feel like a home. Looking around, curiosity got the best of me so I decided to take a little self-guided tour. I quietly stood up and wandered down the hall. Ironically, the first room I stumbled into was his bedroom. His large king size bed looked so inviting with its thick comforter and oversized pillows. I ran my hand across the soft fabric, and I just couldn’t help myself. Thinking that I would be okay if I could just lay down for a minute, I pulled off my jacket and boots and crawled into his bed. That’s all it took. I rested my head on his soft pillowcase, smelling a hint of his cologne, and fell sound asleep.
Chapter 12
Stitch
?
After I’d locked up the house, I went into the kitchen to get Wren some water and two pain relievers. She’d had a good time tonight, a really good time. I liked having her at the club, seeing her loosen up a bit. Since she wasn’t used to drinking, I figured that she was going to have one hell of a headache in the morning, so I went into the living room to bring her a glass of water and a couple pain relievers. When I walked back into the room, I was surprised to see that she was no longer lying on the sofa. Thinking that she might have gotten sick, I went to check if she was in the bathroom, only to find her snuggled up in my bed. Fuck. I don’t know how long I stood there staring at her, marveling at how beautiful she looked lying there in my bed, before I walked over and placed the bottle of water and the pain relievers on the bedside table. Fighting the urge to crawl in next to her, I covered her up with my comforter, knowing that I needed to give her time to sleep off the alcohol. Reluctantly, I headed to the living room and turned on the TV. Some news channel rumbled in the background, but I wasn’t paying any attention to what they were saying. I had other things on my mind.
I should’ve been thinking about the conversation Cotton and I had earlier about our upcoming meet with the Forsaken Saints. They were coming in to discuss our plans for ending this shit-storm we had going with the Pythons and whether I liked it or not, we needed their help. I also should’ve been thinking about Wren’s predicament with Michael. I needed to get inside that man’s head and figure out what the hell he was going to do now that he’d lost the only connection he had to Wren. But I wasn’t thinking about either of those things. There was only one thing that was consuming my thoughts – the woman in my room, lying in my bed.
I was at a loss. I didn’t know what the hell to do about her. A part of me wanted to walk into my room and devour her, claim her body as my own and show her how she’d been driving me wild all these weeks, but I couldn’t move. Doubts had begun to creep into the crevices of my mind, making me wonder if this thing between us would ever work. I looked at her and all I saw was good. She was just so very fucking good, and she deserved love and kindness – gentleness. I didn’t understand those things because I’ve never had them, except those occasional glimpses from my grandmother so very long ago. I’d long since forgotten those times. I’d become a man who didn’t know how to be gentle or tender. I only knew violence, brutality, physical pain. I could do those things, I understood them. How could I go to her, be with her, when all I knew was the complete opposite of what she really was? Yeah, I was the exact opposite of someone decent, someone good. I sat there wondering if it might be possible for me to learn those things, to be those things for her. I had my doubts that I could change and after everything she’d been through, I wondered if she’d be strong enough to handle what I really was.
“Hey,” she whispered from the doorway. It was almost two in the morning and she was standing there wearing one of my old t-shirts and a pair of my thick white socks. Sexy as fuck. She bashfully pulled at the hem of my t-shirt and said, “Hope you don’t mind. I had to get out of those jeans.”