I rolled my eyes, but still didn’t move.
“If you want me to leave, you’re going to have to wait for my legs to start working again.”
His grin kicked up at one side, making my heart skip a beat.
“I don’t want you to leave, pretty girl,” he explained. “I want you to stay right here, warm and limp, and let me continue to enjoy the view.”
I smiled weakly at him.
“I guess I could do that for you.”
But when I can walk, I’m going to get the hell out of here as fast as I can.
Why?
Because something that good—Tate—wouldn’t last. Tate and his amazingness in bed…yeah, that was going nowhere fast. There was no way that I’d keep his interest long enough for me to keep his attention solely on me.
My morose thoughts had me recovering faster than I would have liked, and soon I found myself not only able to move, but also able to sit up.
My thighs burned, and when I looked down, I saw the rope burn there.
My finger went down to trace the lines where the rope had crossed my thigh. Tomorrow, I’d have a raw mark there, but I wasn’t upset about it. If I was being honest, I found it hot as hell.
“You look like you’re thinking some deep thoughts over there.”
I looked up to see Tate still staring at me, uncaring of both his nakedness and mine.
“I’m thinking that I liked this,” I told him honestly.
He laughed.
“Never thought I’d be happy to have some stupid fuckin’ rope.”
My brows rose. “Stupid rope?”
He snorted. “One day I’m going to get you to say another bad word,” he promised. “And watch Boondock Saints.”
“What’s Boondock Saints?” I questioned. “And why did you have rope in here if it wasn’t for…that?”
His chuckle was light as he stood up and started walking to the bathroom.
I watched him as he dropped something into the trash—the condom—and washed his hands, followed by his beard.
Then I blushed profusely thinking about what, exactly, was in that beard.
He came back out moments later and reached for the comforter that’d been on his bed when this had all started, brought it up to the bed, and threw it over my body before climbing under it himself.
I kneeled there under the blanket and stared at the darkness.
“This doesn’t work for me,” I told him, throwing the blanket off.
He started to chuckle, and I got to my feet on the side of the bed while tossing him a glare.
“You mind if I use your shower?” I asked him, pointing to my skin.
Not that I minded having his stuff on me, but it was awkward.
He gestured toward the shower and I took a few shaky steps in the direction before I stopped and turned to him.
“I can do this at my place, too.”
His eyes went lazy.
“If you go back to your place, then I have to follow you there. Right now, I’m pretty content to lay here and wait for you to get into the bed beside me.”
Something that felt a whole lot like hope took life in my belly.
“Okay,” I whispered.
Then I went and showered.
***
“We need to change your locks,” he said.
I looked up at the ceiling instead of staring at the man who was cuddled into my side.
The man felt like a weighted heat blanket at my side, and I wanted nothing more than to cuddle up into him and never move.
“That won’t help,” I murmured, knowing where he was going with the locks. “That’s what I did last time. I called the locksmith in town, and they came out and changed them. My father just called them and got them to give him a key. He’s the pastor, after all. He seriously can’t be shady, at least in everyone else’s eyes.”
He rolled off the bed and got to his feet, reaching down almost casually to pick up the condom—our second of the night—he’d thrown there, and toss it into the trash can, before he put his underwear on. The next thing to follow were his pants.
“I have some new locks that I was going to put on here,” he said. “We’ll go install them.”
I felt my belly tighten.
“That won’t stop him,” I repeated. “He’ll just do the same thing with the locksmith that he did the last time.”
He grunted. “Maybe, but he won’t be able to get in in the middle of the night for now. That’ll give us enough time to set up the alarm.”
“I can’t afford an alarm,” I told him honestly. “Alarms cost monthly, and I don’t have that option right now. I’m having to pay for the alarm at work, as well as insurance, and school loans. It’s just not feasible. I have it in savings, but that needs to be saved in case of an emergency.”
He buttoned his pants and then went down on a knee in the bed, leaning over me where I still lay in his bed.
“Then you’ll stay with me.”
I looked at him with barely concealed anger.
“I’m not doing that,” I told him.
“Then let me worry about the alarm. I know a guy.”
He knew a guy.
Wonderful.
Chapter 15
I regret every single nap I never took.
-Tate’s secret thoughts
Tate
The next morning, I was in a much better mood than when I’d spoken to Rosemary the last time.
I was even halfway excited to be eating at Bord’s again.
It was good that I was going there. I’d been avoiding it, just like I’d been avoiding the rest of my life that I’d left behind—IE my mother.
Before I got out of my truck, though, I pulled out my phone and made a phone call to a man about an alarm.
Once I’d gotten the time and setup scheduled, I shoved the phone back into my pocket and got out of the truck.
My eyes went to the building that held what felt like so many memories—some of those memories being good, but most of them being bad.
I wasn’t saying that all of my time with Ariya was bad, but I couldn’t remember a time when it was truly good, either.
“Are you going to come in, or stay out here all day?”
I looked up to find Rosemary standing in the entrance staring at me. She was holding the glass door open with her hip, and she had her arms crossed tightly over her chest.
She’d changed quite a bit while I was gone…since she’d been that annoying little sister of Ariya’s. Not that she was ever annoying to me as much as she was annoying to Ariya.
It would be a cold day in hell before the two of them ever got along.
“Yeah, I’m coming in,” I said as I started through the parking lot and headed in her direction. “Did you make me breakfast?”
Rosemary had started working with Ariya’s father out of necessity when she was younger, and obviously had never found anything better to do since. Though, she was one hell of a cook, or had been.
Rosemary’s eyes went a little shadowed as she shook her head.
“I was going to, but…” She paused. “I have something to tell you, and I can’t wait too long or Ariya will be here to stock soon, and then she’ll see you here. I have…” she shook her head. “I can’t believe she never told you.”
I was confused. “What was she supposed to tell me?”
She gestured for me to follow her inside the empty bar and grill, and I did, wincing only slightly when I saw the stupid photo next to the door.