He woke up in hell with Sunshine rubbing against his thigh.
In the night, she’d wound herself around him, hugging his leg between hers, and addict that he was, he didn’t gently roll her away. Instead, Seb groaned like he’d been handed heaven, and he’d palmed her little butt, wrapping his other arm around her waist, and he’d fallen back to sleep.
Now he was sweating. Not from the heat but from holding back, from sliding his hand into her PJs and stopping whatever sweet ache she had to make her writhe against his leg.
Was she dreaming about him?
He needed a military operation to help him win Sunny’s forgiveness. Not having her in his life was slowly sending him mad. From early on,she’d been his person. The one he’d choose above all else. And it had taken a punch to the solar plexus for him to realize that.
Even now, when he was physically close to her, he was nowhere near getting to her heart again, like he once owned. His Sunny was one of a kind, and she needed to be back in his arms, where she belonged.
Briefly touching his lips to her forehead, he carefully separated himself, leaving the bed and tucking her in.
“You’re mine.” He said quietly to hear himself say the words. No two words ever meant more to him. Before derailing his meticulous plan to win her back, he reversed course, descending the stairs to begin breakfast. Before anything else, he had to exercise; otherwise, his erection might frighten her if she woke up now.
When she found him sometime later, Seb was dripping with sweat. Sunny’s arrival interrupted his hour-long jump rope workout. Seeing her jaw drop gave him a fresh burst of energy.
He was not a proud man when he wanted to peacock for Sunny. To have her admire his body until she was starved to touch him. He flexed every muscle as he continued to spin the rope in a fast double loop, then crossed the rope over his body, bouncing lightly on his feet, and smiled at her.
“Hey, sunbeam. Sleep well?”
“I. eh.”That’s right, eat me up, baby. He grinned again. “Yeah, I slept fine.”
Before he got too turned on by her eyes roaming over him, he brought the rope to a stop.
“Can you find me a towel?”
As he approached, she spun around so fast he saw her little butt jiggle, and he smiled shamelessly, eyeing her in the same way. He was guzzling water, his throat parched. When she came back with a towel, she held it out at arm’s length.
“You don’t want to dry me off?”
It was sexy as fuck to watch her cheeks fill with color. The towel landed on his face.
“There was a time when you used to race into the gym to count my weight lifting reps. You would have jumped at the chance of wiping my sweat.”
He said it to get a rise out of her; he was frustrated with how she held back from him, especially since she never had before. If he had to play dirty at first, he would. And she rewarded him with a beautiful scowl.
“I was a stupid kid back then.”
“You’ve never been stupid a day in your life.”
“I’m stupid right now.”
Frowning, he stopped wiping his chest and arms. “How?”
“I’m here with you when I should be home with my parents. But as always, I blindly followed you. It doesn’t matter how long I’ve been away; bad habits are hard to break.”
She might as well have told Seb she was in love with him for how fucking euphoric he felt hearing those words, even if she didn’t look happy saying them.
Sunny turned her back, faking interest out of the kitchen window, but she knew he was approaching because he saw her shoulders stiffen. He placed his hands there and wouldn’t let her shrug him off.
“If it makes you feel any better in that decision, I would have thrown you over my shoulder and carted you here against your will.”
“It still makes me stupid because I wouldn’t have put up a fight.” She exhaled like a gusty wind, but Seb couldn’t keep the smile off his face. She didn’t know the good she was giving him, even if she looked miserable.
Because he needed to, he dropped a kiss to the crown of her head.
Missing someone who was in front of him was fucking agony.
