AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’m okay, Charlie,” she assures me. With a small smile, she slides off the edge of the bed to collect her dress. Her movements are slow, unsteady.
“Where are you going?” I snag her hand. Soft. Warm. My heart clenches.
“Back to my cottage.”
“Not tonight.”
Shaking her head, she sighs, and my gaze latches onto the way she holds my bedframe as if to stay steady. “Charlie. We don’t do this.”
“Yeah, well, we do tonight. Sunrise, remember?”
Her lips flatten. A universal gesture that tells me she’s planning to argue with me.
I sigh, frustrated.
I don’t like it. I don’t like the fact she’s leaving in the middle of the night. And I don’t like the fact she drank so much she passed out in my arms. Worse, I don’t like the fact that I’m close to getting on my knees to beg her to stay.
She looks exhausted and fragile, and I want her to sleep. I want to keep her here and know she’s safe and okay and not fucking worry about her.
I want to protect her.
I sweep a thumb over the inside of her wrist. “Stay. I want you to.”
Her eyes go dreamy. “Okay.”
I don’t give her a chance to reconsider. Grasping her wrist, I tug her back toward me and sweep her into my arms. A little gasp slips from her lips. I settle her in bed and climb in beside her. It feels too intimate, her spending the night, but I don’t give a shit. I’ve wanted this—craved this—since she left the first night and every night after.
Consider this my battle of wills broken.
Consider the rest of the summer fucked. This woman has a stranglehold on me, on my cock, my head and my heart. There’s no one like her.
With a little sigh, Ruby snuggles against me, placing her head between my collar and chest. I wrap her naked body in my arms. Her heart’s pounding like she’s run a marathon double time.
“Sunflower.” The happy whisper pops out of her mouth.
“What’s that?” I ask.
“This was my sunflower, today. You.”
“Mine too,” I admit. The rock in my throat makes it hard to get any more out.
Her glazed eyes find mine. “Really?”
“Really.” I kiss her temple. “Ruby?”
“Hmm.”
“What’s your middle name?”
“Jane. It was my mother’s.”
“What happened to her?”
She sighs, drowsy. “She died when I was a baby.” Her voice is soft, almost slurred.
“How?”
“Health condition.”
