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“Which one is mine? I’m assuming you have your own bed back there,” she says when we’re alone in the hall, pointing lazily to the door at the back of the bus.
With bright curiosity, she quickly turns her attention to the rows of bunks on either side of us. She pulls each bunk curtain open, searching for one that’s been left untouched. I almost laugh.As if she would be sleeping out here with everyone else.With Dagger, Justice and his daughter, Josh, Sparks, and Tinsley, each bunk would be full, leaving her with zero privacy.
I set my hand on the edge of the top bunk and lean into it at the same time she tries to pull its curtain back. The silky fabric slides between my fingers as I pinch it and pull, keeping her from seeing into the bunk. Grey eyes snap up to look at me, demanding answers.
“What are you doing? Let go so I can see if this is mine. It’s the only empty one left.”
I keep my grip on the curtain tight. “You’re not sleeping in a bunk.”
“What?”
“You’re not sleeping in a bunk. You’ll sleep in my room with me.”
Her eyes go wide, lips parting slightly. She shakes her head and releases a disbelieving laugh. “No, I’m not.”
“You are. I already told Garrison that you’ll be sleeping away from everyone else.”
“You did what?” Her tone is careful, deceptively so.
I sense her anger building and welcome it. Would she still get angry if she knew how hard it made me? “This doesn’t sound like a thank you.”
She laughs, but there’s an edge to it. I’m tempted to see how sharp it can get. Would it cut me? Would it make me bleed?
“It’s not a thank you! Did you actually decide where I was sleeping every night for the next three months without consulting me?” She pauses, leaving me time to reply, but I don’t. My silence pisses her off further. “Of course you did! God, you can be impossible sometimes.”
I curl my fingers in the curtain and dip my head toward her, lowering my tone. “I’m offering you privacy, Tinsley. I don’t trust these people. Not around you.”
She stares up at me, fire still burning in her eyes. Her top lip thins before rolling over her bottom one. I stay still, waiting for her next words like the desperate fuck I am.
“This was just about my privacy?”
“Yes,” I lie.
As she leans toward me, her gaze tightens with scrutiny. “You’re lying.”
My pulse thumps in my throat, excitement sending a thrill through me. “Prove it.” The words are throaty, desperate to even my ears.
A break in her expression. The corner of her mouth twitches. I stop breathing when she cautiously lifts a hand between us and presses the tip of her finger to the skin between my eyebrows. She gently drags it up and down, side to side. It’s so warm my skin burns beneath it.
“You get a crease right here when you lie. It’s easy to read you after this long,” she murmurs before blinking and looking away, righting herself.Remembering who I am.
I nearly beg her to keep touching me when she drops her hand a second later. As she takes a stiff step back, I notice how close we’d gotten. I release the curtain and shove my hands in my pockets.
“If you’re adamant enough about my right to privacy to go to your manager on my behalf, then okay, I’ll stay in your room,” she says, sounding composed once again.
I swallow a roar of victory. “Good.”
“But,” she starts, hands settling on her hips. Her chin tips up proudly. “I’m sleeping in there alone.”
I go stiff. “No.”
“Why not? I need myprivacy, don’t I?”
A dark sense of humour fills my mind. My little fucking cheat has me by the balls, and she knows it.
I barrel into her space, retracing her step back. The beast inside of me howls at our closeness and thrashes around in an attempt to get me to go further. To finally break these godforsaken chains I’ve wrapped around myself and yank her against me.
She sucks in a quick breath and drops her bag, surprised at my sudden closeness. Her head tilts back as she meets my eyes. I wonder what she sees in them. If she ever sees what truly lurks there, she’d run screaming.
