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He gave me a little shake of his head. “Not so much, when you say it.”
“Why did it ever bother you?”
“If I tell you, will you promise me you’ll try to get at least a little more sleep?”
“Will you stay here with me if I do?”
Where the hell did that come from?I mean, yeah, some shamelessly sexual part of me wanted him to stay, but no part of me intended to actually say it out loud.
The fine lines around his eyes softened and he dipped his head, pressing a gentle kiss to my jaw as I tried not to sigh like a harlot. I failed, but his laugh was worth it.
“I’ll stay for as long as you’ll let me,” he whispered.
There was no need for the whisper. We were the only two people in the room. The door was closed. And yet, those hushed words sent a thrill through me like nothing I’d ever felt. Hot and exciting, but also warm and comforting.
I didn’t know how to take it or what to do with it, so I filed it away to deal with later, when I wasn’t high on the man’s scent and his voice and his heat. “Fine. Yes. If you tell me, I will attempt to sleep.”
He watched me again, only this time it felt more like he was trying to decide how much he wanted to tell or gathering his courage. A little pang of guilt zinged through me.
“If you don’t want to—”
He shook his head. “It’s not a pleasant story, and I’m fairly certain you’re not going to like what you hear.” His voice faltered toward the end, but his gaze never left mine. “It stems from an incident that happened long ago.”
I raised my eyebrows, and he nodded like he knew what I was asking.
“Before Wendy ever visited this place.” He pulled his bottom lip between his teeth for a moment. “I was different back then, in many ways. I’d been stuck in this realm for what felt like an eternity, cursed with the responsibility of keeping the demon from escaping. It was—is—my punishment.”
“For what?” There weren’t many things I could think of that warranted a punishment that lasted an eternity.
“New rule: you’re not allowed to ask any questions until I’m done. Got it?” His fingers had been tracing lazy lines across my stomach, but they stilled as he waited for my answer.
I managed a quick nod, because for some god forsaken reason, I couldn’t seem to find my voice. Me. The girl whose mouth got her into trouble in every school and every job. It was infuriating. But the way he touched me sent tiny waves of tingles across my skin, a sensual tickle, if that was even a thing, and I absolutely did not want him to stop.
“Good girl.” Those two little words did something unspeakable to me, and his fingertips resumed their slow, wandering drift across my skin. From the lazy smile on his lips, he knew exactly what he was doing. “When I was younger, I didn’t like to play by the rules. I was always testing limits and doing my own thing. Eventually, I took my rebellion too far and I was sent here to keep an eye on the demon.”
“Forced into playing jailer? I bet that went well.”
His smile turned wry. “Indeed. The demon and I actually managed to get along for a while there, reaching something of an accord. I wouldn’t say we ever became friends, but life around the island was mostly peaceful back then.” He fell silent for a moment, his jaw so tense a muscle in it ticked in time with the damned clock. “Anya and I started spending a lot of time together.”
Oh shit.I could already see where this was going, and I so didn’t want the play by play of him bumping uglies with the glitter bitch.
“You two hooked up.” There was no point in pussyfooting around it.
Even in the near darkness of his room, I could see the color drain from his face. He gave me a quick nod, then let out a heavy sigh. “Bear in mind, this was before I knew a lot of what I know now. There were no emotions involved, not for me, but we did learn to start trusting each other. Or so I thought. Until it became clear that Anya wanted more. She wanted me to claim her as mine, in a way that hasn’t been done in eons. And I couldn’t. Or maybe I wouldn’t. I’ve asked myself that question a thousand times since that night, and I still don’t know which it was.”
“Maybe it was both.”
“Maybe. Regardless, she didn’t take the rejection well. She put on a good show, played it off like everything was fine. Then one night, when we were… having fun… she got the better of me.” His hand drifted to his chest and the scar hidden beneath the smooth, silky fabric.
“She did that?” I knew I hated the wretched little bug, but that was the last nail in her coffin. I laid my hand over his and laced our fingers together.
He started at my touch and looked down, staring at our entwined fingers. “I still don’t know how she did it. I was awake but couldn’t move, couldn’t fight back. She would have had to use some powerful magic to paralyze me like that, far more powerful than what she possesses naturally. She hooked me on a boat anchor and hoisted me up into her tree.”
The mental image that spilled into my thoughts was horrifying. “But you were paralyzed, right? So, you didn’t feel anything?”
He closed his eyes. “Oh, I felt it all, I just couldn’t do anything to stop her. My mind was alert, but my limbs, my body, they were useless.”
I wanted to be sick. What kind of monster would do such a thing? “How did you survive that? I get that you’re not exactly human and all, but how does that even work?”
