AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Instantly, he roused her, stroking her until her hands relaxed, her body sagged, and she mumbled something in response to his quiet murmurs.
One down, he thought, not willing to admit his pride. If he knew anything about that particular emotion, it was that it made a habit of coming back to bite him in the ass.
One down, God knows how many more still to come.
*
Fatigued dogged her heels when she stirred, woken by a thin swatch of bright light glaring at her through the crack in the curtains. Moaning, she lifted her hand to block it, then froze when she felt movement against her back.
Not just movement, she thought.
The slow rise and fall of another person’s chest.
The press of something hard against her ass.
A hand cupping the flat pancake of her breast.
Yesterday replayed in her head like an old, flickering movie, frames pausing every so often on an important moment, until she remembered who the arm belonged to, and why it was in bed with her. Why she was in a bed which didn’t belong to her.
“Settle down,” Saul mumbled. “You sleep like a fucking yo-yo.”
The disgruntlement in his voice stopped her squirming instantly, but she didn’t relax. Her eyes locked on the edge of the mattress, wondering if her arms were long enough for her to grab it and use it to winch herself slowly out from under the weight of his. “I don’t sleep.”
“Could’ve fooled me, bunny. You went out like a light.”
Bewildered, she shook her head. There was no way she could’ve…it had been years since…she couldn’t recall the last time… “What?”
Saul’s thumb brushed back and forth over her nipple, sending little zips of something foreign through her nervous system. “As soon as you curled up with your head on my arm, you fell asleep, Caera. I had to shake you out of a few nightmares along the way, but as long as I catch you early enough, it seems you can get some proper rest.”
She didn’t understand. There was no recollection of being woken, no memories of bolting awake in the dark in a cold sweat. Her mind rebelled against the idea that he had so much control over her so soon. It seemed so unfair when she had none at all.
“You stayed up…”
“All night to watch over you. Mmm-hmm.” Nerves tingled between her shoulder blades as his lips skimmed over her bare nape. Warm breath blew over her skin as he breathed. “Which is why you should be a really good girl and let me have twenty minutes to catch a nap.”
Between his lips, his thumb, and the knowledge that he’d sacrificed his night to guard her from herself, Caera was stunned. She didn’t move as the gentle brush over her now-taut nipple became a light tweak, affecting her in disturbing ways.
“Just twenty,” Saul muttered on a sigh. “I’ll be good to go in twenty.”
No. Caera knew all too well what losing sleep did to the human body, to the brain. Tempers flared, eyes burned, fatigue dragged at muscles. Saul needed to recoup as much as he could before he fell down the slippery slope she was intimate with. He couldn’t be allowed to be tainted with her sickness, not when he hadn’t asked to be here.
She waited for ten minutes, trapped in a place of both terror and wonderment, shivering every time his breath tickled her skin. She hadn’t known how sensitive that spot on her neck could be, how it could be so effective at bringing her numb body to life.
When she thought he was asleep, she tried to ease herself away so he could get the sleep he deserved after making sure she got something she’d needed so fucking desperately. Her cheeks were wet as she understood the gift he’d given her—a gift no one else, not even the professionals, had been able to offer her.
Peace. Sweet, dreamless peace for a few hours.
“Couldn’t give me twenty minutes, huh?” Chuckling, Saul rolled her onto her back before she sneaked more than a foot away from him across the mattress. Caging her with his body, tired gray eyes studied her face. “Grant me permission to recharge my batteries in a different fashion, little rabbit?”
Holy shit. Blinking up at him, Caera stayed incredibly still. The long, muscular length of him was on top of her, not quite touching. He braced himself over her on his forearms, his knees digging into the bed on either side of her tightly-pressed thighs. It was a little alarming to glance down and see how tented the front of his briefs were. “R-recharge how?”
“Hmm. Have you ever been kissed?”
She snorted. “Virgin, remember?”
His response was a dark purr that stroked over her skin. “Don’t need a reminder of that, but just because you’re innocent in one respect doesn’t mean this pretty mouth of yours has to be the same.” He bent his head and skimmed his mouth over hers. “Regardless, it’s about to be mine.”
“It is?”
