Kassa being Kassa, she didn’t stay away for long. She snuggled up against me, her head on my arm as she hugged one arm around me and kissed my cheek. “You are the best Christmas present I’ve ever gotten,” she murmured softly before fighting a yawn back. “I’m so glad you’re here.”
I touched my lips to the top of her head, trying to focus on her rather than the pain that was now making my balls ache. “Me too, caterpillar. Me too.”
Within minutes, she was sound asleep, but my entire body was alert and ready for fun. The light on her nightstand was still on, casting a soft halo over her face and her delectable body.
Not delectable, asshole. Beautiful. Only beautiful.
But, even as I thought the words, I was already contradicting myself. Kassa’s shirt clung to her small frame, the hem just below her belly button and before the top of her panties. Panties that were covering a pussy that had never been touched by another man. Motherfucking shit, this wasn’t helping. Just thinking of how untouched her pussy was made my cock practically tremble with a need that was burning through every vein.
And those legs…
Hell, those legs. They were more toned than the last time I had seen them, and I couldn’t honestly remember when that was right then. All I remembered was that she used to have skinny legs, not muscular and curvy legs in all the right places. Why did they have to be so long and creamy? Why did her thighs have to rub together in her sleep? And fuck, oh fuck, why did she have to moan in her sleep when I unconsciously brushed the back of my fingers over her thigh?
My fingers stopped moving as soon as I realized what I was doing, and I balled them into a tight fist. This wasn’t right; I knew it wasn’t right. I was feeling things I had no business feeling where this girl was concerned. The smart thing to do was to get up and go to my own room, to sleep in my own bed that night.
But I wasn’t a smart man. Not when it came to her. I was a selfish bastard, because even though it was stupid and maybe even a little dangerous, there was no fucking way I was leaving her bed that night. I had spent over seven months without her, and I wasn’t going to deprive myself of her sleeping in my arms.
Reaching between us, I shifted my cock so that it wasn’t pressed right up against her and then went back to holding her. She sighed softly, a sweet, little sigh that made it hard to breathe for a second, then cuddled even closer. A grin lifted at one corner of my mouth because it was like she knew how to torture me in her sleep.
I touched my lips to her forehead again, lingering for a few seconds longer than they should have, but she didn’t stir. “Why did you have to grow up on me, little caterpillar?” I whispered, stroking her hair back from her face. “Why did you have to change the rules?”
She didn’t answer, but I could have sworn that, from the deep bowels of hell, someone was laughing at me.
TEN
Kassa
The scream outside my door had me jerking upright in my bed, the covers falling to my waist as I glanced around, so startled that my entire body shook. Then the scream came again, followed by Gray’s deep chuckle and Alicia’s tearful laugh.
I fell back against my pillows, realizing a monster wasn’t trying to break into the house and Alicia wasn’t having another migraine—which would have been worse. It wouldn’t have surprised me if that had been the case. She had them almost daily lately. She tried to hide them from me, but she couldn’t hide the sound of her vomiting at six in the morning as she fought the pain and tried to get ready for work. If I had thought these headaches would make her slow down, I had been sorely wrong. She worked even longer hours, sometimes not even coming home and, instead, sleeping on the couch in her office.
That only meant more alone time for me, and by this point, it was becoming like a sickness for me. Loneliness was depressing, and I wasn’t the kind of girl who put up with moping around and feeling sorry for herself.
“You should have told me you were coming,” Alicia chided Gray on the other side of my bedroom door. “I wouldn’t have mailed your presents to California.”
“I already got them,” he assured her. “And Jace got his, too. We both loved everything you sent.”
The sound of his voice pulled me out of my self-deprecation and I cuddled deeper under the covers. Last night had been the best night’s sleep I’d had in months. I had missed Gray like crazy, but I’d missed getting to sneak into his bed most nights and cuddling with him just as much.
“How long will you get to stay?” Alicia asked. “Until New Years?”
“Only a few days. I told Jace I would be back for next week’s show.”
My smile dimmed and then faded completely as I pictured the clock quickly running out on my time with Gray. A few days wasn’t enough time to get my fill of him. It wasn’t enough time period. I didn’t want him to go back, didn’t want him to leave me again.
I quickly got out of bed only to remember I was just in a pair of panties, my T-shirt, and a bra. Gray had seen me
in less, especially when we went to the beach or the pool, but heat filled my cheeks anyway. I went into the bathroom and took a shower, hoping to wash away the melancholy I was feeling. I didn’t want to waste what little time Gray was there moping around.
Twenty minutes later, with my hair still wet and hanging around my shoulders, I went downstairs to find Gray and Alicia. They were in the living room, a marathon of A Christmas Story running for background noise. We had all seen that movie so many times over the years that we were sick of it, but no matter how much we complained about it, Alicia always wanted it to be on, and a few channels ran it on a loop for twenty-four solid hours.
The box of the Cinnabon cinnamon rolls we had picked up at the mall the evening before was on the coffee table with a pot of coffee and an extra mug waiting for me. Gray was comfortable on the couch with his back pressed into a corner and his legs stretched out across the cushions, while Alicia was curled up on matching recliner, her eyes slightly bloodshot but glowing with happiness at having at least one of her boys home for the holiday. Her face even had a glow to it, something that had been missing over the last few months as her headaches had become more intense and more frequent.
Seeing how happy she was made it easier to push away my desolation at how little time we had with Gray. I shoved my sadness down and put a genuine smile on my face as I dropped right on top of Gray’s legs. He groaned as if he were in pain, but then he laughed and caught me around the waist before pulling me onto his lap and kissing my cheek.
“Merry Christmas, Kas.”
“It definitely is now,” I mumbled, leaning my head against this shoulder and soaking up the feeling of being in his arms while I had the chance.