What the other man seemed to fail to realize was that while Eden was one of Kent’s most precious people, she was Zeke’s everything.
He would die to protect her.
12
She came awake with a sudden fright, staring around in confusion. There was a soft light on somewhere and she blinked, her heart racing.
Where was she? Whose bed was this? And who the hell was behind her?
She was beginning to freak out until the scent of mint hit her. The cabin. Zeke. Okay. She breathed out a small sigh of relief. She glanced around for a clock but didn’t see one. Still, it was pretty dark so she guessed there was a few hours until dawn.
She knew she wouldn’t fall asleep again. That wasn’t the way her body worked. She rolled onto her back and glanced over at Zeke who was sleeping beside her. She hadn’t even felt him come into bed. Her chair was next to the bed. Zeke had told her to wake him. But he needed rest as much as she did. There was no point in them both being tired.
Now, getting up without waking him was going to be trickier. She slowly pushed herself up, gently pulling back the covers, surprised to find a pillow between her legs. When had he put that there? She didn’t think he would remember that she slept with a body pillow.
But he had. And it was just another way that Zeke Jonas did his best to take care of her. She reached over to lower the side of her wheelchair and then slid herself along the mattress and into the chair.
“What do you think you’re doing?” a rough voice asked.
“Oh shit!” she swore, placing her hand on her chest as her heart raced in reaction. “Damn it, Zeke. You gave me a fright.”
“Where are you going? Do you need the toilet?”
She wasn’t sure she’d ever get used to the casual way he asked her that. At least he hadn’t asked if she needed to go potty.
“I woke up and couldn’t go back to sleep.” Not that she’d really tried. But she knew her body well. “I thought I’d go watch TV or something.”
By now he was sitting. He yawned before directing his glare at her. “Watch TV? At four in the morning?” He turned his wrist around to show her the time on his wristwatch.
She shrugged. “I often watch TV when I can’t sleep.”
“Not anymore, you don’t. If you can’t sleep, you wake me.”
She chewed her lip. “There’s no point in both of us being awake.”
“We won’t be. Because I’m going to help you get back to sleep.”
He reached over and lifted her back into the bed. But instead of lying her on her side as she expected, he gently rolled her onto her stomach. The pillow that had been between her legs, was stuffed under her hips.
“Zeke? What are you doing?” she squeaked as he pulled up her nightgown, exposing her ass.
“What did I tell you to do if you woke up?” he rumbled. His voice was still husky with sleep and it was so sexy she felt her clit throb in response.
“I was supposed to wake you.”
“And is that what you did?”
“N-no, but—”
“No buts. You were disobedient. Naughtiness like that gets you punished.”
“P-punished?”
“Yes. I’m going to give you a spanking.”
Holy. Shit.
His hand rubbed her ass and she tensed, expecting him to start.