“Nope! Definitely not. I just wanted reassurance that it wasn’t some kind of monster. You know, for the rest of the female population.” I flushed, and I wished I could melt into the wall. I didn’t understand what it was about all the intensity the man had and why it made me act like an idiot, but there was something so unnatural about the way he fixated on me.
Like there was no one else in the world, and the only person who mattered was me. I’d never had anyone pay that close of attention to me, and it left me feeling like I was floundering and in shock, speechless where I should have just been pissed.
“It’s not the only place I’m pierced,” he admitted, pressing his lips to my forehead affectionately. “But I promise it isn’t a monster. Not because of the piercing anyway,” he said, and then he stepped back and left the shower. “I’ll grab you something to wear and leave it on the counter, then I’ll give you privacy to shower.”
And just like that he was gone, and he left me feeling like I probably didn’t want to know how his dick was a monster.
I needed to get the hell out of there.
???
I’d kill him.
That was certain.
I hadn’t stopped to consider just what he would pick out for me to wear to bed, but I knew for a fact the lilac chemise I shrugged on hadn’t been in my wardrobe.
No bra.
No underwear.
He’d be lucky if I didn’t shove the nightie down his throat for him to choke on in his sleep, but as it stood it was all I had to wear. To get to the closet, I’d have to go through the bedroom.
My thighs were too thick for this thing and my ass jutted out obscenely. Yoga was great for toning my body, but there were just certain parts of me that got more muscular and never went away. My legs were longer than my torso called for, but I lost any length I might have gained from that because of the way the chemise stretched over my ass.
I spit out my toothpaste, rinsing my mouth and tugging my hair down from the ponytail. I had wanted nothing to do with the bed, but now I desperately wanted to use that blanket to cover up. Determined to just make a run for the closet, I took a deep breath before I flung the bathroom door open and bolted for the other door.
Ryker grimaced, vaulting up from the bed to grab me around the waist and tug me into his body. A fresh pair of boxer briefs was all he wore, leaving all that muscle pressed against most of the skin on my back that the chemise revealed where it dipped low. “Ryker!” I screamed, kicking my legs as he lifted me off the floor and turned to carry me to the bed. “No!”
“Relax, Tesoro. You’re safe with me.”
“Liar!” I hissed, and he dropped me onto the bed on my stomach before rolling me to my back and crawling over me. Trapped beneath him, with his thighs and his arms caging me in on both sides, I froze and panted up at him. “You can’t just demand that I wear this and put me to bed. Let me change.”
“No,” he grunted. “It’s your favorite color, and it’s so perfect with your skin. You look like a fairy or something.”
I glared at him, but he didn’t seem affected. Instead, he just rolled me to my side and tugged me into his chest. His massive arm wrapped around me, and I considered comparing them to my thighs. I was fairly certain his arms were bigger.
One of his thighs wrapped around my legs, pinning me tightly and I tried not to think about the monster bulge against my ass or the fact that he acted like I was a fucking body pillow.
“Go to sleep, Tesoro.”
“You can’t just tell me to—”
“Just did,” he yawned.
I pursed my lips but went silent, fully intending to wait until he fell asleep and then sneak out.
But I fell asleep far too quickly for that. His body was like a furnace against me, lulling me into a comfortable warm place where my body felt safe like the idiot it was.
Thirteen
Ryker
I never wanted to leave my bed. Calla was still snuggled against me, tucked in tight and warm against my chest and thighs, right where she was meant to be. In the night, her nightie rode up so her bare ass pressed into my groin, and I barely resisted the urge to grind my hard-on into her. Her breathing fell in the steady rhythm of sleep and the day before had been a hard one for my Sunshine. I couldn’t disturb her when she rested so peacefully in my arms for the first time.
I’d watched her sleep enough times in the last year to know what it looked like, what she felt like when her brain quieted and she disappeared into the world of dreams. Dreams that didn’t seem to haunt her or scare her. For my Sunshine, sleep looked like a peaceful retreat. No traces of the pissed off hellcat I’d narrowly avoided the day before.
Sweet. Pliant.