Chapter 23
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Myles
The pounding in my head woke me as much as the savory smells teasing my nose. My stomach cramped while at the same time begging for real sustenance after the assault on it last night.
The events leading up to my first drink yesterday piled into my head. The phone call. Gianna. Brothers. Telling Mrs. Crane to shut down the office through the weekend. I’d wanted to be left the fuck alone to process the double shocks I’d received yesterday.
Then hitting my personal bar. I’d meant to stop after one drink. I detested getting drunk. I hated the lack of control, the unbridled thoughts I was too inebriated to stop. I’d rather be an uptight prick than a sad drunk.
I pried my eyes open. I was flat on my back, on my bed. That part wasn’t unusual. I was fully dressed in my slacks and button-up shirt. Thankfully I wasn’t a tie guy, or I would’ve strangled myself in my sleep.
A wildly dumb way to die.
What was that delicious smell? My stomach growled while making no promises not to heave up any food I put in it.
“You’re finally awake.”
I was fucking dreaming. There was no way I was hearing Wynn’s voice in my loft.
I tipped my head up enough to look around the place. She was sitting in a high-back chair she’d scooted closer to the bed. Her silky hair was thrown in a crooked ponytail and she wore a Copper Summit hoodie and jeans. Fucking gorgeous, dark circles under her eyes and all.
A bag from a soup-and-sandwich shop sat on the nightstand, along with a bottle of water and some headache meds.
I deserved a fucking migraine. “What are you doing here?” I croaked.
I was going to roll up to sit, but I stuck to rolling to my side when the room started spinning.
“I caught a flight after you hung up on me.” She gave me a knowing smirk. “I knew you wouldn’t answer if I tried calling back.”
Ah, hell. “I called you?”
There was the flash of hurt I always caused her. “You don’t remember?”
I didn’t bother shaking my head. I heaved to a seated position and gripped the edges of the mattress.
What had I told her? Had I confessed to how empty I was inside?
Had I revealed that I was fucking scared because without Gianna telling me I was the only thing she regretted, what did I have to prove? “I’m sorry I bothered you.”
“I’m glad you got drunk enough to call.” The irritation was a whip snap. She stood and went to the bag. “Otherwise that damn pride of yours would’ve left you to suffer on your own.”
I prodded my aching temples. “So I called you, and you flew here? Did you use the private jet your brothers did?”
She stopped what she was doing and stared at the wall. My plain wall with an abstract art piece that was better suited to a generic hotel chain than someone’s living space. “My brothers were here?”
Shit. “A month ago.”
“Aren’t you full of surprises.” She took out a bowl of soup and peeled the lid off. A few drops of liquid sloshed out from the extra force in her movement. Noodles and carrots poked out of the broth. Chicken noodle soup.
“They were worried about you.”
“They’re always worried about me and my sisters. I’m surprised they thought you would be.”
“Wynn.”
She held a spoon up. “We’re not getting into it now. You look like hell, no offense.”
I pushed a hand through my hair, making my headache stronger. I had called her. She’d realized I was drunk and in a bad place, and now she was here. “You didn’t have to come.” I took the spoon to stay on her good side. I wanted the soup as much as I didn’t want it.
“If you don’t see that’s not the point, then I’m not defending my decision.
” She took out a second soup and two wrapped sandwiches.
Mine would be stacked with roast beef and veggies and hers would be turkey and cheese and avocado.
She handed me my food and sat back in the chair with hers.
“I had no idea you’d shut the office down, but thankfully, you haven’t changed any codes. ”
I cradled my soup, not bothering to hide my inspection of her. Despite her comfy wear, she looked as tired as I felt, minus the hangover.
My call must’ve been in the middle of the night, when I’d been several drinks into feeling sorry for myself. “What time is it?”
“After two.”
She’d caught an early enough flight to land, order food, and get here. How long had she been waiting for me to wake up? “You shouldn’t have come.”
“You sure about that?” Her usually warm stare was direct and unforgiving.
No. I wasn’t sure. I liked having her here. I’d rather welcome her better than this, but this was all I could summon. I kept eating.
The food went down better than expected. I started on the sandwich next. She’d gotten exactly what I wanted. We ate in silence. I downed the entire bottle of water. The dizziness hadn’t entirely abated, but I no longer felt like I’d been slammed into the wall by a full barrel.
Her presence was soothing. If I had awoken alone, I might’ve lurched into my office and poured another drink. But with Wynn sitting across from me, my mind was clearer. My thoughts weren’t as fuzzy and tumultuous.
I crinkled my sandwich bag and gathered all our garbage.
The smell of stale alcohol clung to me, fatigue with it.
I hadn’t gotten quality sleep. It was the middle of the day, and I could go back to bed.
But I wasn’t crawling between my sheets in yesterday’s work clothes while I smelled like I’d bathed in white dog.
“I’m going to shower.” I stood, making sure I wouldn’t faceplant before I took a step. “Get some rest, Wynn.”
She only watched me disappear into the bathroom. Part of me hoped she’d join me, but the most coherent part of my brain knew I’d be useless. I could grunt out a quick fuck, but neither Wynn nor I wanted that.
She deserved better. I faintly recalled saying those words. Had they been on the phone with her?
I let the spray pummel my body, keeping my head safely away from the pounding after I washed my hair. When I was done, I dried off and wrapped a towel around myself. I hadn’t brought in a pair of shorts. I wasn’t used to not being able to walk around naked in my home.
I hadn’t changed the codes. I’d never thought Wynn would care enough to use them.
Perhaps I’d hoped she’d use them one day. But not for this.
When I exited the bathroom, clean and with my teeth brushed, I stopped.
The blinds had been partially closed to shadow the room.
In my bed, the side I didn’t use had a sleeping Wynn tucked in.
She was on her side, her back toward the middle of the bed.
Her sweater and jeans were neatly folded on the nightstand.
The shirt that was visible above the blankets looked like an old Foster House shirt, a faded blue from fifteen years’ worth of laundering. My shirt.
The view was so damn right. Wynn in my bed, wearing my clothing.
I didn’t have the energy to fight the rightness of the sight. I pulled back the covers on my side of the bed and crawled in behind her. As soon as I scooted closer to her, not taking her into my arms but satisfied at being within arm’s reach, sleep claimed me.
Wynter
A wall of steel was behind me, and a hand was pressed against my belly. I let out a happy moan. I could wake up like this more often, a possessive arm around me and the smell of amber-laced sage surrounding me.
Wait. My eyes flew open. I wasn’t in my bed. I wasn’t even in Montana.
And the heat source behind me was Myles. Finally. I wished I could’ve woken up to him under different circumstances, but I was grateful he hadn’t run me out as soon as he’d seen me in his place.
“Let me hold you,” he murmured into the nape of my neck.
Tension drained out of me. “How long did we sleep?” I wanted to roll into him, but also, my hair probably looked like a rat’s nest. The flavor of chicken noodle soup was still in my mouth.
“A few hours.” His voice was a raspy rumble, and he stroked his thumb in little circles on the skin of my belly. He slid his hand lower.
A whimper escaped. It’d been so long since he’d touched me last. I craved him. But this wasn’t the right time. “Myles.”
“Wynn—do you need this?”
I needed him. “Yes.”
“Let me make you feel good.”
“What about you?”
“Making you come makes me feel good.”
How could I argue with that? With his strong arm around me and his fingers close to giving the best pleasure I’d ever known, I couldn’t refuse him. I slid my legs apart to give him better access.
A sexy, deep growl came from him. He slid his other arm under me until I was fully in his hold. He was kissing my shoulder and the back of my neck.
“You know what seeing you in my bed does to me?” His fingertip hit my clit. I was already wet for him, had been as soon as I’d realized he was the one holding me.
“Tell me.” After waking up alone to find him gone, I had to hear it.
“You make me want things I shouldn’t have.
” He pushed his finger through my pussy and thrust inside me.
His thumb landed on my clit. Pleasure was growing inside, coiling tighter.
“I’ll never quit wanting you.” He stroked in and out of me with his finger while steadily brushing over my clit.
“I’ll never quit wanting to spend my time between your legs. ”
My moan was needy. The way I was clamped to his chest, unable to move unless I was making room for him to get me off, did it for me. I went from asleep to ready to climax in record time. “Myles, please.”
I wouldn’t be able to hold myself together for long. Three months was an eternity.
“Come for me.”
I shattered on command. Writhing in his hold, bucking my hips, trying to grasp every last bit of pleasure he was willing to give.
He took his hand away, and I was left bereft, my pussy throbbing, wanting more while being completely satisfied.
“I need to be inside you, Wynn.” He lifted my top leg, propping it on his knee. The broad tip of his cock slipped through my pussy. “Just a few strokes with nothing between us?”
He was asking permission. He could’ve done anything. I wouldn’t have put up a thread of resistance. “Yes.”