Chapter 10
Chapter
Ten
Tegan
There’s something about a man who doesn’t hesitate to move into action that really rings my chimes.
Vincent didn’t question me, didn’t doubt or minimize my fear.
He just jumped to address the possibility what I heard actually was a threat.
Best of all, when I was too scared to be alone, he chose me over the instinct to run off and search for trouble.
“Get in the bed, kitten. I’ll keep you safe so you can get the rest you need.
” He gestures to the enormous bed that dominates the room, and I don’t hesitate to climb up onto the mattress and crawl into the center.
It isn’t until I hear Vincent’s low groan from the foot of the bed that I remember I hadn’t stopped to grab my robe before running from my room.
“Sorry,” I mumble, a hot blush scalding my cheeks.
“Never apologize for driving me wild, sweet girl. I sure as shit won’t apologize for wanting you.” He says it so confidently, and the confirmation I’m not alone in feeling this chemistry settles my nerves.
“You barely know me. We just met.” I don’t know why I say that. It doesn’t feel as if we’re strangers. Maybe, trauma bonding is to blame for the way being near him feels so natural.
“Time is relative and subjective. Don’t overthink it, just lie down and close your eyes. Everything will be better in the morning. You have my word you’re safe here.” His promise helps me relax, but I can’t help feeling bad for waking him up.
“At least, lie here with me. You shouldn’t have to give up your bed and stay awake when I’m crashing your bedroom.” I wriggle under the blanket, enjoying the way the sheets and pillows all smell like him. Citrus and just the tiniest bit of antiseptic mix with leather and cedar.
The mattress dips as Vincent settles behind me, his enormous body making a big spoon behind my smaller form.
His tattooed arm snakes around my waist, and he pulls my back tight against his front.
The swirls of bright color and bold black lines on his skin must tell a story, hopefully one he’ll share with me sometime.
It’s so unexpected to think of how rough and dangerous he looks out of his hospital uniform, and I wonder if his patients have any idea the doctor patching up their sprained ankles and swabbing their tonsils for strep throat is a motorcycle-riding badass.
“Still scared?” he murmurs.
I reach for dignity. “I think I have a right to be, don’t you?”
He chuckles deeply at my indignant squawk but doesn’t comment. I appreciate his restraint. His chest feels like a furnace at my back, the warmth lulling me even as the hand resting lightly on my hip sends a shiver of awareness through me.
“You grip my hand any tighter, kitten, and my fingers will fall off.” His breath teases the hair at my temple, tickling me.
I glance down to see my hand is, in fact, completely wrapped around his. I clear my throat and croak out, “Safety precaution.”
“Of course.” I don’t even have to see his face to know he’s smirking.
He slides our joined hands slowly from my hip to my abdomen until they’re nestled between my breasts. His thick fingers spreading mine and weaving between them until we’re completely locked together.
“There you go, kitten,” he says softly. “Safe.”
Moments pass in silence between us. Nothing in the world existing but our bodies twined together in his bed. Then his thumb flexes to stroke the side of my breast.
“Your heart’s racing so fast,” he says.
“Impossible for it not to when you’re touching me.”
There’s a long pause, his thumb stilling where it presses into the soft tissue. Lower, my belly feels as if an explosion of butterflies is catapulting around inside me. Need ripples through me, his soft touches igniting an urge for more.
“Should I stop?” he asks.
Logic screams to slow down things between us. I’m no blushing virgin, but I’m also not the type for casual hookups. We only just met, no matter how dramatic the events that precipitated my being in his room. That fact keeps screaming in my brain. At the same time—
“No!” The word bursts from me, my mouth overriding logic and common sense.
“Good.” I feel his smile against my shoulder, his approval another warm blanket over me.
His arm tightens around me, that infernal thumb resuming its slow stroke back and forth against the sensitive skin of my breast. I tilt my head enough to look over my shoulder at him. His eyes are half-lidded, amused, but I see something else there, too. Something darker. Possessive.
“You’re enjoying this,” I accuse.
“Of course, I am. Since I looked across Malachi’s room and saw you for the first time, my plan has been to get you into my bed and keep you here.
Whatever you heard that brought you to my door is something I’m grateful for, even if it’s a problem for my brothers and me to resolve.
You’re meant to be mine, Tegan. I felt the certainty of it clear to my bones the moment we met. ”
His speech is the most words he’s strung together so far, though I know he’s obviously capable of taking charge and commanding a room.
He’s got to be to run an emergency room the way he does.
Still, in the time I’ve been with him, he hasn’t said much.
Which makes it so much more powerful when he does talk.
The only light in the room comes from the screen of his cellphone lighting up with messages that illuminate the edge of his smile.
“Hyram and Silas are patrolling the property for the rest of the night. Close your eyes, sweet girl. You’re going to need your rest for tomorrow,” he commands, and obediently, my eyelids become heavy weights dragging themselves lower over my eyes.
“Why…need…tomorrow?” I sleepily mumble. Now that I’m here, in his bed with his warmth and security wrapped around me, the fear and anxiety bleeding out of me overcomes the arousal from his touch. His rumbly laugh follows me into sleep.
“You’ll see, kitten. You’ll see.”