Chapter 37 Willow
WILLOW
Soft morning sunlight shines through the window as I wake up in Ransom’s arms.
It’s becoming almost normal to do that, and it’s weird that I almost can’t remember what it feels like to wake up alone anymore.
I did it for so long, blinking awake in the early morning, looking out the window to see what the day looked like, then getting up quickly, not having any reason to lie in bed and just be.
But now, it’s so different.
Now there are warm arms around me, and I can feel Ransom’s steady breaths on my neck. It makes me feel safe. Secure. And more than that, it makes me feel… wanted.
“Morning, angel,” he murmurs, leaning in to sleepily nuzzle at the back of my neck.
“Morning,” I reply, lifting a hand to smother a yawn.
“Any fun dreams last night?”
My cheeks darken, because I know he’s teasing me about the sex dream I had before. He does that from time to time, letting me know he hasn’t forgotten.
And I haven’t forgotten either. Not the dream or the way he reacted afterward, making me fall apart for him right here in his bed.
I shake my head. “No, not last night. If I did dream, I don’t remember what it was about.”
He hums, chuckling a little. “Too bad. I was hoping you were going to wake up a squirming mess in my arms again.”
“Ransom,” I groan, blushing harder.
“What? That’s what happened, and I think we both enjoyed it.”
I want to ask how he enjoyed it when it’s not like he got off. It’s not like he fucked me or even jacked off on me or anything. But maybe he did later. Maybe he touched himself in the shower or in his room while I was doing something else.
Maybe he thought about what he did to me, and that was enough to get him off.
Thinking about it just makes my face flame even hotter, and I make a face. It’s not fair how easily he does this to me. He hasn’t even touched me. Hasn’t done more than tease, and I’m already a mess, my body reacting to his words as if each syllable is a spark to dry grass.
But despite my embarrassment, I can’t deny that this is becoming one of my favorite ways to wake up.
Settling back into his embrace, I yawn and stretch, debating between trying to get more sleep or getting up and starting the day. Without the routine of getting up and going to school every day, there’s not much to keep me on any particular schedule.
I’m thinking about asking Ransom if he has any cars to work on today that I can help with, but before I can say anything, his grip on me tightens, and he rolls me onto my back.
As I blink up at him, he drapes his large, muscled frame over mine, his hips settling between my thighs. There’s something intense in his expression, and I suck in a sharp breath when I feel the hard line of his cock pressing against my core through both layers of our clothes.
The thin barrier doesn’t stop me from feeling how hard he is, and my heart starts to race as my stomach flutters.
He stares down at me, pinning me with his gaze as much as his body. There’s desire on his face, hot and intent, but that’s not all I see in his expression.
Something else burns in his eyes, mixed in with the heat, and it surprises me to realize that I can’t quite read it.
Usually, Ransom is the easiest to read of the three brothers, and beyond that, these mornings together have given me a lot of practice at figuring out his expressions and moods.
But whatever he’s feeling right now, I can’t decipher it.
I reach up as if I’m going to touch his jaw but stop just before I get there, curling my fingers against my palm, suddenly shy.
“What is it?” I murmur, searching his face for clues. “What’s wrong?”
At my words, some of the tension bleeds from his features. Ransom smiles, shaking his head.
“Nothing’s wrong, angel,” he replies, his voice soft and warm. “I was just thinking.”
“About what?”
“You, what else?” He chuckles. “What else can I think about when you’re here in my bed, under me like this?
” He settles his hips a little more firmly against me, lifting one hand from the mattress to trail it down my arm.
“You know… none of us expected you. It’s just been the three of us for so long. Just me and my brothers.”
I nod. “I know.”
“We never expected this beautiful girl who crept into our lives,” Ransom continues, bringing his hand up to glide his fingertips over the line of my throat.
“That night when we killed Nikolai, I didn’t know what you would mean to us.
But maybe I should have. There was so much fire in you.
So much strength. You’re not like anyone I’ve ever known. ”
My heart skips a beat, then starts galloping in my chest.
I can’t deny things have changed between me and all of these men.
They were monsters who stalked me, who violated my privacy and ignored my personal space time and time again.
They came into my life soaked in blood and bent on making sure I kept their secret, no matter what it took.
Then they became monsters who protected me.
Who stood against everyone who tried to hurt or use me.
My mom, the guy from the bus stop, Colin.
Even when it meant they lost out on work, like with the Donovans.
After all of that, they’re under my skin now.
Now, it’s about more than just survival, if I’m being honest with myself. There’s more to it than that, more of a reason why I’ve stayed here with them.
I think they all feel it too, this shift that’s happened at some point. But none of us have ever admitted it so clearly out loud.
“Ransom, I…”
My voice trails off. I have no idea what I want to say, and even if I did, the words are stuck in my throat. What do you say to a man who came into your life like a deadly shadow but treats you better than most of the people who were already in it?
But he just smiles, his gaze turning warm and affectionate. “I know, pretty girl.”
When he drops his head to kiss me, I’m ready for him, lifting my head off the pillow a little to meet him.
His mouth is hot and soft, his lips gentle against mine, but insistent too. It’s not like the hard, searing kiss I shared with Malice the night they met with the Donovan gang, but it makes me shiver all the way down to my toes.
Ransom braces himself on one hand and threads the other into my hair, tipping my head back so he can kiss me more thoroughly, the piercing in his tongue sliding against my tongue.
Pleasure and need burn through me, making it hard to do anything other than sink into the kiss and the man giving it. I’m falling into him—into all of them—forgetting about my life before I became wrapped up in this bubble with them.
It’s scary.
No, it’s terrifying.
My heart is racing, and it’s not just because I’m enjoying the kiss and anticipating what might be coming next. There’s still that part of me that wants to fight against losing myself so completely.
But it’s a small part, and Ransom soothes those fears with his tongue in my mouth, sliding and teasing against mine.
When he’s kissing me like this, it’s hard to focus on being afraid. It’s hard to focus on anything but him.
His mouth trails down from mine, his lips finding my jaw and then moving lower. He kisses my neck, and my skin heats up, pleasure flaring everywhere his mouth touches.
“You taste…” His teeth scrape my skin. “So…” He drags his tongue over my pulse point. “Fucking delicious.”
I gasp for breath, writhing underneath him, and when my hips push up a little, I can feel his cock again, hard and throbbing in his boxers.
Ransom presses his hips down against mine, grinding right against me. I have to close my eyes against the tide of pleasure that sparks in my veins, and my pussy aches for more. I’m so wet, flooding my panties with the need for him to touch me there. To make me come.
“God,” I whimper. “That feels…”
Every kiss, every touch, works me up even more, and I hear myself moaning Ransom’s name, squirming and trying to somehow get closer to him.
“You have no idea,” he whispers roughly as he pulls back a bit to look at me. His eyes burn, those ocean blue depths as dark as a stormy sea. “You have no damn idea what you do to me, pretty girl.”
“You do the same thing to me,” I breathe.
“Fuck, yes.”
He dives back in, and this time it’s his hands that do the roaming.
He lifts up my shirt enough to bare my stomach to his gaze, and I feel his eyes devouring me hungrily.
He drops a kiss to my belly that makes me shiver, and then he works my pants and underwear down enough that he can pull them off.
I swallow hard at being so exposed for him.
The scars on my side that stretch down to my leg are right there on display, but as always, Ransom doesn’t flinch away.
He doesn’t rear back in disgust or throw me out of bed the way I always thought someone would if they got me naked and saw the mess of my tormented skin.
Instead, he drops kisses along the line of burn scars, and even though the feeling is somewhat muted by the scar tissue, it makes me shiver all the same.
“Beautiful,” he whispers. “Fucking gorgeous.”
I moan softly, the last vestiges of fear falling away as desire infuses my whole body. My heart pounds in my chest, keeping time with the throbbing between my legs.
Ransom has a good view of my core now, wet and swollen, and when he reaches down into his boxers to pull out his cock, I gasp softly.
It’s thick and hard, and there’s a line of piercings running up the bottom of it.
The piercings make his shaft look beautiful and monstrous at the same time, and suddenly, I want it inside me so fucking badly.
I don’t care if it hurts. I don’t care if it splits me open. I just want to feel him.
But instead of driving into me the way he did in my dream, he presses his cock head gently between my legs, letting the rounded tip bump up against my pussy.
Even that feels amazing, sparking my nerves and sending ripples of pleasure up my spine.