Chapter 11
Kendra
As soon as I woke up, there was a sharp pain in my back.
"Damn it," I said as I sat up.
Jaceon was at my side before I even got my feet on the ground. "What's wrong?" His face was tight.
"Nothing. My back just hurts. I guess I slept wrong."
He was checking me up and down anyway.
"Maybe you need to stretch," he said.
"Or maybe I'm just not meant to sleep on a lounger in a cave."
He pulled away like my words had stung him.
He had been nice enough to buy it for me, but I mean, if you kidnapped somebody to help with your rut, the least you could do was make sure they had somewhere decent to sleep.
The fact that his feelings were affecting me was confusing.
Why should it matter if I spoke to him harshly?
He hadn't exactly wooed me to get me up here.
But I looked at his side profile when he walked away.
He had been good to me since we had been up here.
He had taken care of me, and honestly, I shouldn't be mad, because it was because of his deal that I had been able to pay the IT team.
So yes, him walking around with his head down bothered me.
He hadn't even said anything. For all I knew he wasn't sad, and I was making it all up.
"Here." He handed me his phone. "Go on, Moondrop, and order yourself something more comfortable to sleep on.
" He gave me his card too, but he didn't look at me, and I hated that.
Partly because it was crazy to feel upset that the man who kidnapped me might have gotten his feelings hurt. It didn't make sense.
I opened the app and started scrolling. I found a bed I liked. The measurements were right there, but I didn't know what any of that meant. I normally just ordered and hoped it fit.
"Hey, can you look at these dimensions and tell me if they're big enough for both of us?"
He walked over and looked over my shoulder. Now that he was closer, that leather smell was wrapped all around me. The cramps started low in my belly. I knew exactly what that was, and I inhaled anyway.
"Yes. It will be fine." He walked off, and I immediately missed him being there.
I sat back down with the phone. The app was recommending matching accessories now. String lights. A rug.
"Do you mind if I get a few more things?"
"Of course not. Go ahead."
I added it all to the cart, and right before I checked out, it recommended something that looked like a hutch.
Shelves, little compartments, glass doors on the top half.
I looked over at his hoard, how it was all just sitting on the ground, even though it meant so much to him. I added it to the cart and checked out.
I handed him back his phone and looked around the cave.
"So, tell me. How do you cook in here?"
"I don't. Not really. I go out, hunt, or order delivery."
I made a face.
"Why is that surprising?"
"Do you never go into town?"
He shook his head no.
"Ever?"
"There is nothing in town for me."
I let it sit. So, it was a hunt, a delivery, and this cave.
That was his whole world up here. I wondered what that would be like, to live your life spending so much time alone.
Even though Zoe and I lived six hours away, my mom was always calling and FaceTiming us.
We took a couple of trips to Shadow Wolf Creek.
My mom had made us the spare room, and even though it dinged my pride, I knew I was always welcome.
The heat was running through my body, but I was doing my best to ignore it.
How the hell did anybody survive a rut when every few seconds my body was screaming at me to jump on his dick?
It was a ridiculous, albeit satisfying, way to live.
He definitely knew what he was doing with my body, and that's something I hadn't expected.
I had always figured trading sex for money would feel like an emotional toll, but it actually was the opposite.
I felt a unique connection. The fact that his body could basically force mine into heat was amazing, when most men I had been with couldn't even get me turned on.
I had spent a bunch of my adult sex life faking it, but that definitely wasn't the case with Jaceon.
The thought started turning me on, so I tried to shake away that subject.
I looked around. "Do you have family?"
"A brother."
"Does he live in Shadow Wolf Creek?"
He shook his head no.
"What about you? Any siblings?"
"No, it's just me."
"And what about extended family?" he asked.
"No, just me and my mom. My mom has been distant from her family her entire life. She never really told me what happened, but she said she was the black sheep, which is hard to believe, because my mother is amazing."
"That's why you asked me if it was a family curse."
I scoffed. "Yeah, I guess. Even after all these years, I wanted an answer."
He rubbed a hand across his face. "Maybe there isn't one. Not a good one, anyway."
"Yeah, that could be," I said.
"So, tell me something, Kendra. Since you have been here, you have mentioned a stepfather, your daughter, and your mother, who is amazing. But none of that explains how you got those injuries on your feet."
I stopped breathing for a second. I didn't know what to say. What was he going to do with this information? Was he going to use it against me? That didn't seem like his thing.
"My ex-husband. He took the divorce badly, so I need my lawyer to hunt down finances for alimony."
"How does a husband hide things from his wife?" he asked.
I shrugged. "The same way he hides that he has another baby on the way. It's not that hard."
He looked at me, and his eyes glowed. Smoke billowed from his nose.
"So that's what you needed the money for."
"Yes."
He tipped his head. I felt terrible about the lie, but I didn't want to explain that my ex-husband was deranged and had sent a man into my home to harm me. It was almost over, so it seemed pointless to relive it.
The phone buzzed a while later. The first delivery was at the base of the mountain. Drivers couldn't come up here, so he went down to get it himself. While he was gone, I opened up another box and pulled out the string lights. Thankfully, they were battery-operated, and the battery was included.
He came back up carrying a box almost as big as I was and set it down like it weighed nothing.
I stood up on the nester. "Damn, where am I supposed to hang these?" I said as I looked around. I saw a few nooks and crannies, but that wasn't going to help me any.
Jaceon flew back in holding another box. I made a face. I hadn't ordered that much stuff, so why had they put it in so many boxes?
I walked over. "Hey, do you have anything I can hang these with?"
He took them from my hands gently. "I'll ask the driver."
He shifted and flew back down. When he came back, he was holding a thick roll of tape.
"He sold it to me from his truck."
"Really?" I said, laughing.
I ripped off a piece of the tape, and then I stood on the nester so I could have lights above the bed when it came. "Damn it," I said as I dropped the tape. But he was right there. He handed it back to me.
"Thank you," I said. He put his hand on the small of my back to steady me, but the warmth of his fingers sent heat straight through me.
I closed my eyes, and it passed through me.
When I opened my eyes, Jaceon was standing there, hand still on the small of my back, his face against me.
He was inhaling. The fact that he could literally smell my arousal was erotic to me.
I fumbled with the tape and finally got the lights put up.
We walked around the cave. I had gotten enough for both sides.
Each time, Jay would hold me up, and I would pretend like I didn't know he was smelling me.
By the time I got back on my feet, I was feeling the throes of the heat.
He was standing there, face to face with me.
He pushed me against the cave wall, cupped my face, and kissed me.
I dropped the roll of tape I was holding.
He picked me up and walked me over to the nester and quickly started to undress me.
My hands slid up and down his body, and then I unbuckled his jeans and pulled them down.
He bucked his hips at me. I took it in my hands and stroked it.
He pulled away and pushed me down. He pulled my pants and panties down and spread my legs.
"I have been waiting for this all day," he said as he put his head between my legs. I gasped as he spread my lips with his tongue and pushed inside of me. I held the back of his head and pushed him deeper into my sex.
He pulled back and began to suck my clit, but he was making slurping sounds.
I was gripping the sheets. My toes curled as he slid his tongue back inside of me.
My stomach clenched, and I cried out as the orgasm washed over me.
He moved up my body and kissed me. The taste of my slick was sweet on his lips.
He grabbed himself by the base and pushed in.
I grabbed his shoulder and bit down.
"Shit," he hissed, but he kept stroking. He lifted my leg to go deeper. The sound of our bodies connecting was loud.
My phone buzzed. I knew it was the last delivery. I reached for it, but Jaceon put his hand over mine, and it fell to the ground.
"Leave it," he growled. He put his lips on mine and pushed his tongue into my mouth.
And then the loud sound of thunder rumbled through the cave, and the sound of rain came crashing down.
"Jay, wait. It's going to ruin my new bed," I said, even though my chest was heaving.
He put his head against mine and sighed. "I'll get it," he said as he stood up. But instead of shifting, he lay back down and kissed me again. Then he shifted into his dragon and flew out.
I lay back and laughed. What was that last kiss about? That was something husbands did when they didn't want to leave. Kendra, girl, be serious. The last thing you need to think about is a husband.
I sat up and pulled on my clothes, and then I picked up the box next to me, set it in my lap, and started pulling off the tape. It was the rug.
Then I heard the wings.
I looked up, and his dragon walked in. He was dragging the box, water pouring off of him. I stood up. He walked over to me and pushed the box toward me with his nose. I knelt down beside it, and he ripped it open.
"Thanks," I said.
It took me way too long to get the bed set up, even though it didn't have that many pieces. It was one of those platform types, and of course, the wood slats gave me the blues, but eventually I got it worked out. I moved the nester and slid the bed in its place. I tossed on the sheets and lay down.
"Yes. This is it," I said as I rolled over.
The dragon had the nester. He had his face on it, sniffing it, and then he lay on it like a pillow.
"That looks uncomfortable. Do you want somewhere to sleep?"
He just turned to look at me and slowly blinked. Then he pushed it over toward me and curled up beside me. I reached down and stroked his head. The rain was falling harder, and then the dragon started purring. It was a soothing sound.
Eventually, it lulled me to sleep.