Chapter 14
Chapter Fourteen
Shay
Prime’s chest was the first thing I felt.
Warm. Steady. Solid.
My cheek was pressed against him, my arm thrown across his stomach, and one leg tangling with his like I was trying to anchor myself to his body. The blanket was twisted somewhere around our hips as sunlight cast soft gold streaks that made his tattoos look darker, sharper.
But the very first thought that hit me?
Easy.
It was just so… easy with him.
The world outside this room was a mess full of danger, secrets, shadows, and a killer no one could catch, but here, with him, it felt like the safest place I’d ever been.
And the happiest.
I’d never been this happy with a man.
Never this peaceful. Never this held.
Prime was everything I’d never had.
When I was scared… he made me feel safe. When I didn’t know what to do, he helped me think. When life got too heavy, he took the weight off my shoulders without asking for anything in return.
I didn’t know what I had done to deserve him, but I knew one thing: I wasn’t going to take it for granted.
“I can hear you thinking,” Prime muttered groggily.
I lifted my head and blinked sleepily as his dark eyes opened to meet mine.
“Hi,” I whispered.
A smirk tugged at his mouth. “Hi.”
I swallowed and blinked up at him shyly. “Shouldn’t this be awkward?”
He looked around lazily and stretched an arm above his head. “I think the only way this would be awkward is if we weren’t in my room… or if the whole club was looking at us.”
I wrinkled my nose. “Yeah, that would be awkward.”
He reached up and brushed my bright red hair from my face to sweep it behind my ear, then leaned down to kiss me. Soft and slow, like it was just something he did naturally.
“If this were awkward or hard,” he murmured against my lips, “I wouldn’t be doing it. Two people being together should be easy and fun.”
My heart stuttered.
“I…” I started.
His eyebrow lifted. “You want?”
I swallowed. “I guess I’ve never had that before. Life has just always been hard.”
He grunted. “Not anymore. Not as long as your ass is in my bed.”
And that was that.
He said it like a simple fact. Like gravity. Like something no one could argue with.
“So we’re…” I started.
But Prime was already rolling out of bed, stretched again, and headed into the bathroom. He shut the door lightly behind him.
I stared at the ceiling with the blanket pulled up to my chin and tried to figure out what the end of that sentence should have been.
So we’re what? Together? Something? Everything?
The bathroom door pushed open a minute later.
Prime came back out naked, drying his face with a towel, completely unbothered by gravity or dignity or the effect his body had on my brain.
I swallowed hard.
He glanced over at me. “We’re what?”
I stared.
At all of him.
Every inch.
And then the towel in his hand hit the floor, and I lost any remaining brain function.
“Huh?” I croaked.
He chuckled deep, and the warm sound vibrated through the room. “You started saying something, babe. What was it?”
“Oh,” I said and pulled the blanket tighter around me, “uh… I was just making… I mean, I wanted… I just…” I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to get my brain to work. “We are a we?” I couldn’t think with Prime standing there naked.
His chuckle got even deeper. “Was that French?”
I cracked one eye open. “I’m asking for some clarification,” I muttered. “You and I… became a we?”
Prime walked toward the bed and leaned down over me until our lips were a breath apart.
His voice dropped. “I’ll make it easy for you, babe.”
Then he kissed me slow, sure, and claiming.
He pulled back just enough to whisper, “Yes.”
My breath caught. “Okay.”
“Okay,” he repeated, his eyes dark and warm.
We weren’t dancing around anything anymore. No wondering. No holding back. No almost.
Just… yes.
He pushed off the bed. “Property of Prime, babe.”
It was crazy, but I liked that. I liked belonging to Prime.
“We should probably get going. Pearl’s gonna burst in here if we don’t show up for breakfast soon.”
He turned toward his dresser, and I watched the muscles shift in his back.
I adjusted the blanket and it slid completely off me. “Oops,” I whispered.
Prime froze mid-step and slowly looked over his shoulder at me. His eyes dragged down my body. And then back up.
A heat flickered in them that made my toes curl.
“Shay…” he said slowly, voice thick.
I smiled sweetly. “What? You said we had to get going.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Babe, you’re naked in my bed.”
“And you could be too if you would get back over here,” I pointed out.
He took two steps back toward the bed. “Shay.” Another step. “You keep looking at me like that…” Another step. “And we’re not leaving this room anytime soon.”
I tossed the blanket all the way off. I liked the sound of that.
His eyes darkened like storm clouds.
And then he was on the bed again, braced over me with his breath warm and fast as his hands slid up my thighs as if he couldn’t help it.
“You’re unbelievable,” he whispered and kissed the corner of my mouth.
“I can’t help it that you are easily distracted,” I murmured and threaded my fingers into his hair.
He groaned, actually groaned, and lowered himself until his body was flush against mine.
I kissed him back, deeper, and pulled him down as my legs wrapped around his hips. His hands moved up my sides, slow but hungry, and mapped the lines of my body like he’d memorized them last night and was re-learning them now just because he could.
He kissed me like he’d missed me during the five minutes we hadn’t been touching.
Like he didn’t care if we ever left this room.
Like the rest of the world, the danger, the island, and the secrets didn’t matter as long as I was under him and he could breathe me in.
He pulled back just enough to look me in the eyes.
“You sure you want to just stay here?” he asked, voice rough.
I nodded and slid my hands down his back. “I’m sure.”
Prime’s lips crashed into mine again.
The room faded. The world disappeared. All that was left was us breathless, tangled, and connected in ways I couldn’t put words to.
His hands on my waist. My fingers in his hair and his mouth moving with mine. Every inch of him pressed against every inch of me.
He kissed down my throat, along my shoulder, back to my lips, while whispering my name in between like it meant something. Like it was sacred.
This was my new easy.
My new safe.
My new home.
Prime.
And I wasn’t going anywhere.