ELEVEN #3
While the storm raged on outside, I rushed to brush my teeth, threw on my pink shorty PJs, and dove beneath the safety of the duvet.
But my mind was a battlefield. Thoughts raced and collided—would Adam actually like the pool house?
Would I see Sophie soon? What was I going to do about my schoolwork, Kieran’s coldness, and that secret I carried about his mother’s affair... it all swirled together in the dark.
After struggling to sleep, I slid the drawer containing my journal open and tugged it out. Stretching the spine, I switched on the bedside light and wrote a few paragraphs on how I was feeling. Eventually, I placed it on the table beside the bed and then cast the room back into darkness.
Outside, the violent battering on the roof finally began to soften. It sounded like the storm had started to break, giving up its attempt to claw its way inside. Relief washed over me, but as I allowed sleep to take over, I didn’t realise how wrong I was.
KIERAN
A sudden, suffocating wrongness dragged me out of sleep, tearing me away from the recurring nightmare of my mother’s graveside.
My eyes snapped open. I strained to pierce the pitch-black darkness of my bedroom, but a sudden flash of lightning illuminated a silhouette looming directly over my bed.
“Fuck!” I yelled.
Instinct took over. I yanked my arm out from beneath the covers, lunging upward, and slammed my hand around the wrist of the arm outstretched toward my face.
“Ow!” a female voice squeaked.
The violent momentum of my snatching her wrist threw her completely off balance, and the girl crashed forward, her weight slamming directly onto my chest.
“Ohff!” The wind was knocked out of me.
Amelie.
“What the hell?” I barked. Her small fists dug into my shoulders as she tried to steady herself.
“It’s me! You were shouting in your sleep,” she panted, lifting her head. A curtain of her hair fell around her face and tickled my chin.
Still half-locked in a fight-or-flight response, the suffocating sensation of her hair made me snap.
I released her wrist, shoved my elbows into the mattress, and roughly rolled us over.
Amelie tumbled onto the mattress beside me.
In a flash, I pinned her down, hovering over her body as I glared into her face, which was highlighted by a sliver of moonlight.
My body locked her down, hovering close enough to feel the frantic, terrified flutter of her pulse.
Her hands came to rest on my chest as I caged her body with my arms on either side.
“You shouldn’t be in here. I could have hurt you. Again!” I was referring to that first time I’d rugby tackled her in the kitchen. The girl sure had a talent for being where she shouldn’t be.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, wiggling slightly, her eyes wide as they scanned my face in that semi-darkness. The covers had fallen off me, and luckily, I was wearing sweats. The rigid line of my cock was pushed against her thigh.
Like it had a mind of its own, my body started to wake up. We were so close, and her scent teased my nostrils. It was the first time I’d had a female in my bed for months. And then I noticed the swell of her breasts, pushed against her top and the way they moved with each sharp breath she took.
She glanced towards the window and then back. “I’m scared.”
Thunder rattled through my room as I lowered my head, bringing my mouth close to hers.
“You should be,” I murmured. “Sneaking into a man's room in the middle of the night. Not the brightest of ideas.”
For a moment, confusion flickered across her face. Then she shook her head.
“No. The storm.”
Another crack of thunder split the darkness, and she flinched.
“I didn’t want to be alone. I was trying to decide whether to wake you when you shouted out. You were having a nightmare.”
“You're scared of storms?” I snapped incredulously.
“Yes.” The admission came quietly, almost reluctantly.
“Why not wake Vanessa? Or my sister?”
“Your room was the closest.” Her fingers twisted nervously against my bare chest. Fuck, her touch felt so good. “I thought... maybe I could sleep in here.”
My pulse stumbled before going into overdrive. “What do you mean in here? Like, in my room?” I don’t think I’d ever heard my voice so high-pitched.
Amelie’s gaze lifted to mine, wide and trusting. “Yes. You have a double bed, you won’t even notice I’m here.” Was this girl for real?
“Oh, believe me, I’d notice.” My jaw clenched so tight that my molars began to throb.
I knew I needed to shut that shit down and fast, and so I pushed myself upright. The movement was so brutal that the mattress shifted beneath us.
Sitting up, I pinched the bridge of my nose before giving her my attention again. “What exactly are you asking?” My brain felt fried.
“Can I sleep with you?” The words hit me like a physical blow.
She said them with complete innocence, unaware of the effect those five words had on me.
Clueless as to the dangerous territory she was wading into.
Most men would translate those words into I want to fuck you, but I knew that wasn’t what my little stray was asking for.
Lightning flashed through the room, illuminating her scantily clad body lying on my blankets—soft hair spilling across my pillow, bare shoulders peeking from her PJs, looking far too comfortable and perfect in my bed.
My cock was now tenting my jogging bottoms. As I turned to look down at the female who had started to invade every part of my life, I attempted to control my raging hard-on.
Thoughts of covering her body with my own and tasting her everywhere flooded my mind; images of parting her sweet thighs and driving into her over and over.
Would she claw my back or cling to me, begging me to take her harder, faster?
I thought about how her face would look as I made her come, those trembling lips parting as she welcomed me into her tight, warm body.
I was almost certain Amelie Thorn was a virgin, and the thought of being her first made me want to beat my chest and roar like an animal. Mine!
Get a fucking grip, Rook.
Amelie wasn't offering herself to me; she was asking for comfort. Unfortunately, my body had no interest in making that distinction.
Outside, the storm raged against the house. Inside, a far more dangerous battle was beginning.
Because every protective instinct I possessed was telling me to pull her close, and every other instinct was reminding me exactly why that was a terrible idea.