Chapter 32
Grim
A noise wakes me.
For a moment, I think that maybe Wren is having another bad dream. I lie there in the dark, listening. The house is silent except for the familiar creaks and groans of old wood settling. There is a soft thud from somewhere toward the front of the house.
My dragon perks right up, scales rubbing.
He wants me to go straight to Wren. Wants me to protect her.
I throw off the covers and walk into the hallway. Her door is wide open. Wren is not in bed.
The sound is coming from the kitchen. I’ll take a quick peek to make sure she’s okay, and then I’ll head back to bed.
I walk over there, and as I round the corner to the kitchen, I nearly swallow my own fucking tongue.
Wren is bent over, half inside the fridge, reminding me of the day I first noticed her. Only this time, she’s wearing a little T-shirt and a pair of white panties. That’s it. Nothing else.
Holy shit.
I have a perfect view of her lush ass. Those white panties hug her curves, showing off the round globes that I know feel incredible in my hands.
Much to my dismay, my cock responds.
I can’t seem to move, though. Can’t seem to stop staring at her.
She shifts, reaching for something on the top shelf, and her ass jiggles slightly. My mouth goes dry. I remember exactly how it felt to spank her. How she cried out and clenched around my cock.
Fuck.
I need to either get a damned grip or leave. I find I don’t want to. She’s been avoiding me since the closet incident. Taking some of her meals in her room. Making sure she isn’t alone with me. I don’t like it. I don’t like how stilted things have become between us.
I clear my throat.
Wren jumps so hard she bangs her head on the top of the fridge. She spins around, clutching a carton of milk to her chest, her eyes wide and her mouth open.
“Jesus!” she whisper-shouts at me. “You scared the shit out of me! Don’t sneak up on people like that! It’s plain wrong.”
“I didn’t sneak anywhere,” I tell her, keeping my voice low.
My eyes track down her body before I can stop them.
The T-shirt is thin, and I can see the outline of her nipples trying to poke their way through the fabric.
I force my eyes up. I can and will behave around her.
“I didn’t sneak; I walked. And speaking of heart attacks, you should probably put more clothes on because if Falkor sees you wearing that, he’ll have a heart attack for sure. ” I smile at her.
She laughs softly, the sound doing things to me that it shouldn’t. “That’s not true. Besides, Falkor is fast asleep.”
“I take it you couldn’t sleep. Are you hungry?”
She holds up the milk carton. “Yup, I guess I’m nervous about us leaving the house tomorrow to go and see Drake.” She shrugs. “I’m making some warm honey milk and planning on eating a few of the chocolate chip cookies Falkor baked. That should help…I hope.”
She turns and reaches up into a cupboard above the stove. My eyes immediately drop to her ass again. The T-shirt rides up as she stretches, giving me another perfect view.
Fuuuuck me.
Even when she brings her arm down, pulling out a small pot, the shirt doesn’t make it all the way past her ass. Just covers the top portion, leaving the bottom half of her cheeks visible.
I swallow thickly, forcing my gaze away.
She looks hot as hell.
I’m immediately transported back to that closet. To the feel of her pressed against me. Her soft breasts crushed against my chest. Her breath coming faster. The way she smelled. It was of sweet vanilla, arousal, and pure temptation.
I’d gotten so damned turned on I could barely see straight. Despite the danger. Maybe because of it. The adrenaline mixing with desire in a way that made me want to shove her against the wall and fuck her right there while Security searched the house.
I’m a sick puppy. That’s what I am.
Then again, maybe I should cut myself some slack. Wren had been just as turned on as I was. I’d felt her nipples harden against me. Heard the change in her breathing. Felt the heat radiating off her body. I could scent her musk. She was wet. I know it.
If Falkor hadn’t come back right then, I might have lost my mind and—
We can’t go there again. I was right when I said that Wren isn’t made for “casual.” She’s the type of woman who deserves more. Deserves better. If we continue to have sex, she might develop feelings for me. Real feelings. And then I’d feel terrible when I can’t give her what she needs.
“Would you like a cup?” Wren’s voice pulls me out of my head. She’s looking at me sweetly, the milk carton still in her hand.
“Sure, why not?” I hear myself say.
Right away, I’m pissed at myself. I should go back to bed. Leave her alone, but we need to talk, and this is as good a time as any.
I watch as she pours milk into the pot and sets it on the stove, turning the burner to low. Then she opens another cupboard and pulls out a jar of honey, measuring out two big spoonfuls and adding it to the warming milk.
“I see you like your milk nice and sweet.”
“There is no other way to drink warm milk. It has to be sweet.”
“Agreed.” I pull in a deep breath and force my next words out. “I don’t think you should come with me tomorrow.”
She turns to look at me, her eyebrows lifting in surprise.
“You should stay here with Falkor,” I continue. “I’ll take his car and go to see Drake alone. If I’m caught, at least you’ll be safe.”
“No…we’re in this together, Grim.”
“It doesn’t make any sense for both of us to get caught. Think about it. I’ll go. I need you safe. That means you need to stay here with Falkor…please, Wren.”
For a moment, she just stares at me. “I don’t like it.”
“Neither do I, but what else can we do?”
She rolls her eyes and sighs loudly. “We can go together. We’re a team.”
“I know that. It’s just…why risk us both?”
“I’ll go, then.” She puts her hands on her hips and thrusts out her chest. I don’t look. “You stay here. You can stay with Falkor and stay safe. They’re looking for you. They think I’m dead.”
“You’re not going. Forget that.”
“But it’s fine for you to go alone. That’s bullshit. Like it or not, we’re tied together, Grim. If you go down, then so do I. Or we can work together and find a way through this as a team. I’m not staying home. You can get that right out of your head.”
“I’m trying to protect you.”
“Well, stop.”
My dragon listens to Wren. If we were in the shit…and I’m talking life or death, I could shift and get us out of it. But only if Wren was there.
Only, I don’t want to mind-bond with her or anyone else.
She fetches two mugs from the cupboard and puts some cookies on a plate.
“I don’t like it,” I tell her, scrubbing a hand over my face.
“I don’t like it either, but here we are. You need me, and I need you. We’re stronger as a team, and you know it.”
She’s right.
Fuck!
“Okay, but if the shit hits the fan and you have a chance to save yourself, you need to take it.”
“Right back at you,” she says, switching the burner off and then turning, her eyes locking with mine.
I nod. “Okay.”
“Good. I’m glad we cleared that up.”
She pours warm honeyed milk into both mugs, then she sits at the table across from me, sliding a mug my way.
“Thanks.”
“Any time.” She blows gently on her milk.
She’s so fucking pretty.
We sit in silence for a while. Both of us take a sip of our milk.
“This is good,” I tell her, holding up the mug.
She gives me a half-smile. I can see that she is thinking something over.
“I’ve been thinking,” she says, wrapping her hands around her mug.
“I should make a video telling everyone what really happened. That you’re innocent.
We could get Drake to send it to all the news stations.
” She looks up at me, hope shining in her eyes.
“I asked Falkor, and he has an old cellphone. He doesn’t have a SIM card, but we could charge it and—”
I shake my head before she even finishes. “I thought of that too, but it won’t work.”
“Why not?”
“They’ll dig up dirt on you,” I tell her. “Those bastards would twist everything to suit their narrative. They’ll make you an accomplice, somehow. Say that you’re in on it.”
“They won’t find any dirt,” she insists. “I don’t have any.”
“They’ll lie, Wren.” I meet her eyes. “They’ll fabricate evidence if they have to. You’ll end up going down, too. I won’t have that! The only way out of this is to get that cellphone and to expose them.”
Her face falls. She stares down at her mug, her shoulders slumping. “I just feel so helpless. Like there’s nothing we can do.”
“I know.” I take another sip. It’s sweet and warm and comforting. “I’m hoping Drake has some good news for us.”
“Me too,” she says quietly, taking a cookie and biting into it.
We sit in silence for a moment, both of us lost in our own thoughts. I also grab a cookie and take a bite. Falkor makes damn good cookies. I put the rest in my mouth, and after chewing a few times, I wash it down with milk, making a noise of enjoyment.
Wren finishes her milk and stands, taking another cookie. “I should get to bed.”
“Wren, hold up.”
She sits back down, looking at me.
I scrub a hand over my face again. “I want to apologize for what happened in the closet yesterday. I haven’t had a chance to talk to you in private about it and—”
She waves a hand. “Don’t worry about it. It’s fine…really.”
She starts to stand again.
“I’m really sorry. It shouldn’t have happened.”
She nods and sort of smiles. Then she’s walking away.
I’m tempted to call her back. To tell her that it’s not fine. That I can’t stop thinking about her. That I want to drag her to my bed and spend the rest of the night making her scream my name.
But I don’t.
I let her go.
I sit there in the dark kitchen and drink my milk. I eat another cookie, putting the whole thing in my mouth.
I’m such an asshole. I need to do better. I will do better.
I pray Drake has some good news tomorrow.
We can’t hole up like this indefinitely.
I’ll need to shift at some point. Since having sex with Wren, my dragon is far more active than he was before.
He’s already getting restless, clawing at me from the inside.
And we can’t keep putting Falkor at risk for much longer either.
At the same time, if we jump the gun, it could cost us our lives. Our reputations. I don’t give a fuck about myself; it’s Wren I worry about. And my mom.
I finish my milk and rinse both our mugs in the sink, setting them on the drying rack. I pack away the last two cookies, putting them back into the tin, and wash the plate. Then I head back down the hallway toward my room.
I stop outside Wren’s bedroom door. I stand there for several seconds like a complete loser.
My hand lifts toward the doorknob.
Then I drop it and force myself to keep walking to my own bed, where I belong.