Chapter 17
“You can’t carry me like this the whole way back!” I protest, though there’s definitely no complaint in the words as I grip his shirt in one hand, fingers bunching the material.
“Why can’t I?” Jed asks, his steps sure as he walks through the dark woods.
“Can’t have you getting lost out here again, Saylor.
Especially not when there are so many things I still intend to do with you.
” I can hear the barely camouflaged excitement and want in his voice, and it sends a thrill through my stomach.
“Because…I’m heavy?” I offer. “I can walk, and—”
“You’re not heavy,” Jed interrupts. “But you know why I’m not putting you down?”
“Why’s that?” I ask, breathless even though I’m not the one actually walking or doing any of the work.
“Because I can’t have you forgetting that you’re mine.”
Fuck. The words send tingles of heat down my spine, and I press my thighs together against his chest, glad he can’t see my face. My body throbs, and I’m close to begging him to put me down, throw me against the nearest tree, and fuck me again.
But the fact that I’m really starting to feel the cold seals my mouth shut, and I focus on not making a fool of myself, while simultaneously being amazed that he never shows signs of me being too heavy for him.
He carries me all the way to the cabin, and though I can’t exactly see the structure itself, I see the lights bathing the gravel outside of the cabin in warm, orange light.
“You going to put me down now?” I ask, when he stops at the door to shift his grip on me.
“Nope.” Jed doesn’t sound like it was ever a question.
He opens the door, brings me inside, and kicks it closed behind him without even turning to look at it.
“Not yet. And don’t go off about that ‘you’re too heavy’ crap again, princess.
” He chuckles softly, and facing backward, I can only blink in the sudden light, still having no real idea or clue of where we’re going.
Though, from this angle, I do have a very nice view of his ass. It’s really a perfect ass to go along with the perfect expanse of the rest of him.
A gasp is tugged from my mouth when he starts going up the stairs. I hadn’t expected that. If anything, I’d expected him to drop me onto the sofa.
“After this…” Jed’s tone is conversational, and I swear he must be superhuman not to show any kind of strain in his voice from carrying me for this long. “I’ll feed you. Maybe not homemade pasta, but you haven’t eaten much today. Any requests?”
“I am so easy to please,” I assure him, blinking again in the warm light. It really has been hours since I saw more than darkness so absolute I’d thought it was the inside of my eyelids more than once. “You could seriously just stock the fridge with Lunchables—”
“I’m banning that word,” he mutters, interrupting me. “Do you like grilled cheese?”
“Is that…a real question?” I blink at the floor and his perfect ass. “Doesn’t everyone like grilled cheese? But are we talking American cheese on white bread, or…?”
I can feel his full body shudder seconds before he grips me with both hands, bends forward, and throws me backward. The action forces a yelp out of me that’s louder than I intend as I’m suddenly falling.
Though, the fear doesn’t last long. Neither does the fall. My back hits the mattress of his bed, and I stare up at him with wide eyes as he stands over me, a smile on his face.
“We’re banning that too. American cheese?” His nose scrunches up in disgust. “Might as well just eat plastic and call it a day.”
“Well, I am so sorry, Mr. Fancy-pants chef,” I drawl, using my elbows for leverage so I can sit up just enough to stare him down. “I do not mean to offend your delicate sensibilities.”
“Oh, I’m very offended,” he assures me, ripping off his shirt as I watch. “You think I’d cook with that? Let alone keep it in my house?” I can barely focus on his words. No matter how much I love his banter when he’s in this kind of mood, watching him strip for me is definitely better.
Though, the moment I can see his body, my breath catches in my throat. He sees the look on my face. The worry, and a soft, self-conscious smile curls on his lips. “Does it bother you?” Jed is quick to ask, and I can’t miss the note of uncertainty in his voice.
“It bothers me because it looks like they hurt.” I reach out, as if to touch his chest marred by thin lines of scars. “But not because it makes you any less gorgeous.”
“I’m not gorgeous,” Jed purrs, though he settles over me on the bed, thighs bracketing mine.
It brings him close enough for me to touch, and I do so.
My fingertips stroke over the lines that look like they were made by a blade, and I bite my lip.
“That’s purely your territory, Saylor.” His hands come up as I touch him, cradling my face between them.
“If I ask, will you tell me?” I murmur, my eyes finding his. “You don’t have to. I mean, it’s none of my business—”
“I’ll tell you,” he agrees, though he tugs my shirt up and over my head as he says it, leaving me in my bra and borrowed sweatpants.
“I’ll tell you anything you want to know.
Haven’t I said that before?” There’s a small crease of a smile on his lips, and he hooks his finger in the front of my bra to pull me toward him. “Anything.”
“Are you sure?” I let him brush his lips to mine, and in seconds my bra is gone; tossed somewhere on the floor. My body absolutely begs for him, and now that I’ve had a taste of what it’s like to fuck him, I’m pretty sure I’m addicted. “I could ask you something awful. I’m good at doing that.”
“Then I’ll tell you whatever it is. In all its awful glory.
” Jed pushes me back down onto the bed, shifting until he’s between my thighs instead of pinning me down.
It’s all too easy for him to yank off the sweatpants he’d given me, and he takes my underwear with them, leaving me bare once I’ve kicked off my shoes.
Fuck.
The way he looks at me makes me squirm. I feel vulnerable. Helpless, even. My skin tingles when he looks at me, and I give a full body shudder when he reaches out to run his fingers lightly down the sides of my body.
“You’re so gorgeous.” His voice is soft and rough.
“You’re perfect, princess.” Every time he calls me that, I swear it sends a wave of heat right between my thighs.
This time, it causes me to attempt to clench them together, and a smile curls on his lips when he notices. “Do you like it when I call you that?”
“Maybe I just like it when you’re confident and in charge,” I reply, my mouth moving before my brain.
“Did you think I wouldn’t be? That I’d maybe be shy and hopeless?
” For all of his perfection, he’s still the charming, gorgeous man that I shouldn’t be falling for.
There’s still a sweet gleam in his too-blue eyes.
He still treats me with the utmost respect, even though I’d like him to disrespectfully wreck me.
“I…have no idea what I thought.” My eyes are locked on him, and I watch as he encircles my ankle with his long fingers, bringing it up to rest against his shoulder. He kisses my ankle, his eyes on mine, before working his way up my calf with teeth and tongue.
If someone had asked me before right now if a guy kissing my calf could be hot, I would’ve said absolutely not. There’s nothing sexy about calves.
But here Jed is, wiping away my prior expectations of life. It’s hard to breathe normally, and even harder to form words, but I finally manage to swallow and ask, “How did you get the scars?”
“Some of them are from my family,” Jed remarks offhandedly, without hesitating.
He still watches me, though I can’t tell if it’s to see how I feel about what he’s doing, or what he’s saying.
Either way, I can’t look away from him. “They’re not exactly the nicest people.
Some of them though…” He pauses, grazing his teeth against the side of my knee and making me jerk in surprise at the ticklish sensation.
Jed doesn’t let me pull away, however. He holds my calf with fingers that dig into my skin, nipping at the joint once more. “Are from the people we took.”
“You…took?” I’m pretty sure I should know what that means. I’m also more than sure that I shouldn’t question it deeper.
“Yeah. Tourists. People who didn’t belong. Drifters. You know, those that wouldn’t be missed. My family has rules. They’ve never been caught, and there’s definitely a reason.” He says it so easily. So matter-of-factly, but his mouth moves further up my leg, to the sensitive areas of my inner thigh.
“Why did they—you—take people? To kill them?” I don’t understand the urge to just murder people. And besides, what did his family do with the bodies? Why just take people off the street?
“Oh, Saylor…” Jed’s other hand comes out to press against my stomach, holding me down flat against the bed as he leans down. He presses my thighs apart with the other, anchoring one with his free hand. “You really haven’t guessed yet? You really don’t know what I used to be?”
I feel like I should. I’m sure it’s there, at the tip of my tongue and at the edge of my brain. It’s obvious, isn’t it? That’s what my mind says. But right now, with his breath hot against my slit, I can’t think of anything at all.
So I shake my head, gaze locked on his ice-blue eyes that won’t let me go while he kneels between my thighs, mouth inches from where I want him most.
“My family are cannibals,” he tells me, in a voice like silk and razors. “I grew up with a family that ate people, princess. And yet you’re the best thing I’ve ever fucking tasted.”
He doesn’t give me a chance to sit with that knowledge. Instead, Jed wraps both of his arms around my thighs, jerking me to him as he buries his face against my cunt. I cry out in surprise, his tongue licking a stripe up my slit until he can lap at my clit.