Chapter Twenty-Nine
Twenty-Nine
Forge
I’d been staring at the ceiling for at least an hour.
My arm had gone to sleep shortly after Elsie had, but I wasn’t moving her off me.
There was weird territorial shit going on that I needed to work through.
I was not going to lose my damn head over a cunt that smelled like sunshine and tropical drinks.
I’d decided that since I’d never had a virgin, that must be how they all tasted and smelled before they got used.
Glancing down at the head on my chest, I blew out a breath.
I should have left this room already. Staying in bed with her was a bad idea.
I didn’t sleep with girls like her. The good ones who deserved more than a hot fuck.
Sure, I’d passed out with women who knew the score.
But it hadn’t meant shit to them. They’d get up and leave the next morning. Easy.
Nothing about what was happening here would be easy. Not with Elsie. She was a fucking virgin. I stifled a groan.
Why was this happening to me? Why her? Why right now? Because we were both in pain. Sharing the grief of losing a parent. I’d not lost one, but it sure as hell felt like it, watching her suffer.
Shit! I had to get up. Leave. Go wash my cum and the scent of Elsie’s magical pussy off me.
I wouldn’t get any sleep if I could smell her.
I’d end up jerking off again. I liked the idea of her sleeping with my release on her though.
That was the territorial shit I had to find a way to shut down.
Make it stop. I’d do it when I wasn’t naked in bed with her. Wasn’t possible at the moment.
I bent my head and then caught myself. I’d been about to kiss the top of hers. What was wrong with me? She was asleep. Why the fuck kiss her? Jesus, I was leaving.
Slowly, I slid my arm out from under her sleeping body and paused to make sure she wasn’t going to wake up. When she didn’t seem to be bothered, I eased out from under the covers and started to stand up.
“No!” she cried out, breaking the silence.
My head snapped back around to see her eyes were still closed, but she was whimpering.
“No … no … please,” she began to mumble as she gripped at the sheets frantically.
What the fuck? Was she having a nightmare?
“Momma, no, no, no,” she wailed this time, and sobs tore from her lips.
Fucking hell! I climbed back under the covers and pulled her against me. “Shh, it’s a dream. You’re okay,” I assured her.
I could feel the dampness on my chest from the tears. She was crying. I hadn’t known you could do that in your sleep.
I ran my hand down her hair over and over, trying to soothe her. “I’m here. You’re okay,” I repeated.
Her hand gripped my arm and held on tightly. Erratic, fast breathing slowly began to fade into normalcy. The tight hold she had on me eased. But my heart rate was still hammering away in my chest.
What had she been dreaming about? Her parents’ deaths?
My throat felt tight, and I took a deep breath, trying to calm down. Did she do that often? Fuck.
I held her to me tightly, although I was pretty sure whatever nightmare had her was gone.
It was for my own sanity. This put leaving in a different perspective.
Elsie wasn’t like other girls. She’d been dealt a horror most would never face.
My staying with her was so she wouldn’t be alone in case the nightmare returned. She’d understand that.
We hadn’t fucked. And not because I wouldn’t fit. I grinned at her believing that was the case. No, I’d stopped things because she had been saving herself for the right guy. Whatever the fuck that meant. I just knew I wasn’t him. There was no romance or relationship in our future.
When I looked down at her face, the ache in my chest told me she deserved so much more than I could offer. With me, she’d get hurt. I wasn’t that guy. But damn the idea of some unknown bastard being the one …
And I was back in that cage, pacing.