Chapter 12
Henley
Ihadn’t meant to fall asleep. Nor had I any intention of getting into bed beside Grace last night. But when her drowsy voice had mumbled into her pillow, asking if I was staying, I couldn’t resist the pull.
She was injured, tired, and too vulnerable—even for my taste.
While I refused to admit that a small part of me might feel somewhat protective of her for other than selfish reasons, I could allow myself to acknowledge the fact that I no longer wanted to see her dead at the end of this.
The longer I stared at the ceiling, listening to her deep, heavy breathing as she slept, the more it hit me that I never truly wanted to kill her.
Sure, any guy would be pissed learning that someone was trying to kill them, so my threat was necessary.
But the more time I spent around her, the more I couldn’t bear the thought of her heart no longer beating.
I glanced at the antique wooden clock on her nightstand, barely able to see the time through the long vines of her plants and the stack of books. Inching a leaf out of the way, I read the time. Six in the morning.
Both our phones had been blowing up all night, mine twice as much with her texts still coming through there as well.
The girls were asking for updates, while Austin and Booker sent me mild threats wanting to know what had happened and why they had to clean up after my mess, and demanding I tell them what I’d meant before leaving the ranch yesterday.
Sometime through the night, I’d turned both our devices off. Grace needed sleep, and I didn’t have the patience to deal with any of them.
I rolled onto my side, studying Grace’s features.
Her black hair was frizzy from sleep, her lips parted and slightly chapped.
My hand moved of its own accord, the pad of my thumb rubbing a gentle line along her chin.
Seeing her blood painting her mouth yesterday had made me nearly insane with need.
My cock had never swelled so hard, desperate for release.
Thank fuck she’d seemed to crave me just as bad.
I pulled the comforter down her arm enough to expose the wound. It wasn’t red or swollen, indicating no infection had set in. After tucking the blanket back up to her shoulder, I stood from the bed, taking in her room with the dim morning light.
She had bookshelves lining nearly every wall, and where there wasn’t one, the wall was instead covered with gold antique frames of flowers or cross-stitched skulls.
I ran my finger along one of the shelves, reading the titles as I went.
From what I could gather, she had a large collection of what seemed to be romance books.
Interesting.
After rounding the room, I came up on the nightstand closest to her side of the bed. With a finger hooked around the gold handle, I slid the drawer open.
My heart beat in my goddamn dick.
The drawer contained a neat array of sex toys—some long, others thick, a few smaller ones that I could imagine using in various places on her body. And…a Kindle?
I picked up the reading device, turning it over in my hand.
The case was clear with a phone grip on the back.
But instead of the typical round style, it was distinctly the shape of a bullet vibrator.
Intrigued, I pulled on it, only for it to pop off easily.
Upon inspection, I found it attached to its base like a magnet.
She has a vibrator attached to her Kindle.
“What’re you doing?”
With the Kindle still in my hand, I looked over at her. Her head hovered inches over the pillow, her hair mussed on the side she’d been sleeping on as she stared at me over her shoulder.
“Snooping,” I stated. No point hiding the obvious.
“That’s my…” She trailed off, looking for the right words.
“Toy drawer?” I mused, a small smirk cresting my lips.
Her eyes narrowed, and she moved to shove up to a sitting position. She hissed in a breath as she did, the movement likely tugging her stitches. She was so focused on the pain that she didn’t notice the blanket slide down her chest to pool in her lap, exposing her tiny, perky breasts.
My mouth watered.
I forcefully redirected my gaze to the device in my hands. She seemed to notice what I’d glanced at, because in my periphery, I saw her quickly shove the blanket up her chest and hold it there with a fist.
“Put that back,” she demanded.
I arched a brow. “If I don’t?”
“I’ll kill you.”
Keeping my chin lowered, I looked at her through half-lidded eyes. “Already tried that twice, little killer. Missed your opportunity.”
She frowned, hand clutching the blanket harder. “Third time’s the charm.”
I left the drawer open, popping the magnetic vibrator back on the Kindle as I walked to the end of the bed. “I thought we were over trying to kill me.”
Her cheeks warmed slightly as I leaned both knees against the edge of the mattress. “Who said that?”
“I did. Just now.” I leaned forward, falling onto a palm, and inched my way up the bed.
“What are you doing?” she asked, shifting her legs closer to her body, away from me.
I stopped when I met her feet and sat up on my knees. I set the Kindle beside me, then gathered the blanket in my hands and slowly slid it down her body. She attempted to hold on tighter, but I gave a firm tug and effectively pulled the material from her grip.
“Playing,” I said simply.
“I’m not a toy,” she grumbled as the blanket collected around her ankles. She was entirely exposed, and my cock strained in my jeans at the sight. I should’ve slept in my boxers. Fuck modesty.
“Who said I was playing with you? I want to try this new contraption,” I said, picking up the Kindle and waving it in the air. “Did you make this little thing? Because I’ve been to plenty of sex stores, and I’ve never seen anything quite like this.”
Her eyes fell to the vibrator perched between my pointer and middle finger. “It was easy.”
“Do tell,” I urged, nudging her legs apart with my knees so I could fit between them.
Her pussy spread for me, already glistening.
I mentally cursed myself. I wanted to see her unravel for me again, an addiction for the sight growing inside me.
I could only get by with my cock rubbing against the uncomfortable zipper of my jeans for so long.
I crawled between her legs as she explained, “I attached a magnet to a phone grip base, and the other side to the end of a bullet.”
“Why’s that, little killer?” I hummed, lowering to my elbows. My warm breath coasted along her pussy, causing her to inhale sharply.
“For easy access,” she panted, already so desperate for me. She was a forbidden fruit, and I wanted nothing more than to taste what I did to her.
“When you’re reading your books”—I paused to blow a stream of air over her clit, and goosebumps rose on her thighs as she shivered—“do you need to come, Grace?”
“Sometimes,” she breathed, lowering herself to her pillow so she wasn’t straining herself on her elbows.
I clicked on her Kindle, finding a page of text. She’d stopped in the middle of a chapter, and from a glance at some keywords on the screen, it’d been during a rather heated scene.
“No password, hm?” I positioned the device right above her pussy, the bottom digging into the soft flesh of her upper thighs.
“No one ever goes in that drawer besides me.”
I arched a brow, running a finger along her slit. “No one?”
She shook her head.
“Not even your ex?” I asked, figuring I should’ve inquired on her relationship status before we fooled around the first time.
A few months ago, Brynne, Booker, Austin, McKenna, and myself had run into Grace at a haunted house.
She’d been standing beside a man who was clearly her boyfriend at the time.
A beat of silence passed, her thighs stiffening slightly, before she said, “I don’t want to talk about him.”
Interesting. Another time, then.
The pad of my finger circled her entrance lazily, rubbing her wetness around her glistening pussy.
Finding a good place to start, I began.
“Seated deep inside her, my cock bulged through her stomach—”
“You’re reading to me?” she exclaimed.
I silenced her by spearing two fingers deep in her drenched hole.
She gasped. I continued.
“Pens and paper clattered to the ground as I shoved her over my desk, her back bowing. Her breasts bounced as I drilled into her again and again.”
I moved my fingers in and out of her a few times before removing them only long enough to click on the vibrator attached to the Kindle. I let it buzz into the air as I kept reading.
“I slapped her breasts before grabbing her neck and squeezing. Her muscles tensed as I cut off air, pulling a groan from me. As her face turned a light shade of red, I released, allowing my little slut to breathe. ‘Thank you,’ she said in between my pounding thrusts.”
Holy fuck.
What kind of books was Grace into? Whatever the fuck they were, I needed to get into reading them. Since when had literature gotten so damn hot?
A flash of an image lit up my mind: the two of us lying on the couch together, her feet in my lap as I rubbed them while we both read.
My teeth dug into my lower lip to bring myself back to the now and wipe the image from my head. I crooked my fingers and pressed my thumb hard on her clit, punishing her for making me think such domestic things of her.
I moved the Kindle between her legs, replacing my thumb with the vibrator still stuck to the back of the device.
“Turn the speed up, Grace,” I commanded.
She forced her fisted hand off the sheet, clicking the button one time.
I shoved my hand deeper, teasing her ass with my ring finger. “As high as you can take, little killer. I want to see you squirm.”
She whimpered, but did as I said. She clicked it three more times, the Kindle vibrating in my hand with the speed. I pressed it firmer to her clit and continued.