“Easy there, Sailor,” he cautions me.
I push my sword back away.
“Sorry,” I say. “I just saw someone standing there. I didn’t realize it was you. Is something wrong?”
“No. Why would anything be wrong?” he says.
“Just the way you were looking out there,” I say.
“I was just thinking.” He smiles.
I shake my head. He’s lying.
“What’s really going on?” I ask, pushing the bedroom door shut.
“You want the truth? Fine. It felt wrong getting into your bed without you here,” he says.
I smile. Now he’s telling the truth and it makes me feel warm inside again. For someone who describes themselves as a killing machine, he definitely has a softer side when it comes to me. A side that is quite… what’s the word?… noble. My dad would say he was courting me.
“I have no problem with you being in my bed anytime you want to be there,” I say with a flirty smile.
Rye makes a low moaning sound in the back of his throat. His eyes meet mine for a moment and I see fiery passion burning there, but he catches himself and looks away. He clears his throat and turns away from me, taking his T-shirt off. I smile to myself as I take my own T-shirt off.
I pull the spear out of my pocket and put it underneath my pillow and then I push my sword beneath the mattress. I take my dagger from my boot and put it on my bedside cabinet. I smile to myself again as I think of the arsenal of weapons gathered around me, the deadliest of all being Rye. I think about how my life has changed so much since coming to Whisper. In New York, a place that was supposedly dangerous, I would have had a glass of water and a book beside me. Now in Whisper, a place that’s supposedly safe, I have weapons everywhere. I’m finally living the adventure instead of just reading about it.
I pull my boots off and then I stand up, kick my jeans off, and get into bed. I push the comforter back and pat the bed beside me. Rye smiles almost shyly and then he gets in beside me.
We lie on our sides facing each other, and I am acutely aware of the fact we’re both only in our underwear. I can feel the heat coming off Rye’s body and I swallow hard, tying to swallow down my need for him. I told him I wanted to fight for us, and I do, but I have to know my dad will be safe before I can fully give in to the way I feel about Rye.
He reaches out and tucks a strand of hair behind my ear and strokes my face. He smiles at me and the smile makes my heart ache. I want him so badly.
“You look beautiful,” he whispers.
I feel myself blush slightly, sure he’s teasing me, but I can see his face, the way he looks at me with shining eyes. He is dead serious. Knowing he feels the same about me as I do about him makes resisting him so much harder, and before I can stop myself, I feel myself shuffling closer to him.
I can feel his skin against mine and I move my head closer to his. He moans again as our lips brush against each other. The second my lips brush across his, it’s like we’ve been unleashed. Our kiss deepens instantly, a desperate, panting kiss full of need. Rye wraps his arm around me and pulls my closer to him, pressing my body against his.
I kiss him like I’ve never kissed anyone before, running my hand up and down his back, wanting to feel every inch of him. I bring my hand around to his shoulder and push him onto his back. I follow him, not breaking our kiss for even a second, and I straddle him. I can feel him pressed against me and I know he’s as ready for this as I am.
He reaches up and wraps his arms around me as I kiss him hungrily, pushing my tongue into his mouth. My body is on fire, the good kind of fire, the kind that tells me this is right, that we are meant to be together.
I finally break the kiss, straightening up and grinning down at Rye. I start to reach around my back to unhook my bra. Rye’s eyes never leave mine. He runs his fingertips lightly over my tattoo. As my hands touch my bra, my vision changes and for a second, I’m not looking down on Rye. I’m looking at my father’s body, lying on the ground, his neck at an angle a neck shouldn’t ever be at. I hear two words booming out of the clouds.
“Your fault.”
“Dad,” I whisper.
“Not quite what I was expecting, but I can roll with it.” Rye laughs, pulling me out of my head.
What the hell am I doing? I’m risking my dad’s life for a bit of fun with Rye. I jump away from him like he’s burning me. I can feel my eyes widening, tears filling them. My breathing is ragged and not because I am turned on. I can’t believe what I almost just did.
Rye pushes himself into a sitting position and frowns at me in concern.
“Sailor? What happened? Is everything okay?” he demands.
I shake my head frantically, pushing myself further away from Rye. He backs off a bit, his hands raised.
“It’s okay,” he says. “We don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do.”
“That’s the thing though. I do want to. I want to so badly I let myself forget what I was risking,” I say. I can hear the tremor in my own voice. “I risked my dad’s life.”
This time, Rye doesn’t jump away from me and there’s nowhere else for me to go when he closes the gap between us. I don’t have
