Oh, she never thought ofthat. For some reason she didn’t like that idea of him in bed withanother woman. Still, having him off balance was funny. She turnedand faced him smiling. Then she patted him on his thick chest in aplacating gesture. “I’m sure you’ll figure out a way. Somethingtells me you’ve had your share of fending off promiscuous women.”She went into her room. This may be the only time he seemedfrustrated and she was going to enjoy it.
He pressed his mouth into athin line and watched her receding back. That smart mouth again. Heshook his head and pulled off his shirt while heading to thebathroom to shower. He bet she is as saucy as hell when there’s notan overshadow of tragedy in her life. He smiled. He liked this sideof her. He wondered if she was that fiery in bed. “Sweet Jesus,Ryan.” He said out loud scolding himself. It was hard not to thinkof her that way though. She was his type; classy, beautiful, smart,and believe it or not, stubborn as hell. He was always attracted tostrong woman, and Katya Nickolov was probably as perfect as it cameto what he wanted.
That night he was ready andwaiting for her when she came into his room. Without a word, helifted the sheet and she got in next to him.
She tucked her head underhis chin and closed her eyes. Her lashes were wet, but she wasn’tweeping this time. She was angry at herself that the night terrorsaffected her so much and that she had to seek out his company tohelp dispel them. She felt weak and this wasn’t like her at all.She wasn’t forward in this way and in fact quite shy intimately,but there was something about this man that made her feel safe andhe’d hardly have to say a word to draw those feelings out of her.He seemed to understand that. She felt his arms around her drawingher close. His body was warmer than hers, and hard. His chest hairtickled her nose, but she didn’t care. She knew this wasn’t normalat all, but it seemed to be an unspoken secret between them and heaccepted that it worked for her. She will still make time for thepsychiatrist, but wasn’t going to say a word, except sit there. Shemissed today though, because she was off shooting guns. She fellasleep smiling.
Again, the next morning sheawoke alone. She sat up and stretched feeling completely rested.Just then the door opened and he walked in. He was out running. Hisshirt had a vee of sweat down the front, and he had on greycut-offs and running shoes. He must’ve really pushed himselfbecause he’d barely broken a sweat with her and she was practicallydying. “You should have woken me. I would have gone.”
He sat down and unlaced hisrunners. “You needed the sleep.” And he needed to work her out ofhis head. She had a rough night and his heart went out to her. Shewas relentless, and actually cried out a few times. He knew shewasn’t trying to come on to him by joining him last night or thenight before. She was genuinely tortured by her memories. “Yourfuture step mother accosted me in the stairwell. She wants to leaveafter you get up.”
She scrunched her face.“Don’t make jokes about that. She’s almost the same age as mysister.” An ache moved through her at the mention of her sibling.“What do you mean by ‘accosted’? Did she touch you?”
He sat erect and smirked.“What do you mean by ‘touched’. Does that includerubbing?”
“Ryan!”
“Swapping of bodyfluids?”
“Oh my God! You’re justrude!”
He cocked his head andlifted a single brow in amusement. “No, she didn’t.”
She narrowed her gaze, notbelieving him.
“I promise.” He knew heonly had to say one word to Porsha and have her in his bed, but herather liked his testicles where they were. It wasn’t as if Peterhad affection for her, but its another control issue. He owned herand no one touched his stuff. Porsha probably had no idea howdangerous her boyfriend was or she wouldn’t be flirting so openlywith him. Regardless, she wasn’t his type.
She breathed a sigh ofrelief. “Anyway, I would have liked to have gone jogging. I needthe exercise Ryan.”
He stood up and pulled hist-shirt over his head. “You have nothing to worry about. You’re ingreat shape.” He said as he walked into his bathroom with his shirtballed in his hand.
Her mouth fell open. First,for the complement, and second, his body could melt frozen butteron a cold day. She’d not seen it in the daylight, only felt it atnight and that didn’t do it justice. He didn’t have a six pack, hehad a twelve pack! He had tattoos on his upper biceps and acrosshis back. She’d glimpsed the ones on his arms before, but his backwas covered with them. Somehow it made him more masculine, if thatwas even remotely possible. This man was the Weber’s definition ofmasculine. He was perfectly proportioned, in stature and brawn.Ryan’s back was equally impressive—muscular. He had a pair ofcutoff sweatpants that hung low on his hips, showing that sexy dipin his lower back before it disappeared under the drawstringwaistband.
She was literally sittingin his bed with her mouth hanging open. Thankfully he didn’t turnaround and see that, because there was no way she could recoverfrom that type of embarrassment.
She noticed a few distinctscars on his body. Her father had ones similar to those. He toldher it was from falling off a motorcycle in his teens. Now she knewthat was just another lie. They were injuries all right, but mostlikely from fighting someone, or hurting someone.
After the bathroom doorclosed she found her will to move and scooted out of his bed andinto her room. That just wasn’t right in so many ways. That man wasa walking seduction. She already knew it would take nothing for herto let him do whatever he wanted to her. She wasn’t brave enough totake that first step toward him. Also, he probably wasn’t remotelyattracted to her despite
