Page 38 of Bones

Deke’ssweatpants.

Him.

Something about that built the unfamiliar tightness that coiled in my lower stomach until I thought I would die.

Sex had never been a big thing for me. Or any kind of thing, really. It’d been years since I’d had it, and even back then, it was… whatever. An act of service to Ryan. A duty to be fulfilled.

Yet as my fingers tentatively touched, slickness already coated my oversensitive core as images flashed through my head. Not from a vision, just from my own imagination. Deke’s smile. The way he looked at me. The tattoos that covered his hand and crept under his sleeve, making me wonder where the ink led. His large body. Said body on me in the woods.

A light sheen of sweat coated my scorched skin, and my thoughts grew choppier. My muscles squeezed around my bones. My breath caught.

And then it was gone as a rush of cold water hit my flushed body.

I bolted up, sure a pipe had burst or the roof had leaked, but there was nothing. I was dry.

Most of me, at least.

The icy blast had been in my head, and the return to reality I clearly desperately needed.

What the heck am I doing?

I let out a frustrated groan and rolled over in the giant bed. The plush mattress was insanely comfortable on its own, but the added masculine smell of the bedding and the crackling fire made it that much more calming. Too bad it was wasted on me.

If I can barely sleepwitha strong dose of meds, there’s no way I’m sleeping without them.

I slept.

Not only that, I sleptwell.

Usually, the sleeping pills made my body tense and my thoughts jittery until I crashed in an unpleasant half sleep. And that was considered a good night. Without them, there was no sleep at all. I stayed awake.

But in the big bed, I slept so soundly that I dreamed. It rarely happened unless it was a vision, so the random one about witches and a hospital and a lot of cotton candy was weird.

It was alsonormal.

If it weren’t for my insistent bladder and rumbling stomach, I would’ve been tempted to stay put and enjoy that normalcy a little longer. But I also didn’t want to be rude by lazing around all day.

Between how much I’d eaten and my thoughts about Deke, I was already guilty of gluttony, pride, and lust. There was no reason to add sloth to my deadly sins.

Forcing myself from the warm bed, I almost peeked over the half wall that overlooked the living room to see if Deke was still asleep. But with my luck, he’d look up right as I did and think I was watching him like a weirdo. Which, honestly, wasn’t far off because I did want to watch him. I fought that urge, too, and stayed quiet as I went to the bathroom.

The one downstairs had been small, with just a toilet, sink, and walk-in shower. The en suite, however, was almost as big as his bedroom itself. There was another walk-in shower, but there was also a bathtub the size of a small pool. A large window was positioned next to it so someone could relax and look out into nature for hours.

As I washed my hands, I glanced in the mirror and cringed. And not just because my hair was a mess—though that was true, too. And I’d always been a fast healer, but the bruises on my face were still ugly splotches.

Telling Deke the damage was from my disastrous nighttime hike wasn’ttechnicallya lie. Even I don’t know how much is from my falls and how much is from Ryan’s blows.

The redness in my eyes didn’t help my appearance. Sleeping in my contacts made it look like I had pulled my typical an all-nighter.

I did okay without my meds, but how long can I last without a change of contacts and some solution?

Removing the lenses, I rinsed them carefully under the water before putting them back in. It wasn’t a good long-term plan, but it would have to do.

Once I was cleaned up as best as I could, I pulled back on Deke’s hoodie and headed to the stairs. Nerves settled in my belly at the thought of seeing him again. Not the unsettled kind where I wondered what kind of mood I would find him in. It was a giddy excitement.

My soft steps were for nothing because when I turned toward the kitchen, Deke was already sitting at the table with a mug in his hand and his eyes aimed at me.

His smile, too.

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