Page 44 of Stone

She’s not going anywhere.

Her hands come flat to my bare chest and for a moment she returns the kiss with equal ardour, then suddenly she pushes me away.

“Stone, are you sure about this, that it’s not just some strange Nightingale syndrome because I don’t think I could handle if suddenly you snap out of it and decide that you’ve made a big mistake.”

“Nightingale syndrome? Sweetheart, I don’t even know what that is,” I snigger, but when I see her narrowed eyes and furrowed brow, I know that this is far from funny to her. “Look, who knows how this will pan out, but I do know that I want to try because my feelings for you are not something that should be ignored.”

She moulds into me, her lips finding mine, a clear message that she wants this too. The powerful emotion in her kiss has me meeting it with a deep needy growl that would make any pretty-boy movie star jealous. But I’m far from acting. Oriana has brought out the real me, the one that recognizes there’s so much more I could have with this beautiful, intelligent woman who has grabbed my attention and quite possibly my heart.

Mid-kiss, Oriana pulls back and lets out a long, loud yawn. Most people would take offence, but I cradle her head in my big hand and place my mouth against her ear.

“Let’s get you back to bed before you fall asleep on your feet.” Guilt mixed with concern that this might all be too much for her has me scooping her up into my arms.

“I can walk,” she mumbles sleepily.

“Yeah, but why would you when you’ve got me to make things easier for you.”

She sighs and relaxes into me, and it feels so natural, like she’s exactly where she’s meant to be. In my arms.

I walk us both back up the stairs to my room. When we get inside, I take her straight over to the bed. While she stands at the side, I strip off all her clothes before pulling back the comforter. When she bends to get onto the bed, unable to resist, I trace the line of her spine with the tips of my fingers, then stroke my full palm over the curve of her ass.

“Stone,” she moans at my touch.

“Jesus, I want to fuck you so bad, but you need to rest.” I say out loud. It’s for my benefit as I try to control myself. Hadn’t I pushed the boundaries by fucking her already? I need to back off and give her a chance to recover from her wounds.

“I’m fine,” she replies, crawling onto the bed on all fours, her bare ass in touching distance, tempting me to throw caution to the wind and take more of what I crave. I give her butt cheek a gentle smack, then laugh when her body jolts at my sudden playful attack.

“Get that sweet ass of yours in bed now,” I demand. I wait until she flips over onto her back, then pull the cover around her. “We have plenty of time to explore each other, but now you need to rest.”

“But what if I’m not tired?” As soon as the last word leaves her mouth, she yawns again. This time she tries to stifle it, her jaw straining against the natural movement, but I catch sight of it anyway.

I shake my head at her, a laugh bubbling in my throat. I reach over to the bedside table and flick on the faint light of the bedside lamp. I shuck off the jeans I’d pulled on before I’d gone in search of her when I’d found my bed empty.

Naked again, I take my place beside her in bed, instantly pulling her body close to mine, desperate to have her softness against me. Needing to inhale her, even though her natural scent has unusual undertones of rusty iron from the dried blood still in her hair, and the medicinal one from the antiseptic cream under the bandages on her hands. She still smelled fucking amazing, making me wonder how incredible it will be when she’s fresh from the shower.

Her head is against my chest, but she shuffles nervously against me. She clearly has something on her mind so it doesn’t surprise me when she speaks up.

“Can I ask you something?” She tilts her face up to me. Even in the subdued light of the room, I’m blinded by the beauty of her blue eyes.

“What’s on your mind, sweetheart?” I respond, dropping a kiss to the tip of her nose.

“When we were talking earlier about the attack, you said that you were to blame, that you should have known better and made sure we had protection.”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

“Protection from what?” Her fingertips trace a line through the few hairs between my pecs. I might be a hairy fucker everywhere else, head, legs, face, but my chest hair is sparse. I place my hand over hers to stop her. It’s not that I don’t like it. Fact is that I like it too much. My cock is already enjoying the sensation of her naked flesh against mine; the additional tease is going to have me disgracing myself by shooting my load before we’ve even got to first base. “There’s no way you could have foreseen what was going to happen so there must be a reason why you would think that and why you were so reluctant to let me take Sasha off the compound.”

“It’s complicated,” I keep my voice soft even though the reminder of my biggest worry wakes up my fears.

“Is it because of Sasha’s parents’ death? Are you worried whoever it is that caused it will strike again?”

“Fuck!” What the hell am I doing. I start to move away from her, to get up off the bed, but she’s having nothing of it and clings to me. She’s stronger than she looks, but I’m also conscious of being too rough with her.

“Talk to me, Stone,” she pushes herself up until she’s straddling me. When she falls forward, her hands on either side of my head, her face close to mine, in all intents and purposes, she has me boxed in. I could easily fling her to the floor, but her furrowed brow and searching eyes seek answers. “For us to have any chance at all you need to let me in.”

“What if you don’t like what I have to say?”

“I might not, but at least I’ll know what we’re dealing with.”

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