Page 87 of The Vigilant

“I can think of better ways for you to take care of me.”

His pupils blew out, his ragged groan washing over me like though his wound was healing, there was another injury that was only getting worse.

“Don’t,” Tynan warned like I couldn’t feel how his cock made him a liar.

His hard length thickened in his sweatpants, pushing against my stomach and bridging the gap between us. Like no matter how much restraint he had to keep his hands from touching me, he couldn’t stop the rest of his body from reaching for more.

And then the fantasy of pleasuring him—of seeing him lose control—took over my mind like a merciless tyrant.

“Fine,” I murmured, sliding my tongue out and over my lips, wetting them before I begged, “Then let me take care of you.”

His sharp inhale pained me because I watched it enter him like another knife to his chest, and in the flash of torture on his face, I saw all his broken pieces come together into a picture of a man too haunted by his past to let anyone care for him. And it was like staring into a mirror.

“Sutton—”

“Who takes care of you?” I pushed into his hand, trying to bring my mouth closer to his, but he tensed up instantly.

“Fuck,” he swore softly and dropped his hands, taking several steps around the counter away from me.

The sudden loss of his heat made my skin ripple with cold. Meanwhile, my throat worked like it had forgotten how to swallow—how to breathe—without him holding me.

When he faced me again, it was like the last several minutes hadn’t happened.

“You’re staying here. That’s my decision,” he ordered. “I’ll come get you when I’m done in the shower.”

“Anything else?” I folded my arms, enjoying the hot dart of his attention to my chest.

“That’s it,” he said, his eyes flicking to the door like he couldn’t wait for me to go so he could deal with the massive bulge tenting his sweats that he tried to hide behind the counter.

“Fine.” I tipped my head. “I’ll sleep in your bed if that’s what you really want.”

I caught the flare of his nostrils before he spun and stalked into the bathroom, slamming the door behind him.

I should’ve obeyed and left. I almost did. But I kept seeing the pain on his face. Not just the want in his eyes but the heartbreaking ache when I’d asked who took care of him.

He didn’t back down when I tried to push him away…and neither would I.No matter what kind of truth it cost me.

Chapter Eighteen

Tynan

It was a sad fucking state to be more worried about my fucking hard-on than the stab wound in my side.

I flipped the nozzle to pure cold even though I didn’t hold out hope that it would help. I’d been doing cold plunges every morning for years, so my body no longer registered freezing water as punishment but as an awakening.

And fuck, were parts of me very fucking awakened right now.

At the very least, maybe the cold would keep my skin from smoking the way attraction fumed through my veins.

The way Sutton looked up at me with those big blue eyes, her full lips parted so fucking perfect as I held her by the throat…I didn’t need to know the whole of her story to know I’d never meet a woman more fucking strong and wild and resilient than Sutton fucking Brant. And to have that kind of woman allow a hand on her throat with nothing but lust in her eyes…

Let me take care of you.

I shuddered and gripped the edge of the bathroom counter. I bent forward and closed my eyes, only to be assaulted withthe memory of her underneath me. Her scorpion-stained skin writhing with every crack of my palm on her ass. And then the whimpers…the sounds of pure submission as she begged me for release…

“Fuck.” I shoved back and reached for the waist of my sweats. She had to be done—gone from the cabin by now. Unfortunately, I didn’t trust myself in this state to check.

A hiss blew through my lips when my sweats snagged on the ends of the piercings lining my cock. I stretched the waistband forward roughly, fairly certain I damaged the elastic in the process.

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