Page 10 of Jealous Stalker

She breathes out softly, lashes fluttering.

She’s trusting me.

Even in sleep. Especially in sleep.

I run my palm up her forearm. Slow. Reverent. My thumb grazing the inner bend of her elbow, where her skin is thinnest, most fragile.

I imagine tasting her there.

Imagine her waking up with my name trembling on her lips and her legs parted for me, the same way she just offered her wrist.

My cock aches now—thick, straining, unrelieved. It would be the easiest thing in the world to press it against her soft belly, or maybe in that delicious notch between her thighs, rock back and forth, just for a little relief.

But I don’t push it. Not yet.

This is first sublime contact.

And I want her to remember it in herbones.

I gather her into my arms—so light, so warm—and lift her against my chest like a bride crossing a threshold only I’ll ever open for her. She doesn’t wake. Just shifts, leaning into me like her body knows what her mind hasn’t caught up to yet.

Her cheek presses to my shoulder.

And fuck.

Shesighs.

Like she belongs here.

With slow, careful steps, I carry her back to bed, my grip tightening every step. Her bed is a nest of cozy blankets and stuffed animals that make my chest seize. She's so soft. Sounprotectedin a world full of things that don’t deserve her.

But she hasmenow.

My jaw clenches against the howl in my throat.

Because this?

This is everything I never knew I needed.

I lay her down gently, tucking the blanket around her, brushing her hair from her cheek like I’ve done it a hundred times in my head and tucking the sheet around her body like armor.

She murmurs something in her sleep.

I lean closer, desperate for it.

“Hmm…warm…”

I smile.

And something breaks inside me.

Yeah, baby. You fucking are.

And soon, I’ll show you what it means to burn.

I wait until her breathing evens out, then I sit down in the armchair beside her bed.

I don’t have to be up early. I make my own hours at the cybersecurity firm I own. Work when I want. Watch when I need to.

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