Page 19 of Tempting Her Grumpy Protector
The walk back to their hut was silent, their guide trailing behind like a disapproving chaperone. But Sunny couldn’t stop reliving what they’d just done together. Every brush of her arm against Greer’s seemed to replay the heat of his hands on her body. She wanted to say something—anything—but the words tangled in her throat.
When they reached the hut, Greer held the door aside for her, his eyes fixed somewhere over her head. No teasing remarks. No knowing smirk. Just that calm, unreadable face that made her want to shake him—or kiss him—to make him acknowledge what they had done.
Sunny ducked inside, her pulse still thrumming. Greer was probably right—the two of them needed to cool it. Tomorrow, she promised herself, she’d be nothing but professional.
Probably.
12
GREER
What they’d just done had been wrong.
Not just wrong—it had been a violation of the very oath he’d sworn when he took this assignment.
Protect her. Guard her. Keep her safe.
Not touch her in a way that made her gasp and shiver. Not run his hands over her soft curves until his pulse pounded and his fangs ached with the need to take her…to bite her…to breed her.
Greer set his jaw and stared at the wall of the hut as Sunny dried herself with one of the rough woven towels the Thropp’ians had provided. She was humming under her breath, as if nothing had happened—like the heat between them hadn’t been hot enough to scorch the air.
She could never be his. Not in truth. Not in the way he wanted.
Because he was a Pitch Blood Kindred.
And no matter how badly his body wanted her, his bite—the one thing that would make her truly his—wouldn’t give her pleasure. It would only give her pain. That was the curse of his bloodline.
And if he couldn’t give her pleasure… then he couldn’t have her.
Sunny came out of the fresher at last and tried to chat with him as they rested on the bed together. Someone had brought in a set of bed steps while they had been gone, so she was able to reach the mattress on its long supports without his help. Which was a good thing, in Greer’s opinion. He’d had his hands on her quite enough for one night—never mind that even now he was itching to touch her again.
He made sure to stay on his side of the large, elevated bed with its covering made of broad, blue leaves sewn together and gave Sunny plenty of room.
She tried to talk to him, asking him questions about the pigments, about Thropp’ian customs, about the rest of the mission. Greer gave her one-word answers, then finally nothing at all. The less they talked, the easier it would be to keep his hands off her, he told himself.
He turned over on his side, away from her, the wood of the tall bed frame creaking under his weight. The waxy blue leaves the bedspread was made of felt cool against his heated flesh, and he stretched out with his back to Sunny, willing himself to relax.
He could feel it when Sunny turned towards him, her soft, curvy body sinking into the bedding just inches away.
“Greer!” she said plaintively, and he could hear hurt in her voice. “Why won’t you talk to me?”
Because I fucking want you too much! Because talking leads to doing. Because if I don’t watch myself I’ll be sinking my shaft into your soft little pussy and breeding you!
Greer knew he couldn’t say any of that.
“Tired,” he grunted. “Long day. Get some sleep, little one.”
“Oh, Greer…” She pressed against him longingly.
He could feel her heat against his back. His cock was still half-hard. He could have taken himself in hand and gotten some relief—he wanted to—but the light was still on. He couldn’t jerk-off with her right beside him…because it might lead to something else.
And even if the hut had been dark and Sunny had been asleep, Greer knew what easing his own need would mean—it would mean thinking about her. Touching himself to the thought of his own Ward…
No. He would not cross another line.
Greer shut his eyes and forced his mind to go blank, ignoring the faint sound of her breathing beside him, the sweet scent of her skin and the feeling of her full breast pressing against this back.
Eventually, exhaustion won. He slept with her warmth at his back, telling himself it meant nothing.
