“Thank you for not running,” she whispers sleepily as the emotional exhaustion takes over.
“There’s nothing to run from when everything I want is right here in my arms,” I tell her, laying my heart at her feet.
“Everything I want is right here with me, too, but I can’t completely have it until I’m no longer chained to him. I’m still married, Jake,” she says quietly.
“We will figure it all out. One of my parents' friends is a lawyer here in town, and I’ll reach out to her for advice.”
“He can’t know where I live. I don’t want you getting involved or getting in trouble. You don’t know what he’s capable of,” she pleads with me, and I can hear the panic rising in her voice.
I kiss her neck and bury my face in her hair. “Let me worry about him. He will never hurt you again, not when there is still breath in my body. He will have to get through me and my three brothers first, and trust me, guys like him are weak when it comes to facing another man head-on. That’s why he preys on women. It makes him feel stronger.”
“Just please promise me you’ll be careful. If anything happened to you because of me, it would be the one thing that would finally break me.”
“I promise you I’ll be careful. Nothing is going to happen to me. Now go to sleep,” I lightly tickle her, causing her to giggle and squirm against me.
“Okay, that was a big mistake with your naked body pressed up against me,” I laugh, feeling my dick respond against her bottom. “Just be a good girl and go to sleep. You have a big day tomorrow delivering your first order.”
“I do.” I can tell she’s smiling by the tone of her voice. “Sweet dreams, Jake.”
“Sweet dreams, little hummingbird,” I murmur against her hair.
I lay there holding her until, eventually, her breaths even out into a deep sleep. It’s hours before I fall asleep as images ofher being hurt and scared plague my mind. That bastard better not step a single foot in her direction, or he’s going to see what it feels like to be on the other end of fighting someone off. Someone who could care less if he ever takes another breath of air.
The blaringof the alarm goes off, and I groan into the pillow. I’m wrapped around her like a spider monkey, and damn if she doesn’t feel good waking up to. She moves to get out of bed, and I bring her back to me.
Giggling, she turns to me.
“I have to get ready to leave,” she smiles and brushes a piece of my hair back. “You stayed all night.”
“I told you I wasn’t going anywhere,” I smile back. “How did you sleep?”
“Better than I have in a long time.”
“Good.”
“Is it weird that we’ve only known each other a week, and I’ve already told you my life story, ugly cried on your shoulder, moved into your place, had a sleepover, and had three mind-blowing orgasms?”
“Mind-blowing?” I grin.
“That’s what you heard out of all of that?” She laughs.
“Is it weird that the moment I saw you, I knew I was falling for you?”
Her cheeks redden, and I run my finger down the side of her face.
“Is it weird that I decided to land?”
“No more weird than me deciding to keep you as my pet.”
“A pet?” She grins. “Yeah, you win. You are the weird one.”
She shrieks when I pull her to me.
“Don’t worry, little hummingbird. You will never be in acage with me. You are free to fly as long as you always come back to me.”
She reaches out and places her hand on my cheek. I lean into her touch, and her eyes hold me captive. So many emotions are shining through, but there’s one that I hold onto because I’m feeling the same. My heart beats close to hers as they join together as one.
“I’m falling for you, too,” she whispers.
