“Maybe...a little.”
I swatted his chest. “No more pies for you.”
A shock of surprise jutted from my lungs when he suddenly flipped me, straddling me from above. His fingers dove into my sides, this hard, callused man, laughing as he tickled me. “Those are just wicked words, woman. Don’t you dare tease me like that.”
“Oh my God...Rex, stop! Stop! I’m so ticklish,” I squealed, struggling to break free and never wanting to go anywhere.
“Not until you make me all the pies.”
I tried to catch my breath and fight him off and hold him all at the same time. “No. No more pies for you.”
“Tell me, Little Thief. Tell me you’re going to make me all the pies.” He kept on with his sweet, sublime attack until we were a laughing mess of prodding, tingling fingers, hysterical, shrieking laughter, and wild, pounding hearts.
It tapered off when he pinned my hands to the bed above me, those piercing sage eyes holding me firmer than the hold he had on my wrists.
That awareness spun. Fierce and intense.
“You belong here, Rynna. You’ll make it work. I have faith in you.”
And then he was kissing me as if he didn’t ever want to stop.
22
Rex
Fear tumbled through his veins and clanged in the hollow of his chest. Frantic, he stumbled through the brushy undergrowth, the world buried by soaring trees. Branches lashed at the exposed skin of his arms and thorns latched onto the fabric of his shirt in an attempt to hold him back.
It propelled him harder.
Faster.
He screamed her name. “Sydney.”
Sydney. Sydney. Sydney.
The howl of wind answered back.
Sydney.
I panted and thrashed. My head spun, fumbling through my thoughts to make sense of where I was. Warmth surged through my body when hands smoothed across my face, the softest voice cutting through the darkness. “Shh...I’m right here, Rex. I’m right here.”
Relief gushed out on a shattered breath, and I grabbed her and pulled her against my body.
I buried my face in her hair.
“Are you okay?” she whispered.
“I am now,” I told her. Because it was the truth.
Rynna.
Fucking Rynna.
Little Thief.
* * *
She was making me pie.
