Ash
Gray doesn’t flinch or pull away when I carefully nestle up behind her. In fact, I hear her let out a deep breath, and she snuggles in tighter to my body. My cock takes that as an invitation to harden, but I will it into submission.
Down boy, I scold it.Not tonight.
Gray’s had a stressful night, and I’m not going to add more stress to it by trying to seduce her. She seems willing, but I want to be sure she’s not just riding the extreme emotions of the last few hours.
The truth is that I’m too distracted myself to really fuck Gray properly, even if she did let me. It’s enough for now to be here in her bed with my body wrapped around hers.
I grimace in the dark as I remember the scene I found in this room just a couple hours ago when I searched Gray’s house for intruders. I didn’t find anyone in the house, but I did find a dozen roses-worth ofpetals strewn across her bed. This bed.
There was also a note in the center. “You belong with me, not with him.”
It was proof someone had in fact been in Gray’s home today, and my blood had gone cold at the realization.
My next thought had been how Gray might react to seeing her bed covered in flower petals put there by an unknown intruder, and the horror and terror I knew I’d see on her face had made up my mind. After taking a picture for evidence, just in case, I quickly collected the petals and shoved them down the garbage disposal in the kitchen sink, letting the water run until I was sure every vestige of the flowers was gone.
The note is still in my wallet, and I’m not sure yet whether to keep it or burn it. I only know Gray will never, ever see it.
The other thing I know is that tomorrow I’m hiring private security to watch Gray’s house and discreetly follow her wherever she goes. Her conference in Orlando is a complication I didn’t anticipate, but it’s not a problem. I’ll just send a secret bodyguard to Florida with her. She’ll be protected, and she’ll never have to know the truth about what happened.
I lift a hand to pull a few locks of Gray’s hair back behind her ear.
“You’re safe, baby,” I whisper. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”
“Mmm,” she murmurs and wiggles her ass back against me.
God fucking dammit. Any other day, that would be enough for me to yank her shorts down, throw her ankles over my shoulders, and plunge my cock into her tight little cunt to fuck her until she can’t walk.
But not today. Today isn’t the right time to take Gray for the first time. She doesn’t know why it’s not the right time, but it’s better that way.
Instead, I tighten my arm around her chest. “Sleep now,” I say into her hair. “Tonight’s not the night for that, but soon.”
I hear her breath catch, and I smile. Yeah, I’m certain she wants this as much as I do, because that note is bullshit. Gray most certainly belongs with me. Sheismine.
And I protect what’s mine.
Chapter 27
Gray
Two days later, I sit with three other panelists in a meeting room of the convention center in Orlando. We just finished our presentation session, and it’s time for the Q&A portion.
“This question is for Dr. Mackey,” a man says as he stands, and I cringe inwardly.
When I was younger, I used to hope people asked me questions at these conferences because it felt like their interest validated my work. I’ve learned better since. Chances are, this man’s question will either be an excuse to argue with me, or it will be preceded by a five-minute summary of his own research. Or both.
I go cold as I realize people may also ask me about my relationship with Ash. God, I hope not. Is it too much to hope I’ll be spared the scrutiny of my love life at an academic conference?
“So I recently published a paper that suggests,” the man starts, and I breathe a sigh of relief. I’ve never been so happy to get a monologuer in my life, and I settle back in my chair to listen to his theory and the tenuous way he thinks it might inform my research.
Fifteen minutes later, the session is finally over, and I make it out unscathed. No one asked me about Ash, and my faith has been restored in my fellow scholars.
“Dr. Mackey?”
I turn to find two young women and a young man standing there, and I know I’ve relaxed too soon. I smile politely. “Yes?”
“Sorry to bother you, but…is it true you’re dating Ash Gunnarsson?” one of the girls asks, and I’m careful to keep my expression neutral even as I clench my teeth.
