"I'm going to fucking kill Trent," I mutter. "You have my word on that."
"You can't. I won't let you get hurt."
I chuckle. "Won't let me get hurt? Cleo, they almost skewered you. Like hell I will let them get away with it."
Only when the wound is closed, can I really take in the full picture. Cleo, sprawled on the couch, dress hiked up to her waist, exposing a very lacy pair of black panties. I want to hook a finger in her waistband, draw them off of her, and make her forget just what an ass I was at the Black Spade. I barely stop myself from skimming my finger up the toned expanse of thigh.
"I'll get you some clothes," I mutter. "I think I have some of my spare shirts here. That'll feel more comfortable than any of your maternity wear, I'm sure."
I'd stashed a few here during the late-night visits we'd had during her pregnancy. I find one crumpled in a pile of abandoned laundry. The collar smells just like her. The intoxicating cinnamon scent of her clinging to the fabric. Had she been wearing my shirts in my absence? Somehow the idea fills me with an odd sense of pride.
When I reach the living room, I toss the shirt onto her lap, preserving her sense of modesty, at least in theory. I've already gotten quite an eyeful, but I'm too much of a gentleman at heart to watch as she strips the dress all the way off. I know I won't be able to keep my hands off her if I see her in all her nude glory. So I keep my twitching fingers clasped tightly in front of me until she calls out to me.
"You can turn around now, Ryker. I'm decent."
I turn my head just a fraction to glance over my shoulder and find she's lying. She's indecent. In some ways, the shirt is almost worse than the dress. Her dress only hinted at what is on display now. She's swimming in my shirt, her collarbones exposed beneath the collar. Her neck is bare, her hair falling around it in waves. I want to test my teeth against that expanse of flesh, writing a claim into her bronzed skin.
Her long shapely legs are pulled up to her chest, and she clutches them like it could somehow protect her. I still get the barest flash of her panties beneath the white fabric of the shirt. The material clings in all the right places, as I didn't think to offer her a towel to dry off before tending to the wound. My throat goes dry, and words fail me.
"Cleo..." Is all I manage. I'm going to turn into a stuttering idiot. I need to find her some bottoms before this devolves any further. I swallow and ask the less pressing question on my mind. "How are you feeling?"
She shifts her weight on the couch, giving me another brief glance of panties, and the tantalizing curve of her ass. God, how I'd love to palm it, drag her hips first toward me so she can feel the hardness pressing against my fly. I'm going to do something about it before I bust a nut right here and now.
"I'm sore, but it's better than bleeding out I suppose. Your bedside manner is a little rusty, I think." She smiles, taking the sting out of the reprimand.
I chuckle. "I don't really have a call to use it much. Most of the people I pick up are in pretty bad shape. I leave it to the doctors to sort out. Did you want me to hold your hand or tell you a story while I was stitching you up?"
"It might have been an improvement."
There's a pause in her breathing, and her eyes dart down to the carpet in embarrassment. "Would you tell me a story now if I asked?"
"I suppose. What do you want to hear?"
I'll tell her goddamn anything to get her mind off the pain. Pain she's suffering because I didn't end Trent that day, I found them in the hallway. I knew he was up to something, and I should have dealt with it. Instead, I pussyfooted around until it was too late.
Her glossed lips part and she mouths for a few seconds before the words come, tumbling over themselves in her haste.
"I want to know who she is, Ryker. Maybe it's none of my business, but I want to know. I need to draw up some boundaries, so I no one gets hurt. I'm going to always be grateful for what you're doing for me. And when this whole thing blows over with Trent, I'll probably come to my senses. Just sate my morbid curiosity, please."
Her face is guarded, and she looks as if she's preparing for a blow. I can't help but stare at her, dumbstruck. How can she still not know, with my cock straining toward her? After the sensual dance we shared at the Black Spade? After all the hints I've dropped? How can she have no concept of her self-worth?
I can answer my own question. It's fucking Damian's fault. He beat the confident, daring woman I'd met so long ago right out of her. If I could kill him twice, I would.
I drop to my knees in front of the couch, pull her legs apart so that I could nestle myself between them. Her skin blazes like an inferno against mine, as though we might combust if we touched any further. Too fucking bad. I need more. Her cinnamon scent swirls around me, and I'm powerless to stop myself. I don't care that Cruz holds sway in her heart. I need to taste her, just this once.
"I still can't believe you don't see the obvious," I say with a wry chuckle.
I place a gentle hand against one cheek. Her breath hitches but she doesn't pull away as I tilt her head just so and capture her lips with my own. They are every bit as soft as I imagined. I don't release her until I have to. Her breath is coming quickly when I pull back, her eyes wide with shock.
"I'm in love withyou, Cleo. It's always been you. Always will be."
11
Cleo
My first thought is automatic, vehement denial. He can't be serious. He's playing with me. There's no way that he's in love withme.He will draw away any second now and tell me this was some sort of sick joke, and that he was just kidding around.
But his lips are soft and earnest against mine, coaxing me into a rhythm that is intoxicating. His lips are slightly chapped, but still soft and warm. I can't help but respond in kind, though my brain screams that this wrong and will only lead to heartbreak. It's been so long since I've been touched gently. Even when we were together in bed, Damian was rough. I don't think he ever had a gentle bone in his body. God knew what I'd ever seen in him.
