“If you’re here for a fight, Scott, then I hate to disappoint you, but I’m not in the mood,” I told her.
“I don’t want a fight. I wanted to ask if you could grab something from the top of the cabinet for me?” she said, and then quickly added, “Please.”
“What is it?” I played along, although I already knew.
“Coffee,” she responded sheepishly.
“It’s a filthy habit you need to kick. It’s almost midnight.”
“I don’t sleep much, anyway. I was going to try to do some more work.”
She didn’t sleep. I often heard her pottering around her room and walking up and down the stairs. When she did sleep, it was restless, and I was curious about what kept her away from peace.
“Is something wrong?” she asked, looking at me properly.
I didn’t respond.
“Do you want to talk about it?” she said, stepping into the room.
“Not really.”
“It might help.”
“I highly doubt it.”
“Okay.”
She sighed and turned away. But I couldn’t let her leave. Scott presented herself as a mystery. A physical manifestation of everything I stood against. If that were true, if she was what Sloan thought her to be, then this obsession had stepped beyond dangerous and become fatal.
My aura swept across the room, dark and strong, wrapping around her waist and pulling her back towards me. Scott stood between my legs, and my hands found her hips. There was something comforting about touching her. Like if I had physical contact with her, it cemented that she was nothing more than a mortal.
The need to touch her was always there. The moment she walked into the same room, there was an urge to lay my hands on her. Our communication skills were poor but when I touched her, I conveyed everything I thought and felt. My displeasures and my desires.
“Stay,” I said.
It wasn’t a demand, but it wasn’t a question. This wasn’t like the other times I’d kept her with me. It wasn’t full of want and lust.
“Just stay,” I repeated.
She nodded, and I stood up from the bed, letting her go and pulling back the duvet.
“I sleep on the left,” she told me.
“So do I.”
“I’m your guest.”
That coaxed a smile from me. “This is your house, Scott.”
She shrugged and climbed into the bed, taking the left side. I growled in irritation, stripping down to underwear before appearing on the right side of the bed and muttering, “You’re a pain in the ass.”
Scott flashed me a grin, cheeks red, and I rolled my eyes, but the melancholy lifted slightly. That smile she possessed was rarely shared. The last time she’d used it was with Cassidy and Sophie. I wasn’t someone that was allowed the private slice of Scott that bled pure joy.
“If you don’t want to talk about it, then what do you want to do?” she asked.
“Sleep.”
She sighed. “Coffee is a better option, but fine.”
