“What?” He leaned to the side and stared down into my face. The scar on his cheek should have made him scary, but it didn’t… not with my body floating. He’d made me feel so fucking good.
“That I would like a guy like you.”
He snorted and smirked. “Everyone likes a guy like me.”
I smacked his chest, but he wrapped an arm around my waist and half carried, half dragged me toward my bedroom.
It was still dark out when I woke to a hand holding my throat. I gasped, all of a sudden wide-awake, and slapped my hand overtop of the one on me. The fingers convulsed and an awful pain radiated from my bruised muscles. I panicked and attempted to roll away, but a thickly muscled arm wrapped around me and dragged me against a huge warm, naked body that pressed against mine—skin to skin. Memories rushed in on me, good ones, of this man taking me to the brink of pain and leaving me in a puddle of pleasure three times in a row.
“Tyler, let go of my throat,” I whispered.
He grumbled and squeezed harder, and I elbowed him.
“What the fuck?” His grip loosened on my neck. “Oh hell,” he said in a rough whisper.
My gaze shot to the digital clock on my dresser across the room and a neon green 3:03 a.m. blazed back at me. The light from the streetlamps bled into the room as my vision adjusted. I glanced over my shoulder at Tyler’s shadow-carved face. He let me go and rolled away.
“Don’t leave. You’re warm,” I murmured.
“Fuck,” he said, cutting the sleepy calm of the room like a knife. I snapped on the lamp beside the bed, and his dark brown eyes were unfixed and too wide. He was scary for a second because he really didn’t seem like himself, with his shoulders rounded forward instead of squared the way they usually were and his head bent at an odd angle. He groaned and rubbed his hands over his face as he straightened. Unease slithered through me for a second as he gave me a dead look that slowly seemed to come back to life.
Coughing a bit, I sat up as I explored my neck with my fingers. “It’s okay. Were you dreaming about chasing bad guys?” I asked.
He shook his head and stunned me as he hopped up from the bed and rushed out of the room. Frowning and confused, I went to my dresser. I pulled out shorts and struggled into them as quickly as I could, but I only made it to the living room in time to see the front door closing behind a flash of black leather coat.
“What the hell?” I chased him out into the hall, grimacing as my feet landed on the grimy gray carpeting that badly needed to be cleaned. He’d almost made it to the stairs at the end. “Wait!” I called and ran until I was almost to him, arms crossed over my stomach to stop myself from shivering in the cool air. I breathed out a sigh of relief as he turned on his heel to glare down at me with his jaw tightening. “Will I see you again?”
His stern mouth softened and a small smile twisted up a corner. He bent, and I breathed into the warmth of a soft kiss from him.
“You didn’t hurt me,” I whispered. “So, whatever you were dreaming about, it was okay.”
Tyler’s face went cold and blank. What was he thinking? “I don’t sleep over.”
“But you did.”
He nodded once and sighed.
Stupidly, I copied him and nodded back.
He smirked and bent down to press another kiss to my lips, then over along my cheekbone. “I’ll text you later. You’re sure I didn’t do more damage?” he asked, brushing the backs of his fingertips to my neck. I tipped my chin up, and he studied my skin intently, waking up my cock. He’d taken a lot of time exploring my throat last night, to the point I might call it an obsession.
“No, you didn’t,” I murmured.
He lifted his head, and like he had last night, he moved in. I had to close my eyes as he pressed a kiss to one eyelid, then the other. “These are jewels. You better be careful someone doesn’t steal them.” His voice was gruffer than usual, almost like he was still asleep.
I laughed. “You better wake up before you get in a cab, or you’ll end up in the wrong part of the city.”
He laid one more kiss on my lips and straightened. I shivered under the intense stare he gave me, and for a brief moment I felt like I was meeting a man I didn’t know. My heart pounded and I bit at my lip.
“Tyler, will you actually text me?”
He tapped a finger to my nose. “Sure will, beautiful.” He glanced at the number on the door nearest us and waggled his eyebrows. “I’ll definitely be back. You’re in number 509, right?”
Biting the inside of my lip, I nodded and waved at him as he walked off down the stairs. Journey was never going to believe a single thing about this when I told him. Smiling so hard my mouth hurt, I rushed back inside my apartment and locked the door.
5
Tyler
