I hadn’t considered that, and I felt a flush of pleasure. “Keep talking like that, and you might find yourself having another one in there to go to breakfast with.”
He sat up with a groan, stretching. “If you’re going to make promises, you better be willing to follow through, just warning you.”
I rolled my eyes. “Are we going to get some food now?”
“We are,” he said, and surprised me with another kiss, this one without any passion, just...sweet. “Let’s go.”
“Hey,” I said, speaking before I could consider whether it was a good idea. “Do you want to stay the night here?”
“Tonight?” he asked.
“Yes, tonight,” I said with a smirk. “What other night would I mean?”
“I have no idea,” he said, cocking his head. “But...sure.”
“Okay,” I said. “But I warn you, I am prone to waking up and not going back to sleep right away. I might disturb you on one of my nightly walks.”
“And here I am, learning something new about you,” he said with a snort as he pulled on his clothes. “Don’t worry, I sleep like a rock, a dead rock at that.”
“That works for me,” I said as I followed him out the door, wondering if it was a good idea. Even if it wasn’t advisable and might draw attention, it was worth it to see the happy bounce in his step that even sex hadn’t put there.
LUKA
I woketo the sound of, well, nothing actually…nothing unusual, but I was awake anyway. Trying to be mindful, I rolled over and found the space behind me empty and gave a soft snort. When Rowan had said he was a restless sleeper and occasionally went on nighttime walks, I wasn’t sure if it was going to happen. Especially since we had both found the energy to enjoy our first night together, the second round of sex had left me sore, and even now I could feel my ass protest as I sat up and groaned, stretching my arms over my head.
“Worth it,” I said aloud as I stood up. It wasn’t the knowledge that I had his cum inside me that left me feeling all warm and fuzzy...well, notjustthat. It was the fact that a spur-of-the-moment suggestion to go bareback hadn’t been met with irritation or derision, but immediate trust. I had wondered if perhaps post-nut clarity might shake some sense into him and he’d back track the next time, but...nope.
He had been his usual self when we’d gone down to the canteen, and while I didn’t know what his nighttime routine was, he didn’t strike me as uncomfortable or distant. Then, when we had lain down together, he had wrapped himself around me with a hold that was far more affectionate than I thought he’dbe. Rowan wasn’t a cold or harsh person when you finally got him to open up, but he didn’t strike me as the affectionate type. Apparently, that wasn’t the case when he was sharing a bed because he held me tight, even throwing one of his long legs over mine to keep me there as we lay in the dim room.
Well, you couldn’t put two horny people together in a bed with little space between them and not expectsomethingto happen. To his credit, Rowan had been surprised when I had shifted our kissing and groping toward something else. He probably thought that after earlier, I would be too tender, and well, he wasn’t completely wrong, but he wasn’t completely right, either. I was definitely going to be giving him blowjobs for the next couple of days instead, but considering how much fun it was to see first shock and then intense arousal on his face when I decided I was going to ride him till one or both of us came, I would take some soreness.
I made my way toward the kitchenette to grab a drink. I looked at the clock and saw I’d only been asleep a couple of hours. It wasn’t unusual for me to occasionally wake up in the middle of the night, especially when I was somewhere new. Sure, the resort wasn’t new, but the room was, so I wasn’t surprised. I should have mentioned that to Rowan; he might have waited to see if I woke up before he left for his walk. Then again, he might want time to himself.
But I had learned from years of experience that trying to get back to sleep right away was pointless and invited more frustration, making it even harder. The best thing I could do was make sure that whatever I did wasn’t demanding or taxing, and at some point, I would feel the tiredness trickle in and lure me back to sleep.
I eyed the bookshelf, running my fingers along the spines as I contemplated whether there was anything that might interest me. It wasn’t like I desperately needed a book; I could alwaysread on my phone, but there was something about a physical book that couldn’t be beaten.
I pulled a couple I didn’t recognize from the shelf and read the summary, amused to find that Rowan apparently had an interest in historical fiction. The sort that was as close to reality as possible, but probably took liberties to tell the story. He didn’t seem to be particularly interested in one historical moment. There was one set in Japan, another in Egypt, and another during the Napoleonic Wars.
“Ugh,” I muttered when I knocked a book toward the back with a heavy thump and reached to grab it, frowning when I felt something that didn’t feel like a book. In fact, it felt like cloth, but why the hell would Rowan have thrown something like a sock back there?
Grabbing it, I dragged it out and froze when I heard the soft sound of things clicking against one another. Taking a deep breath, I drew it out and found it was, in fact, a black cloth bag. I stared at it for a moment before swallowing hard and setting it down on the table.
I was torn. On the one hand, I shouldn’t be going through his things, but at the same time, if that bag contained what I thought, then...I should know. My fingers played with the drawstring for what felt like forever before I took a deep breath and opened it to peer inside. I closed my eyes and set the bag down, sitting down at the table as I heard the pills clink again.
I guess I wasn’ttoosurprised. He had been open with me about having a fucked up back. There was nothing in his file about needing pain management, however, which meant the pills weren’t prescribed. There weren’t many left, and I wondered how many there had been when he arrived and how he had gotten them past anyone who searched his stuff. Then again, I remembered saying to Reggie once that it was strangethat we searched incoming guests’ luggage, but we didn’t check their personal clothing.
“I’d like to show at least a modicum of trust,” he’d told me, but frowned as he said it. “I’ve debated making that a requirement, but so far it hasn’t been a problem. I just hope it won’t become one.”
Except the problem was sitting right there on the table. Was this the first time someone had gotten something into the building that they shouldn’t have? Or was this the first time someone had been caught?
Hell, did this even count as being caught? Under normal circumstances, I would have taken the bag and gone to talk to Reggie despite the hour. And yet the circumstances weren’t normal. Of course, I had known getting involved with Rowan was inviting all sorts of trouble, but I hadn’t expected to run into a conflict of loyalties quite like this.
There was no way in hell I was going to get back to sleep any time soon, and probably not for the rest of the night. We were only a couple of hours from sunrise, which is when I usually got up anyway. I counted it as an early wake-up and got up to make coffee.
I stood at the counter as the machine gurgled. Protocol dictated that if something like this was found, it needed to be reported immediately. And yet, God, even if I weren’t involved with Rowan, if there weren’t...feelings involved, I would have still hesitated. I had known Rowan for weeks, and it had never occurred to me that he might be using pills to manage his pain. At least, I hoped that’s what the pills were for; I knew how addictive painkillers could be.
Fuck, had he been getting high the whole time?
