I say nothing, and he doesn’t press.Instead, he edges closer, crowding my space and hiking my heart rate.
“Everyone who comes to Alaska is either hiding from someone or hiding from everyone.”He rests a finger against my sternum.“If they leave, it’s because the danger finally caught up.”
I can’t argue that, so I don’t.
He lowers his hand, tracing the bottom of my rib cage through my shirt and pausing unerringly on my worst scar, the one I never talk about.
“When I saw this during the tattoo session…” He caresses the wound through the fabric.“I thought Dove stabbed you.”
My breath shortens.Not enough to be obvious, but he notices.
“But after tonight?”He floats closer, grazing his thigh against mine.“After seeing you two together, I know she would never hurt you.”
God knows she had dozens of opportunities and even more reasons to put me down, but she never laid a finger on me.Not even a courtesy nick.
“Tonight was eye-opening.”His palm climbs up my chest, making a lazy, heart-pounding trip.“Watching you with her.The way you go on high alert when she’s near.The way she responds to you.This thing between you two is protective, instinctive, and devoted.”
The accuracy of his words lodges in my chest.
“That’s how I know.”He walks his fingers higher, over my collarbone, up my neck, drawing shocks of heat across nerves that haven’t fired in years.“I know you’re not leaving for yourself.You’re doing it for her.Maybe even for me.”
I should shut this down.
I will shut this down.
But just for a moment, for one stolen breath, I let myself feel it.His hand on my jaw, thumb tracing my cheekbone like I’m something worth memorizing.Something he doesn’t want to forget.
Each caress tightens my body, surging an ache between my legs.
I’ve been so fucking lonely.So starved for human contact.And this man, this beautiful, unhinged disaster of a man, makes the hunger roar.
“You can’t leave until I finish your tattoo.”His thumb drags down, resting against my bottom lip.A sin.A dare.A temptation.
“I release you from the bargain.”I exhale shakily.“You’re not finishing it.”
He watches me, eyes dark, trying to read what he isn’t ready to understand.
I watch him right back.
Then slowly, deliberately, I draw his thumb into my mouth.
His breath catches.
My tongue presses along the pad of his finger as I suck, hard and obscene, holding his gaze the entire time.
His pupils blow wide.His free hand clutches my waist and joins our hips.A tremor shivers through his body.A flush climbs his throat, and he inhales like he’s drowning.
“Jag…” He jerks his thumb free and steps back hard enough to hit the table.“I’m not—”
“I know.”
“I won’t do that to her.”He drags a hand through his hair, shaking, fighting himself.
Because he’s a good man, and good men break before they betray the ones they love.
“I need to get back to her.”He straightens, wiping his thumb on his jeans.“I’m leaving the security team here.They’ll keep you in this room until I return.”
“You’re locking me up?”
