“Never mind,” he snapped.A shiver coursed through me, and Priest stood, taking me with him.
“Where are we going?”
“Nowhere. I’m just putting you in bed.”
“You said you weren’t going anywhere.” My voice came out sharp and worried as he laid me down and lifted the blankets for me to climb under.
“I’m not. I would like to not lay in bed with jeans, however. Are you going to let me leave the room to go change into pajamas, or am I getting in bed with just my underwear?”
A belt buckle clinked.“Laney, tell me what you want.”
Rule 14 - Delaney
Channel your fear into something else.
“Stay with me.”
My heart raced wildly as Priest removed his clothes to climb into bed. My cheeks itched from the sudden eruption of crying I’d just had. I hated how triggered I was by the dark, and yet, I couldn’t fix that part of myself.
Neither could they.
I shook the dark, foggy, flashes of memories out of my head. Priest lifted the blanket and slid under with me, pulling me into his chest. He was warm and his muscles hard. I fought the urge to turn and run my hands down his chest so I could feel each line, and instead, shifted into a fetal position and let him wrap his body around me.
“You’re gonna be all right, Laney. I’m here.”
“But you weren’t.” I pouted, my chin beginning to quiver again. “You weren’t and I was alone and the nanny?—”
Flashes of that night mixed with my memories of the doctors in Shelley Vale. Over and over, they tried to make me forget, but the storms brought everything back. Priest placed a single finger on my lips to quiet me.
“I know. It was horrible. The babysitter abandoned you,but you survived, and you’ve survived every storm since. This snow is going to pass over, and tomorrow, everything is going to be fine. You’ll laugh.”
“How do you know?” Despite my tears, with each inhale of Priest’s sensual cologne, I found my heart slowing to a more manageable rate. I snuggled deeper into his embrace, and he tightened his hold around me. “I was supposed to spend all night…”
I didn’t want to say. He’d make fun of me. Even now, at my most vulnerable, Priest would take whatever I said to him and use it to hurt me later.
“Playing with your new toy?” he teased.
I was confused for a moment, but then mortification flooded through me as I remembered Summer’s gift. In my state of panic, I’d all but forgotten about the small, rose-shaped vibrator in my nightstand.
“No! I told you, I’m not going to use it.”
His hands shifted, and my heart raced as his fingers traced down my bare thighs. He had a gentle touch, and my skin prickled at the sensation. What was he doing?
“Do you remember, the first storm after the tornado? When I came to your rescue? You were hiding in your closet and I pulled you out. We cuddled in bed just like this until morning.”
I swallowed as his hand found the edge of my nightgown and began tracing my skin.
“Not like this. You had pajamas on,” I pointed out. His warm, muscular thighs pressed against my own in a way I’d never felt before. It was… desire.
“And your nightgown wasn’t thin and see-through. Back then, I was just a brother, almost as scared as his sister, trying to keep her calm. But now…” His hand dipped between my thighs, and I tensed. He stopped and breathed into my ear. “Things feel different.”
“This is wrong, Priest,” I murmured, but not with enough conviction. If it was wrong, why did it feel so… exciting? “It’s bad.” Suddenly, I felt like a child, back in our shared house. If our parents came in, they’d lose it. But we weren’t at home, and I didn’t have to stop him.
“I like being bad.” He grazed the front of my panties with his thumb, and I gasped as my core pulsed. He chuckled and continued playing. “And I bet you do too.”
If I’d known this would happen, I wouldn’t have allowed him to see me in my nightgown. Or would I? No. I hadn’t seen Priest in years. He’d been a complete and utter bully to me in our teen years. He was hurtful every second he got the chance to be. Yet, here he was now, cuddling me because of the storm.
“Tell me, Laney, has any man touched you here before?”
