“It’s okay, baby,” I rasp, rushing up the stairs and stalling in the middle of the room.
My first thought is to get her into bed but she’s dripping wet and shivering so badly her teeth chatter. She’s passed out cold, her face so pale it’s white and the blood that’s streaking her face on the right side is driving me crazy.
“Shower. Heat.” I grunt, running into the bathroom and stepping straight into the shower, clothes, and shoes still on.
It takes hardly any effort to hold Rebecca up with one arm while I turn the faucets on with my other hand, and I step away only far enough to keep her safe while I regulate the temperature. It heats up fast and then there’s steam all around as I step under the flow. I’m shivering too, but this is nothing to do with cold as I look down at Rebecca to make sure she’s okay.
“You’re okay.” I repeated, more a command than a question before I do the unthinkable and start to pull her clothes off.
She needs heat and she has to be dry before I get her into bed. At least that’s what I tell myself as I pull her shoes and socks off and then progress to her jeans. My teeth sink into my lip, drawing blood when I pull the jeans away to reveal a transparent pair of white panties that do nothing to hide her pussy from my eyes. Tiny. Bare. Mine.
“Not now,” I growl, despising my dirty mind as I strip those off too and let her legs down, my left arm banding around her hips so I can remove her shirt and bra.
Sweet fucking tits. Dear God in heaven, they’re perfect. Round globes of flesh fall free from her bra when I rip the garment away, tearing it loose with a tug. Her nipples are hard points, dark, begging for warmth that I tell myself only I can give. She needs my mouth—
“No. No. She’s asleep. You can’t,” I snarl, a whine of need breaking free as I fight my needs and tend to Rebecca, holding her body close to mine and aching for her as the water warms us both.
I stay that way, holding her, her cold nipples spearing my chest so hard. I rip my shirt free with one hand, despising the fabric that shields me from her flesh. I breathe only when I can feel those hard bullets on my chest and I tell myself that my jeans need to go too. They’ll make her cold. Can’t make her cold, I tell myself, struggling, kicking, cursing until I’m free of it all and I have her cradled to my naked body.
A shudder runs through me now and I nearly come as I run a hand down her back, dipping my fingers into her ass crack. She’s silky smooth. God. God help me! I shout the plea in my mind and throw my head back with my eyes closed when she sighs, snugging her face into my chest and mewling.
I want her so badly. God knows I’ve wanted, but I can’t have what hasn’t been given and when Rebecca finally stops shivering, I force myself to step from the shower and grab towels. Lowering her to the floor where I have six towels piled up, I take my time drying her. Eyes closed. Don’t look. You mustn’t look until you’re allowed.
“Not yet.” I sob, my mind a dark cloud of agony as I dry her and then rise to take her to the bed.
I can’t help the way my eyes take in their fill once I step back. It’s nature. Raw need, and it settles me enough that I don’t fall to my knees and scream. God.
“Beautiful.” I groan, running a hand over my bloody mouth and biting into the flesh when Rebecca sighs, starts spreading her limbs on the mattress and showing me her inner secrets.
She’s an angel and I don’t deserve to breathe the air she breathes, but like the animal I am, I need it. Her. Please let me have her, I beg, knowing I don’t deserve a moment of her but wanting it so fiercely I would willingly walk-through fire to get it. I nearly died when I saw her fall. My life flashed before my eyes, literally and I knew that nothing, nothing meant anything without her.
“Hhhmm,” Rebecca moans, one hand coming up to touch her head while she frowns and rolls to her side.
“It’s okay, angel,” I murmur, gently gripping her hand to keep her from hurting herself. “Don’t do that now,” I say, pulling the sheet and comforter over her with reluctance I should be ashamed of.
Turning, I walk into the closet and get dressed, covering my hard cock and my bullet-riddled chest because I don’t want that to be the first thing she sees. Not this broken body, not until I can make her want me. She’s out cold right now and while I want nothing more than to stand right here, watching her sleep, I know that I need to make her something to eat. I need to feed my girl.
The storm is still raging outside, battering the house that I bought and spent weeks fixing up before I ventured into town on that fateful day. I had no idea the town was having its annual fair or that there’d be a whole bunch of people milling around or I’d never have gone in at all. I was in a dark place, barely six months out of the Military and so messed up I couldn’t sleep nights. The nightmares were constant, the flashbacks so severe I drove myself to near exhaustion rebuilding this house. All I wanted was to be left alone and then I walked into a town filled with people and even in the midst of a panic attack, I saw her.
My salvation.
“I’ll protect her,” I say softly as I make my way downstairs to the kitchen and start rooting around for what I’ll need.
I made a stew a little while back and froze half of it so that’s what I grab and throw in the microwave to defrost. Thirty minutes later the smell of beef and savory gravy fills the air, along with the scent of warm bread and sweet butter. I’ve studied Rebecca with the same single-minded discipline I used in the Military and I know everything she likes. Sweet butter. Hot chocolate. Vanilla ice-cream. I have it all in my home, waiting for her.
Now all I have to do is make her want me along with what I can give her.
“Hello?”
I hear her call out, her voice a soft squeak of fear, and rush up the stairs with the tray clutched between shaking fingers, my breaths shallow while prayers fall from my lips. I’ve never asked God for anything in this life but I’m asking Him for this and praying He gives it to me despite my unworthiness.
Chapter four
BECKS
I wake up in the softest bed I have ever been in, my body warm and cozy and so relaxed that it takes me a second too long to realize this isn’t my hard old mattress or my cheap sheets. Sitting up sharply, I groan when I feel a dull pain in my head and then I’m blinking in shock and wonder as I take in the room around me. It’s gorgeous. Creams and soft purples fill the room. The huge bed and I mean huge, is covered in a soft comforter the exact same shade as the one I pinned on my board on Pinterest and when I look to the side where the bedside table is I see the precise alarm clock I tagged as well. I love glitter, anything sparkly, and when you combine that with purple and hearts, you have me pegged.
“Hello?’ I call out before I can think better of it and get the hell out of here, my second shock coming when I look down and realize I’m naked.
