“I’m not cuddling you again, though,” he warned. “Just stay where you are.”
“I will,” I assured him, snuggling into the covers and feeling warm and sleepy already.
The nightmares still came. But every time they woke me up, I knew Grat was close, looking after me, and keeping me safe.
Another night came and went. Then another one, and another. And every night, I found my way into Grat’s bed. After a while, he had stopped asking and would just turn the covers down on both sides for him and me.
True to his word, he hadn’t cuddled with me anymore, keeping to his side of the bed. But on the fifth morning, I woke up with his leg tossed over my thighs and his hard-as-rock cock pressed to my backside.
Heat radiated from his large body, seeping through the thin material of the tunic I slept in. I held my breath, but trepidation was quickly swept away by a warm wave of desire.
“Khala… My sweet wild thing,” he murmured, rocking his hips into me.
His hard cock rubbed against my ass, eliciting a tortured groan from his chest. The desperation in his voice spurred my desire. Heat pooled low in my belly. Lust throbbed between my legs.
I’d never felt like this with a man before. But I’d never been with anyone who had Grat’s touch, his care, and his patience.
He cupped my breast from behind, drawing me closer, and I turned in his arms to face him.
“Morning.” I raked my fingers through his chest hair, enjoying every moment of being this close to him.
He blinked at me, looking confused, as if he hadn’t expected to find me in his arms.
“Khala?” He let go of me and rubbed his eyes, looking like he’d just woken up.
Apparently while I had been plagued by nightmares every night, Grat was enjoying some far more pleasant dreams. Unfortunately, now that he was awake, he didn’t look too eager to turn his dreams into reality.
Normally, it was easy for me to read him. Unlike the people of my past, who were raised to hide every genuine thought or honest emotion, Grat’s face openly displayed all his feelings.
This time, however, so many expressions changed on his face in rapid succession that I couldn’t keep up. Confusion, affection, worry, guilt, and more, all seemed to war inside him.
“This isn’t right,” he muttered, shifting away from me.
“Why?” I sat up.
The too large for me tunic slipped off my shoulder, revealing my left breast, but I didn’t fix it, sitting in front of him with my hair undone, my chest rising and falling with my rapid breathing, and my exposed left nipple hardening in the cool morning air.
“I want you, Grat,” I said, relishing the fact that among all my lies, I could at least be honest about this one thing.
For the first time in my life, I wanted a man, and I didn’t want to pretend otherwise. I trusted Grat when I had never trusted anyone before. Apparently, trust proved to be the biggest aphrodisiac for me.
I had a feeling he wanted me too. His erection bobbed right in front of me, urging me to touch it. The oval sapphire of the ring he wore on his cock glistened so tantalizingly close. But he hesitated.
“Khala…” He ran a hand over his head, then rubbed the back of his neck. “I can’t…You and I… You see? Our brains don’t work the same. I’d be taking advantage of you, and it isn’t right.”
What was he talking about?
My mind reeled as I struggled to process his words.
Regardless of his reasons, though, one thing was clear—Grat was rejecting me. The first man, who’d woken desire in me, didn’t want to have anything to do with the consequences of that.
I had nothing to say in response, letting the awkward silence stretch between us.
He grabbed his pants from the log by his bed and retreated toward the exit.
“I’ll go get the fire going,” he muttered, hurriedly shoving his feet into his pants. “We’ll have to pack up the meat right after. We should be heading back to the keep before noon if we want to make it there by nightfall.”
Alarm shot through me, immediately dowsing my arousal.
