“She is awake, yes?”
“Yes,” I said as I pulled the sheet closer and pressed my thighs together.
How could a few words cause my blood to warm, my core to twist?
“Rett?”
His response came nonverbally as the bed dipped. The scent of his cologne grew as I felt him move closer.
“Rett? Turn on the lights. What time is it? How did I get into bed?”
As my last question escaped, a finger came to my lips. “Do you always wake so inquisitive?”
Beneath his touch I smiled. “Only when I wake in a bed within a dark room, without clothes, and in the presence of a man I barely know.”
“I carried you to the bed after finding you asleep in the library.”
Library.
I leaned away from his touch. “And I didn’t wake?”
“You spoke.”
“I did?”
He found my hand and lifted it to his firm lips. “You asked me if I was safe.”
I had?
“You said something about Charles Dickens.”
That brought back my smile. “I was reading A Tale of Two Cities.”
“Ian said you’d asked that I come to you when I returned.” His warm breath tickled my skin as I made out his silhouette.
“I had, but I don’t remember you being here,” I admitted.
“You’d had a long day. I was beginning to wonder when you’d wake. It’s after noon.”
“It is?” I reached into the darkness, my fingers splayed over his shirt. Beneath my touch, his heart beat in a steady yet fast rhythm. “It’s after noon?” I tried to make sense of everything. “I never sleep this late.”
His light touch caressed my cheek with a familiarity I wasn’t certain we had accomplished. Such as with his tone, I would admit if only to myself that I liked it. My face inclined toward him.
“I’ve been watching you.”
“Watching me sleep? In the dark?” A thought occurred to me. “Did you undress me?”
“I helped you. No one else sees what’s mine.”
The small hairs on my neck stood to attention. With my hand still against his chest, I strained to see him, his features. In the darkness they were there, hidden in shadows. “What happened last night?”
“I just told you. I found you asleep—”
“No,” I interrupted. “Before that.”
“You agreed to be mine.”
That wasn’t what I meant. “After you left. Where did you go? Were you in danger? Who is Noah and what or who was his target. What happened?”
Rett lifted my hand, the one from his chest, and curling my fingers, he molded it to his desired position. The warmth of his touch gave way to the firmness of his lips as he peppered my knuckles with kisses. “We discussed some of that last night. I have questions for you as well.”
“I don’t recall last night. Remind me,” I replied.
“Tell me why you don’t want the door locked.”
My skin chilled. It wasn’t a question I anticipated. “Ian told you.”
“Emma, there’s something you should know. In this house, in this city, there is nothing that I won’t know. There are no secrets. Ian works for me and has been tasked with keeping you safe. When I’m not around, he’ll sacrifice his life for yours. When I’m near, I will do the same. Now, tell me what happened last night. He said you seemed upset.”
I was upset when the door was locked. While he’d just said there were no secrets, he wasn’t being upfront with me either. My issue with locked doors was not his concern as long as the door remained unlocked. I pulled my hand away. “Maybe it was more than the lock.”
“Talk to me.”
I scooted back toward the headboard. “Gosh, Rett. Maybe I was upset about being bartered in a deal that was transacted about me while without me. Maybe I was a bit freaked out about being taken to an undisclosed location, blindfolded, and led to an abandoned suite. Maybe it’s because I too like to know things and right now, I don’t know or understand anything that’s happening.”
The warmth of Rett’s body briefly covered me as he reached behind me, moving a pillow. “Lie back, Emma. I’ll explain.”
“Explain while I sit.”
Rett inhaled. “Emma, my rules are simple. I’ve done my homework on you.” His hand came to my cheek, his fingers splaying and raking back through my long hair.
While his touch was gentle, I had a vision of the dining room and his hands around my neck.
“Not only are you stunningly beautiful,” he went on, “you’re also intelligent and creative. You have the ambition to accomplish whatever you put your mind to. I’m most certain you are capable of following my simple rule.”
I teased my upper lip between my teeth, trying to recall. There was too much that had occurred. I wasn’t confident in what rule he’d proclaimed. “Will you remind me?”
Rett tugged the sheet away from me, his cadence becoming more deliberate. “Lie down, Emma. Scoot down and rest your head.”
Goose bumps covered my exposed flesh and my insides twisted as I complied. My blonde hair cascaded around my face as I settled back on the pillow, my mind swirling with possibilities of what was to come. Yes, I was naked; however, he’d undressed me and the room was still very dark.
“My one demand,” he said, “is that as mine, you are ready for me, willing to obey whatever I ask, whenever I ask.”
I remembered him saying that at the restaurant.
His touch moved lower. “Are you ready? Are you wet?”
My legs squeezed together. “I don’t know you.” It wasn’t an answer to his question as much as a statement of truth and uncertainty.
“You will.”
I reached for his hand and held it tight. “Rett, I need answers.”
“One question, Emma, and then I want to touch you as I wanted to when I helped you to bed.”
“You didn’t?”
“I prefer a fully consenting partner. Last night, I knew you were tired and saying things that seemed mixed up.”
“Were you in danger last night?”
“Danger is everywhere—everywhere but here.”
I released his hand as his proclamation settled over us. Despite not knowing where I was, in this place, he considered us safe.
Emma
I closed my eyes as Rett’s touch roamed over my exposed skin. Maybe this was easier in the darkness. I couldn’t see his expression or what he was doing. I relied on my other senses. As I did, it was as if Rett too was without sight. If he was, his actions would make more sense. With his light touch he was reading me, reading my body’s story written in Braille. He began at my fingertips, gently kissing and sucking each one. His hands skirted over my arms, lifting them over my head.
Though he didn’t speak or hold them in place, I knew he wanted them to remain there.
This position bared me to him as he traced behind my ear and down my neck. Goose bumps covered goose bumps as he peppered my collarbone with kisses until he moved lower. Though the aroma of freshness was around us, his cheeks bore a growth of beard that abraded my skin in the most perfect of ways. My breasts grew heavy with anticipation as his touch tweaked, his tongue licked, and his teeth nipped at my now-hard nipples. Involuntarily, my back arched as my whimpers echoed through the bedroom.