Primal Instincts_ Volume 2(24)
Author: Nicole Edwards

 

“I don’t know what to do about you, girl.”

 

His words, or rather the uncertainty behind them, triggered pain in my chest, an ache so deep it scared me. I’d battled confusion and guilt over the fact I was interested in multiple men, but not pain. Not until this moment. It was selfish of me to think they would be interested in something more simply because I was. I hadn’t considered that Garrison was friends with Creed and Hawk or that I could be putting him in an awkward position.

 

“I’m sorry,” I whispered, hating that I might’ve hurt him somehow.

 

His forehead creased, his dark eyebrows dropping low. “Don’t be.”

 

“I know it’s unconventional”—I waved my hand to encompass nothing and everything simultaneously—“all that’s going on with … them.”

 

His eyebrows rose, those sinful blue-gray eyes locked on my face. “You think I’m bothered by Hawk or Creed?”

 

I relaxed into the pillow, shifting over on the bed as I continued to watch him. “You’re not?”

 

A smile appeared, slow and wicked. “The only thing that matters to me is you.”

 

His admission made my heart swell in my chest. My throat constricted around the emotion that bubbled up from the center of my body.

 

“So what’s the problem?”

 

He stared at me for a moment. I hung on the silence, wondering if he’d tell me what he was thinking. When he did, my heart did a somersault in my chest.

 

“I shouldn’t be in this deep,” he drawled. “If I spend the night with you…” He swallowed, his smile disappearing. “It’s gonna seal my fate, darlin’.”

 

Please stay, please stay, please stay. The words were on repeat in my mind, but I didn’t dare speak them aloud. I didn’t want to pressure him, but I also didn’t want him to leave. What I felt for Garrison felt purer than what I felt for Creed. More in line with what I felt for Hawk. Deeply rooted rather than contingent on sinful encounters. I figured that was because we’d established a friendship, and the rest was building upon that.

 

“What if I told you I’m in just as deep?” I prompted.

 

He closed his eyes and groaned. When he opened them again, his irises had darkened, and I felt the hunger I’d sensed within him. He was kind and gentle, but I got the feeling underneath all that country boy charm was a man who had the ability to shake the foundation of my existence. I wanted to get to know that man, to know what it felt like when the locks on his restraint broke free.

 

“I’ll believe you,” he rasped. “Because that’s what I need.”

 

I smiled and reached out my hand to him. “You should believe me because it’s true. Please stay.”

 

His gaze shifted to my hand briefly, then back to my eyes. He didn’t reach for me, but he did something even better. He reached for the hem of his shirt, dragging it up and over his head.

 

A gasp shot from my lungs because, holy fuck, the man’s body was… Honestly, I hadn’t realized he was so built, so very … yummy. His chest was a solid, rippled plane of muscle, his abdomen a work of art, a study in perfectly sculpted lines and angles, his obliques equally as defined, forming a delicious V that dipped down into his waistband. It should’ve been a crime for this man to cover up that torso.

 

I sat up and pulled my sweater over my head, tossing it aside before flipping the catch on my bra and discarding it quickly. I reached for the button on my slacks but didn’t free it, waiting to see what he would do. It was possible I nodded in encouragement when he reached for his belt, his soft chuckle proof that yes, I was nodding.

 

As soon as he loosened his belt, I unbuttoned my slacks and shoved them down, leaving my panties on. “I figure it’s only fair.”

 

To my disappointment, he stripped off his slacks but left on his silky, black boxer briefs. Since it meant he wasn’t leaving, I decided I couldn’t complain.

 

I shifted on the bed, throwing back the comforter, and invited him to join me.

 

He stared for a moment, and I thought I saw indecision. I swallowed a lump that formed when he reached for his discarded slacks. Had he changed his mind already? Was it something I’d done?

 

Garrison didn’t pull his pants on, though. Instead, he pulled his wallet out of his pocket. I watched his big hands flip open the bifold and retrieve something from inside. He palmed whatever it was, then set his wallet on my nightstand.

 

The tightness in my chest eased when I realized he had likely retrieved a condom.

 

I patted the mattress. A formal invitation this time.

 

He groaned, placing one knee on the bed.

 

I glanced at his hand. “If it makes you feel any better, I’ve only been with one man. I don’t have any STDs, and I’m on birth control.”

 

His eyes darkened, one hand landing beside my head as he leaned forward. “Last test I had was three weeks ago, darlin’. Clean bill of health.” He leaned down. “Believe it or not, the last time I was with a woman was two years ago.”

 

“Two...?”

 

Wow. That … wow.

 

If that didn’t make a woman feel special, I didn’t know what would. But on the tail end of that thought, I had another. If he hadn’t been with a woman for two years, why did he feel the need to take a test? Precaution? Or something else?

 

I decided it didn’t matter.

 

I already knew where I wanted this to go, so I slid my hands into the waistband of his boxer briefs, shoving them down. When he groaned, relenting to my request and removing them completely, I shimmied out of my panties before he settled himself over me. When he did, I welcomed the weight of his perfectly sculpted body at the same time I welcomed his devilish kiss.

 

 

 

 

 

13

 

 

 

 

 

Garrison

 

 

I was going to hell for this.

 

It wasn’t my intention to end up here, in Journey’s bed, with her soft, warm body beneath me. Now that I was, I worried I’d never want to leave.

 

For the past hour, as I sat on the sofa watching television while she slept with her head on my thigh, I’d scolded myself for ending up here. But the longer I sat there, the more I accepted that I was falling for this woman. I’d even had an internal debate, arguing with myself that it was far too soon for that to happen. It shouldn’t be possible because I hadn’t spent all that much time with her. The counterargument was that the time I had spent with her had been eye-opening.