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Advancing toward her with the grace of a panther, I lift her by her curvy hips onto the counter. Wedging her legs open I lean toward her so we’re chest to chest. Both breathing heavy, we simply exist together in this moment in time.

Celine traces a line around both of my brows, and I push an errant strand of hair behind her ear. She leans an arm across my shoulder and pulls me closer with her other.

“I might’ve thought about it too,” she whispers as our noses touch.

“Yeah?” I moan at the sensation of her body pressing into mine.

Celine tugs my hair, and my fingers splay on the counter, digging into the granite hard enough to leave behind a dent. I quickly raise my hands, hoping I didn’t do enough damage forher to notice. I lean into her, inhaling the scent at her neck. I could easily lay her out here and make a meal out of her.

As our lips brush, a timer goes off on the stove and we jump apart.

“Fuck,” Celine breathes. “Forgot to turn that off.”

I back away in disappointment, but not before making sure she feels every hardinch of me as she slides off the counter.

Celine excuses herself to change as I turn off the timer.

I hear her milling about in my bedroom and the shower cut on a second later.

The visual of her naked and wet in a shower is doing nothing for my raging hard-on.

“Midnight,” I grind out. “Your mother is going to be the death of me. Not the literal death, since I can’t die easily, but at least the death of my dick.”

“Meow.”

I sigh, “Thanks, bud.”

Celine finishes her shower and pads out into the living space with bare feet and dressed in a pair of tiny blue cotton shorts and a matching tank.

Fucking temptress.

She knows what she’s doing to me.

“I’m going to shower,” I mumble, passing her by.

My cock practically cries in protest at leaving her behind. But it’s not time. Not yet.

After my shower I find her curled up on the couch under a fleece blanket. Midnight blinks over at me from his cat bed where he kneads the fabric in the corner.

I settle beside her on the couch, grabbing her ankle and carefully pulling her legs to settle in my lap. She gives me a lazy, tired smile in return and adjusts the blanket so it’s over both of us.

There’s a movie on, something gory and hilarious that instantly sucks me in.

About an hour later, movement out of the corner of my eye has me looking at Celine. Dark lashes brush the tops of her cheeks where she’s starting to doze. I watch her struggle to keep her eyes open and slowly slide further to the side of the couch before I give in and gently pick her up. Walking slowly to not jostle her, I lay her prone form on the mattress. I pull back the comforter and place her on top of the sheets. She doesn’t say anything, just mumbles sleepily when I shut off the lamp and tuck her in.

I take a second to sit on the edge of the bed and watch her surrender to sleep. Her long dark hair is free of its typical confines and splayed across my pillow. The sweet sound of her breaths fills the space, and her chest rises and falls steadily. The stiff peaks of her nipples poke against the thin fabric of her tank top. The soft swells of her breasts tease me each time she inhales.

I stroke her cheek as gently as possible without waking her up. She smiles softly in her sleep at my touch and it feels like some sort of victory. Even unconscious, she knows she’s safe with me. I would never hurt her, nor would I let anyone else harm her.

Anger surges, because someonedidhurt her. Maybe not physically, but they invaded her personal space, ransacked her entire apartment, and made her feel incredibly violated.

Soft mumbles and a furrow in her brow encourage me to leave the bedroom. My rage is starting to become palpable and the last thing I want to do is wake her. I need to go kill something. Or someone.

Certain she’ll be safe in my apartment after I secretly had state of the art security installed while she slept last night, I giveMidnight a pat where he sleeps curled up and make my way out of the building and downstairs.

My phone dings and I glance at the screen. A slow smile spreads over my face.

Perfect fucking timing.