Page 43 of Blood in the Water

But power radiated off him in waves. His strength was hidden beneath his looks. His carefully controlled and observant gaze missed nothing. His fingers were always primed to grab his weapons. And he watched me like a fucking hawk.

I didn’t fucking trust him.

Eventually, Leona started swaying on her feet from exhaustion, and only then did I convince her to head back to the safe house. She wouldn’t leave until the Shadow promised to meet with us. It was already 3 am, but he said he’d come in the evening after he’d taken care of some business. We quietly rode back to the safe house while she nodded off.

I drove around the block twice to make sure no one followed us, and no one was staking out our place. I would not get caught off guard again.

“I’ll sleep on the couch,” I said once we parked and got inside.

Leona covered a massive yawn with the back of her hand. “You can sleep in the bed, too.”

The safe house had only one bed, which had been fine for both of us while I’d been recovering. Neither of us had minded while I slept most of the time, and I wanted Leona close to me anyway.

But something about tonight had the whole thing feeling… different. I was anxious. On edge. It would be better if I slept on the couch and gave her the bed. Otherwise, it would end up one of two ways: I’d be up all night, over-conscious of her next to me, or I’d do something incredibly stupid.

Neither of those things were good.

“It’s fine.” I headed to the bathroom to brush my teeth. “Just go to bed.”

When I was done in the bathroom, Leona stood waiting next to the door.

“What?”

“If I laid down in that bed and fell asleep, I knew you’d just sleep on the couch anyway,” she said as she pushed past me to enter the bathroom. “So I’m staying awake until you get in that room and get under the covers.”

“It’s not a big?—”

“I swear, Caspian. We’re both adults. My father isn’t going to chastise you. Nothing is going to happen.” She crossed her arms over her chest in that way that always pushed her boobs up. “Just lay down. You’re still recovering. We both deserve the sleep.”

I rolled my eyes. This was going to be terrible. “Fine.”

“I’ll be out in a second.”

I pulled my shirt off, threw on my sweatpants, and climbed into the bed. A few moments later, she popped her head into the bedroom.

“Fair warning. I had to borrow one of your shirts. Colin didn’t give me any pajamas, and we didn’t buy any from Goodwill.”

“It’s fine,” I sighed.

But as soon as she stepped through the door, it was not fucking fine. Seeing her in my clothes gave me such an urge of possessiveness it knocked the breath right out of me. My dick went hard almost instantly as I took her in. The shirt was oversized on her small frame; her legs peeked out from beneath it, giving me nearly a full view of her thighs down to her toes. I wanted to dig my fingers into the smooth expanse of her skin, tease gasps and moans from her breath. Flashes of our hands clasped, my body between her legs as she screamed my name filled my head.

This was a bad, terrible idea.

“Everything okay?” she asked, voice small, as she climbed onto the other side of the bed.

I coughed and dragged my hand down my face. “Yep. Night.”

I couldn’t watch her settle into the covers next to me. I couldn’t let myself imagine what it would be like to pull her to my side. I curled up in the other direction and flicked off the lamp light.

“Good night, Cas,” she said quietly as she did the same.

After an agonizing hour of deep breaths to calm my raging boner, I finally drifted off to sleep.

A sob torethrough the night. I bolted straight up, hand going to the gun I kept on the bedside table.

“Princess?!” I hissed as I caught sight of her petite frame in the dark. “What’s wrong?”

She sat up with shoulders hunched, palms covering her eyes, and her back shaking with sobs. What the hell?