Page 11

Chapter

Eleven

GRACE

F ood coupled with relief from hearing from the guys relaxed me to almost boneless. That was my only excuse for not fully registering our surroundings until weariness had me yawning.

“You should get some sleep,” Bones said. “I’ll take Goblin out for a last walk.”

“I’ll go with,” I volunteered, already standing up and reaching for leggings to drag on. I hadn’t bothered with a bra after the shower and didn’t intend to now. Shrugging into a hoodie, I finger combed my hair. It was still damp, but I wanted to be able to pull the hood up anyway.

Rather than argue with me, Bones just pulled on his own jacket and clipped the leash onto Goblin. Then they both waited patiently for me to stuff my feet into my shoes.

I forgot my taser, briefly, but Bones just gestured to it. Right. I stuffed it in the inner pocket of the hoodie. It created a slouchy, saggy look, but who really cared? Smothering a yawn, I shuffled out with the pair and down the stairs.

At least I’m getting a lot of steps in.

I snorted a laugh at the thought. Both of my companions just shared a mild look at me but I waved them off. Outside, the night had turned cooler and the drizzle had all but stopped.

Lights gleamed off the damp streets and puddles decorated the walk. It added a little magical flourish to what was a rather quaint location. “So many places here and in Germany look like they belong in a fairytale,” I said before covering my yawn with my hand. “Sorry.”

“You’re tired,” Bones said simply, seemingly accepting the apology without any other comment. I didn’t argue with his assessment either.

While I was tired, yes, I didn’t want to stay in the room by myself.

Neither of us said much as we walked. There was a park area not that far.

The quiet blanketing the area was occasionally disturbed by the sound of a car passing in the distance.

Somewhere else music spilled out into the night air.

Dogs barked and laughter trickled along the breeze.

It was—nice.

Just nice.

I zoned as we walked, just—existed. In the park, it occurred to me I needed to be paying more attention. So I tried to shake myself back into wakefulness. It wasn’t going well. Bones seemed ever vigilant though and maybe that was why I didn’t have to worry.

He wasn’t going to miss anything.

Once we were back at the hotel, I stripped the shoes, taser, hoodie, and leggings with more efficiency than I’d put them on. In the bathroom, I emptied my bladder, then washed my hands, face, and brushed my teeth on autopilot.

The hotel lotion smelled way too much like gardenias. I needed to moisturize but the scent just made my nose wrinkle. One night wouldn’t kill me. Shuffling back out, I said, “Bathroom is free.”

“Thanks.”

I crawled into the bed and dragged the blankets over me. It was a little softer than I liked but it could have been a marshmallow or a brick, I didn’t care. I just wanted to sleep. Sinking fast, I burrowed into the pillow.

A gentle hand against my back nudged me. “Shift over, darling.” The soft voice practically crooned the words. I didn’t want to wake up, much less move. The lightest sound of laughter touched his voice. “Alright, you sleep. I’ll take care of it.”

The warmth of the blankets went away, but before I could protest I glided over onto cooler sheets. That was even worse. I wanted to retreat back to the warmth.

“Shh, Grace.” The hum of sound wrapped around me as neatly as the blankets did and then there was warmth all along my back.

Oh, that was better. Much better.

Another huff of laughter. “So,” he murmured. “You’re a cuddler. Good to know.”

Those words meant something, but what little awareness I’d reclaimed evaporated as I sank like a stone.

“C’mon,” he continued. “Get up here.” Weight hit the edge of the bed, then shifted until something heavier settled against my legs. The tuck of a head to my calf.

Oh, that was nice.

Then I was out.

The next time I surfaced, it was dark and the warmth wrapped all around me, securing me like I was wrapped up in a blanket burrito. Too early if it was this dark and I closed my eyes again.

Breath whispered against my throat and my eyes flickered open.

Breath?

“Shh,” the soft voice had deepened into a mellow rumble. A hand on my hip massaged a slow circle against the fabric of my t-shirt. “You’re safe. Sleep.”

The casual comfort eased some of the disturbance of realizing Bones was in bed with me. A yawn cracked my jaw and I rubbed my cheek against the pillow. The arms around me tightened and the shifting weight near my legs reminded me of Goblin.

Trust Goblin’s instincts. That little voice wedged right through the sleepy cloud and I nestled into the warmth again. Warm.

Safe.

Sleepy.

The next time I snapped my eyes open, it was still dark but the cozy comfort had gone away and taken all the heat with it. My heart raced and I fisted my hand against the blanket. Worried, I reached behind me and felt only empty space. The sheets were still warm, so he hadn’t been out of bed long.

Where…?

I sat up abruptly and glanced at the bathroom as the toilet flushed, then the water ran. Disquiet tangled around me. The flash of the light from the interior blinded me in the split second between Bones opening the door and him flipping the switch off.

“Hey…” The gruff, sleep-roughened voice soothed the jangle of nerves that were all rattling like we were being visited by Marley’s ghost or something. “Didn’t mean to wake you up.”

“You didn’t.” That came out a squeak. Grimacing, I coughed a little to clear my throat. “I just woke up.” Better.

“Need the bathroom?” The question poked at me, jarring me out of me staring into the darkness. Did I need the…

“No,” I said. “Sorry.” Then I scooted some, though Goblin gave a little groan and shifted his own weight so I could move over farther to let Bones get back in the bed.

His weight depressed the bed and then he was under the blankets. The furnace of heat suddenly present chased away the chill that invaded in his absence. With one hand, he groped around until he found me and then he tugged me back toward him.

The fact he’d rolled until my back was snugged to his chest again and he caged me in his arms was kind of embarrassing. Okay, the act wasn’t what got me—it was the little sigh I let out and the fact the knotted tension in my shoulders and back gave way.

“Go back to sleep,” he ordered, though his voice lacked any of the punch he usually gave to snap commands. “It’s still early.”

And we had what? Forty-eight hours? Even as I let my eyes close, my mind began to race. Less now. He said forty-eight hours from when we spoke to them.

They still had to get to wherever the rendezvous point was and until then, we had to lay low or keep moving…

Bones sighed. “You’re safe,” he murmured, as if needing to remind me.

“I know,” I said and I did know. That wasn’t what had my mind starting to race. It was all the other…

“Tell me.” Two words. A simple prompt. A suggestion. I could ignore it, but even the gentle prompt had a fresh set of images and memories surging through my mind.

The weight of a hand clamping over my mouth.

The drag of a bigger body jerking me off my feet.

The loom of the dark eyed man ordering me to ride him.

The men invading my apartment.

The loft in the barn, the men climbing the ladder.

The man in the barn, his hand clamped around my throat?—

“Grace,” he said my name with his lips pressed against my ear. “Stay here.”

“What?” Oh, my teeth chattered and made that one syllable jitter and jump.

“You’re here,” he said, then bit my ear as if to prove it to me. That sting of pain seemed to tear away some of the haze. “Feel that?”

As much as I didn’t want to stutter, I pushed out the answer, “Yes.”

He bit my ear again, this time the sting became a throb and I dragged in a deeper breath. Oh, I’d been panting.

“Better,” he said. “Nope, keep breathing. Just because I give you a compliment doesn’t mean you get to stop.” I wasn’t stopping? “There you go. Deep breaths.”

He shifted a hand to rub against my stomach, stroking over my abdomen through the fabric muted the contact. Each slow circuit of his palm moved in time to my breathing.

Tingles prickled over my skin. It was like ice slicked up my spine and heat flushed up against it. I wasn’t sure whether to try and get closer or push the blankets off. Restlessness burned in my muscles.

“Grace.” This time my name landed like a verbal smack, knocking me back out of the tempest my wild thoughts seemed to be lost in. “Stay here.”

“I’m not going anywhere.” Oh that came out a miserable complaint. “What do you want me to do?”

“I want you to go back to sleep and be able to sleep.” he all but growled the words and a fragment of hysterical laughter broke off in me. Right. There was Bones. “What do you need?”

The tone said I’d better answer or else. Honestly—I needed it. “Help me think about something else.”

“Like?” Fired like a bullet, no patience softened the blow.

“Anything…” I groaned, because the shaking was now everywhere. My hands trembled. My heart seemed to stutter. Everything quavered. I made my eyes stay open because I didn’t want to see any of those men if I closed them… “Please.”

I’d beg if I had to.

His grip shifted abruptly. The hand on my belly glided down to my panties even as he cupped my breast with his left hand. My nipples strained and I made the most pathetic sound as he slid his fingers beneath the fabric.

“If you want this to stop… tell me to stop.” Another damn order. The man could do nothing but tell me what to do.

Thank fuck.

Right now, I needed to be told.

“Okay,” I whispered, almost afraid to say anything because the last thing I wanted him to do was stop. He slid two fingers down to glide right over the seam of my cunt.

I swore my inner muscles clenched so hard, that I was torn between grinding against him with my ass or just riding his hand. He kneaded my breast, but only until he encountered the peaked point of my nipple.

Then he pulled his hand from my panties and let go of my breast.

“Wait—” The protest burst out of me.

“Shh,” he said. “You didn’t say stop.”

But he fisted my shirt collar in each hand and then it just ripped open all the way down and fresh shivers raced over my skin.

The rough calluses of his palms glided over both of my breasts now and he didn’t tease or toy, he just tormented both nipples with tugs, pinches, and pulls.

When I tried to roll my hips, he sank his teeth down on my throat.

It wasn’t a bite so much as a hold. The promise of pain and a sting to ground me in reality.

“Please.” The shudders cascading through me now had nothing to do with fear or loathing.

Thankfully, he dropped his right hand back under my panties and he went straight for my clit.

The roughness of his thick fingers were barely blunted by my own wetness.

The pressure was absolute, his strokes demanding my absolute acquiescence and I just let it go as I bucked upward to ride those fingers.

When he eased the pressure just shy of my first orgasm, I wanted to scream. Then the bastard chuckled. The pinch of fresh pain on my nipple as he twisted it almost too much had me groaning for real.

The slip of his hand cupping me as those thick fingers found my entrance and he pushed inward. I clenched around them, so damn needy for the touch that one graze from the heel of his palm damn near set me off.

He adjusted his hand, stroking my breast and then across to the other as he began to thrust and then he added a slow, torturous circular stroke from his hand to my clit.

I tilted my head back, pressing it against his shoulder as he increased that delicious pressure. The tension threading me began to coil tighter and tighter.

“That’s it, Grace,” he said, his rough voice its very own caress. “Give it all to me. Every fucking drop. You’re going to come. Right now…”

He coupled action with order and the first orgasm burst over me. I clenched my teeth together to keep from making a sound, but he abandoned my breast to wrap his hand around my throat. At some point, he’d stopped biting.

My eyes were open but I strained to see him in the dark. He stroked his thumb along my pulse even as it rabbited while I shuddered from the release. He still had two fingers inside of me and his palm rested against my clit. Every little jerk from me seemed to add electricity to the contact.

“You’re going to come again.” Why did that sound like a threat and a promise? “This time, you’re going to let me hear you.”

He flexed his hand, the warmth of it held me captive but without any sense of terror. I’d much rather feel his hand than anyone else’s.

Suddenly, his mouth was right at my cheek, then the corner of my mouth. “You think of nothing else right now, just this—me touching you, and you soaking my hand as you come. I want to hear you Grace.”

Even if I couldn’t see him, I could feel him and he wasn’t kidding. He teased, stroked, and rubbed my clit until I was shaking and he didn’t let me come until the first cry burst from my throat.

Then he made me come again.

And again.

The light edged toward gray on the windows when he finally let me float. Not once had I gotten to do more than hold onto his forearm as he controlled everything—controlled me.

That’s how I finally slept again, wrapped up in Bones.