Page 45 of Savior

“I will.”

After he clicks off, I wind up the hose and whistle for Rocky, who comes running back up the door. Sienna is waiting for me in the kitchen.

“Good morning,” she says. She’s changed into shorts that barely skim the tops of her thighs and a tank top with a rip at the hem. A short robe is belted at her waist and her hair is piled into a messy knot on top of her head.

“Mornin’.”

She pours a cup of coffee and leans against the counter as Rocky winds himself around her legs and butts his head against her thigh. “You didn’t have to stay.”

I haven’t moved from the doorway, but I do at her words, crossing my arms over my chest and giving her a hard look. “You must not have a high opinion of me if you think I’d leave you after what happened.”

“I’m fine.”

Nodding to her head, I say, “You’ve got a goose egg the size of a golf ball on your head that disagrees with you.”

Her fingers touch the spot absentmindedly. “It doesn’t even hurt anymore.”

“Right.”

Haunted eyes meet mine. “I just want to forget about this today. I don’t want to think about any of it. I know you probably have to work, so I don’t want you to feel obligated to stay.”

“I took the day off. I’m not letting you stay here by yourself.”

She bites her lip, considering me. “Are you ever going to leave?”

“You can try to make me, but I’m bigger and meaner than you.” When she doesn’t stop shaking her head, I cross the room and cup her cheeks to steady her. “There’s something here, Sienna. Something you can try all you want to ignore, but I’m not gonna let you.”

“I can’t—”

I cut off her words with a kiss. I’m done trying to negotiate. Obviously words aren’t getting through the walls she’s built around herself. Her hands come up like she wants to take mine off her face, but she ends up covering them instead.

“Tell me,” I say against her lips. “If you’re going to say no, tell me why.”

“You don’t want to be involved with me.” She pulls away and rests her forehead on my chest. “There are plenty of women who’d love to sleep with you.”

“If sex was all I wanted, I’d find one of them. I want more from you than fucking.”

She shoves me back, but I still have my arms around her waist so she doesn’t go far. “I can give you sex. That I can do. I can’t give you a relationship right now. I just...can’t.”

“Then, we don’t have to talk.”

I kiss her again, this time demanding she part her lips, and she does without much convincing. Her arms wrap around my shoulders, and she sighs into me again. I could get used to hearing that little noise, and I make it my personal mission to make her do it as many times as possible. I bend just a little so I can pick her up. She reads my movements and wraps her legs around my waist at the same time as my hands cup her ass to hold her against me.

She lets me carry her from the kitchen and into the living room, where I lay her down on the couch, making sure to brace myself with one arm so I do crush her. She breaks the kiss and blinks up at me, her eyes wide with confusion when she realizes we’ve gone horizontal.

“You mean right now?” she asks breathlessly.

“Right now.”

Single-mindedly, I slip a hand under her shirt, needing to feel the softness of her skin instead of just imagining it. Her breath catches in her throat when my fingers skim up her ribs.

“I don’t think—”

“Good.” My hand moves up to cup her breast over the material of her bra. “Don’t think.”

“Don’t you think you should run my credit before we get to second base?” she asks breathlessly. Did she just make a joke? She grins up at me and adds, “Do a background check?”

I smile down at her flushed face, then she vibrates against me and all blood drains from my head. “After.”