Page 34 of Tempting Her Grumpy Protector (Kindred Tales Spicy Shorts #7)

GREER

Greer kept his eyes on the glowing streams of folded space, pretending he was focused on the shuttle’s controls. In truth, he could have flown this route blindfolded—his hands moved automatically, every adjustment instinctive. His real battle wasn’t with the helm. It was with himself.

He’d felt Sunny’s eyes on him the whole flight.

She’d tried to speak to him, her voice soft and hopeful—reaching for a connection he ached to give her.

Each time he’d forced himself to answer with a grunt or nothing at all.

He knew it hurt her—he could smell the salty sting of unshed tears in her scent, could see the way her shoulders curled protectively inwards as she turned away from him and fixed her attention on the viewscreen.

It was fucking killing him.

Every part of him wanted to reach across the cockpit, haul her onto his lap, bury his face in her hair, and confess that she was all he thought about—day and night. That he wanted her, needed her—that she’d touched him in ways no other female ever had.

But then her voice came back to him, clear as the day she’d spoken it.

“I hate being bitten. Absolutely hate it. ”

Those words had been a blade straight through his chest.

She didn’t know what she was saying. She couldn’t possibly understand what it meant for a Kindred male like him—for one of the rare Pitch Bloods who had to bite for blood on a regular basis—who had to drink from their mate once they were Bonded to her.

And if Sunny hated being bitten… if she feared it…

Then she could never be his.

Better to hurt her now with silence than to scar her later with truths she couldn’t accept.

Greer’s jaw locked as he made a plan. As soon as they docked on the Mother Ship , he would request a meeting with Commander Sylvan .

He’d ask for reassignment—something in the Elite Espionage Corps that would take him far from Earth , far from Sunny , far from the aching torment of wanting what he could never have.

She deserved a Protector who could give her everything she needed. Not one who had to keep part of himself locked away in shame.

So he forced himself to sit rigid, stoic, unmoving, while his heart silently splintered into jagged shards inside his chest.

He would forget her. He would make himself forget her.

Even if it killed him.