Page 67 of Wicked Little Darling

“Reese?”

His fingers—long, lithe, and pretty—curled around the back of my skull and dug into the nape of my neck, massaging gently. My stroking faltered as a mind-numbing need sparked in my balls. I couldn’t breathe anymore.

“Reese, darling.”

Blunt nails scraped against my skull, and I wanted him to make me feel a pain as deep as my lust, until I couldn’t tell which I was feeling more. Dakota’s lips touched mine and I jerked my hips up. As soon as I made contact with the soft flesh of his ass, the orgasm started. Colors exploded behind my eyes as his mouth closed over mine, capturing my cry. I pressed into him as hard as I could, drawing out the pleasure that rocketed through me.

He was so warm against me, holding me just as tightly as I was holding him, and a slew of overwhelming emotions gathered in my chest and burst there, spreading through me like fire. I bit down hard on his bottom lip, sliding my tongue across the softness of it as the euphoria started to fade in intensity.

“Fuck. Reese, wake up.”

“Wake up, darling.”

“Wake up!”

Two big hands were framing my face, holding me still. I frowned at Dakota, who now looked too serious and slightly frustrated.

“I swear to god, you have some tiger DNA in you. How are you so strong?”

I blinked, trying to think past the hazy wisps blanketing my mind, the heavy sensation that something wasn’t right. WhenDakota’s face came into focus inches from mine, I just stared at him in confusion.

“Are you awake now?” His dark eyes searched mine as my heart pounded, and I was slowly starting to realize that I was on top of Dakota.

Straddling him.

“What…” My hands were in his hair, fingers gripping tight, and what? What the fuck was happening?

“Don’t freak out,” he said as my panic started to rise. His grip on my face tightened and he gently shook me. “Hey. It’s okay.”

I licked my lips and rasped, “What’s okay?”Whatwas okay? What happened? “Dakota, why am I…why are you…”

With every passing second, I was waking up more and more, and the horror of this reality was slowly filling up my entire body. I loosened my grip on his hair, then let go. I tried to sit up, but he was still holding my face, so I shook my head to get him off me. He let his hands fall to the bed—mybed, we were in my bed—and watched me warily.

He was fully clothed. That whole thing was a fucking dream.

“Reese, you didn’t know what you were doing. It’s okay. You’ve been sleepwalking a lot?—”

“What?” I said in disbelief. But I knew. Deep down, I knew I’d been sleepwalking again, that he’d been dealing with my nocturnal bullshit. I knew he’d probably been helping me in some way.

Ever since I’d moved here, the nightmares and vivid dreams had started up again.

But god, to hear it out loud, the fucking humiliation… it was crushing.

Would I ever be anything but a burden to other people?

But Dakota didn’t seem put out at all. His lips curved up in a little smile, and he said, “Yeah, you’re pretty wild. But lucky for you, I like wild.”

“Oh my god,” I whispered, hot, viscous shame pouring through me like lava. I was fully awake now, but my mind was still foggy and I felt hot all over. And weak. And now I’d done something to Dakota in my sleep.

And why the fuck was I still sitting on him? Something hard was pressing against my ass, and?—

Oh, fuck. I scrambled off him and backed away from my bed on shaky legs. Dakota pushed himself up onto one elbow, his brows knitting together.

“Hey, it’s okay. You didn’t know what you were doing. And it’s not entirely your fault, I’m the one who…” He ran a hand through his hair. “Well, I thought you were having another nightmare, and I wanted to calm you down but you grabbed onto me and wouldn’t let go, and then you pulled me down to the bed and got on top of me. You’re really fucking strong.”

“How can I be stronger than you?” I cried, flinging my arms out. “You’re practically twice my size!”

Dakota sat up and raised his voice. “You areveryfucking strong, and you caught me by surprise! I wasn’t expecting to get dry-humped and chewed on!” He pointed at me and spoke at a normal volume again. “Though, just for the record, I’m not complaining because it was really fucking hot and I’m hard as fuck right now, but I’d rather you be awake while you’re doing that to me.”