CHAPTER 16 - BARRETT
Even on the morning after the second night, this place was already becoming more familiar to me. Certainly more of a home than anything I had experienced in a long time, but as I lay in bed staring at the ceiling as the light tried to press through the heavy shades and illuminate the bedroom, I had a hunch that was more due to the presence of the girl lying next to me, than anything special about the apartment itself.
I turned my head first, fixating on the mass of Mallory’s brown hair, the only part of her I could see peeking out from under the blankets she was clearly hogging. A smile spread across my face as I turned over onto my side facing her, my hand slipping across the mattress under the covers trying to find connection with her.
I ended up finding her elbow first, and with my fingers followed upward to her hand, her fingers outstretched under the blankets. As soon as my fingers touched her palm her fingers closed around mine, and my heart jumped a little as I thought I had woken her up. Busted already?
There was only a slight movement under the covers; whew, I was safe for a moment, though now she had me in her clutches.
Literally.
And…figuratively?
I closed my eyes, trying to forget where I was, trying to avoid having to answer that question so quickly. It was all a whirlwind, all a story I wouldn’t have believed if anyone had told it to me. What was I doing here? This was absolutely not the time to be playing house with a girl on the run. Especially if she was on the run from the murderous rages of…my boss.
Quite the pickle I had found myself in.
I should have gotten up right then and there. I shouldn’t even have gotten this far. I should have left yesterday morning after making sure she was safe for the night.
But the thought of leaving hadn’t even crossed my mind until now. And even now, I wasn’t seriously entertaining it.
A week ago Mallory had been a momentary blip on my radar. She’d been a night of great sex that came out of nowhere. Sure, she’d stayed in my thoughts the last week, but that was nothing I knew that I couldn’t get over, given enough time and more work to take my mind elsewhere.
But this, all that I had done in the last 48 hours — this was me acting like a lovesick child, like a character out of a melodrama. If I kept thinking with my heart and my cock like I was doing over and over again now, I was going to get myself killed very soon.
Worse, I was going to get Mallory killed. I turned back to look at her, and as if on cue, she moved, pulling the blankets back to expose her head, but still sleeping peacefully. My cock jumped up of its own volition as more of her sexy form came into view, and I shook my head, trying to clear those thoughts away for now.
It wasn’t easy. It was one of the toughest things I could remember doing, and for me, that was saying a lot.
I would never let anything bad happen to her. I knew that. I had known it since the moment we met. I had thought that the best way to ensure that was to stay away, to be a one night thing.
But the last 48 hours had shown me that wasn’t going to be the way of things. Our lives were intertwined, at least for a little while longer, and while she was a part of mine, I was going to make sure that she had the choice to stay a part of mine.
And that meant getting her out of this city. Sure, staying here was fun, but it couldn’t last. I had to get back to work eventually, and she couldn’t stay cooped up in this dingy apartment for more than a day longer — if only because knowing Mallory even a little bit, she’d go a little stir-crazy. Anyone would.
I watched Mallory sleep, her eyelids fluttering up every so often as she dreamed about something, and I wondered, not for the first time, how the fates had conspired to mix our lives together in the strange way that we had.
She moved again, the blankets coming off as the room warmed up and her body tried to gather a few more minutes of sleep before beginning the day. The covers slipped from over one shoulder, and I could see the curve of her breasts underneath.
I drew in a quick breath, and I knew my eyes were widening, drinking in her gorgeous body and getting hard again, throwing out all my previous attempts to keep my growing libido in check. Visions of what we had done a week ago, and just a few hours before now, echoed in my head and threatened to take me over with lust.
I got hard just looking at her, let alone thinking about those luscious curves pressed against me, the way she moved against me when we fucked.
We were perfect together. I’d had a lot of sex in my day, but nothing I would have called sex could even begin to approximate how good it felt to be with Mallory.
And as I watched her, I knew that it couldn’t last much longer. Even if I was able to get her out of Meridian and set her up somewhere, I couldn’t stay there and be with her. Tate Norman wouldn’t let that happen; there was no way for me to get out of his organization without him considering me an unacceptable risk.
Shit, I was already going out on a limb with this little exercise, and I couldn’t keep stringing Tate along for more than a few hours more.
And yet, as I lay in bed next to Mallory tightly clasping her fingers around one of my hands, I didn’t want to leave. I didn’t want to shatter the bubble we’d created for ourselves. Sure, we couldn’t exactly live here, especially with the obvious disdain Mallory had for designer board games and special soups, but that was all window dressing.
I had two jobs to do, and only one of them was keep Mallory safe. Of course, that was the most important one, but I also had to look out for myself.
I didn’t want to think about this anymore, so I tried as best I could to shut my mind off and think happier thoughts, which, of course, inevitably turned to thoughts of dirty things with the sexy and gorgeous girl next to me. Getting a little bolder, I moved my other arm closer, and pulled her into me.
Mallory’s breath quickened and I watched her face for signs that she was waking up, but she settled back down almost immediately, her back against my chest, resting her head on my upper arm like a pillow.
I wrapped my arm around her chest and held her close to me, like she was a life preserver in an ocean full of sharks. I closed my eyes and just breathed in, over the course of a couple minutes matching my heart rate to hers as I breathed in her sexy scent.
Our legs wrapped together, my hard cock against her back.
It was perfect.
I popped my eyes open and glanced at the clock on the far side of the bed and realized that we’d been intertwined like that for almost half an hour. Mallory still slept soundly, but as much fun as I was having being there with her in my arms like that, the dark thoughts were starting to creep back from the dark recesses of my mind, and all of a sudden I wasn’t able to relax anymore, even with her there.
Over the course of the next minute I drank my fill of the feeling of Mallory’s body before extracting myself from the bed, noting that she kept sleeping without so much as a sound, something I was very proud of.
I got dressed, knowing that we were almost out of good things to eat for breakfast. We’d been cooped up in this house for a long enough time that supplies were starting to dwindle, and I decided that I would go to a diner nearby and pick up some fresh coffee and something tasty for us to share.
The main thing, though I didn’t want to admit it to myself, was that I needed to get out of that apartment and clear my head, even if only for a few minutes.
I knew what I had to do, I just didn’t know if I was going to be able to go through with it.
Up until two days ago I thought I had myself and my world pretty well figured out. I had done things I wasn’t proud of, but at the same time, I had done them with good intentions and I had always tried to make things right in my wake.
Now all of that was up in the air. I was torn between my obligations to Mallory and to Tate’s father. I knew that Mallory came first and that wasn’t a question, but I wondered if there was a way to take care of her and honor Tate’s father’s last wishes, without needing to resort to something drastic.
I just didn’t know. I needed time to think, time to come up with a plan.
And I couldn’t think if Mallory was so close to me.
I put on my socks last and stood straight up, casting a glance back at the bed. Mallory had moved yet again, but was still sound asleep — now she took up even more of the bed, and was lying practically sideways.
I grinned as I shook my head. How could any man share a bed with this woman? If my tattoos weren’t so dark, I might have seen bruises all over my body from spending the night next to her.
Still, I wasn’t complaining too loudly, and not just because I didn’t want to wake Sleeping Beauty up. Even if there were bruises, they were worth it.
I backed out of the bedroom and after using the bathroom, went out to the kitchen, where I wrote a note to Mallory telling her I was out to get something to eat, and not to worry, I’d be back soon.
I crept back into the bedroom, taking another moment to admire Mallory’s lush form again before I left the note by the bed and got my things, pulling the thin, white venetian blinds away from the windows in turn to check to see if the coast was clear before opening the door and heading out.
As soon as I closed the door behind me I realized that no matter how hungry I was, I just wanted to be back in bed with Mallory again.
I quickened my step as I headed out of the complex, eager to get back as soon as I could. The cold winds of Meridian provided even more motivation.
Just as I rounded the corner I turned to look back at the apartment that had become our temporary home. From the outside it looked so nondescript, despite containing inside its walls someone already very precious to me.
Then I turned and didn’t look back.