Chapter 14

Shout out to everyone who’s seen me get totally psycho and stuck around anyway.

-Cora’s Facebook status update

Cora

I heard him getting out of bed, and I cracked my eyes open to see if he was getting up for real this time or just making another round of the house like he’d done the other four times he got up that night while he thought I was sleeping—which I was.

Kind of.

But the brightness on his phone each time he picked it up to send out a text had me waking despite my desire to sleep.

After he got whatever text he was waiting for, he’d put it back down and do a round of the house, checking various locks and windows, as well as peeking through the curtains in his room.

His bed was really, really loud. Each time he got up, the headboard creaked, and the springs in the mattress squeaked.

He didn’t get up for real this time, either.

Instead, he went to the bathroom, peed with the door wide-ass open, and then washed his hands.

Moments later, he walked back out and took another look around the house before coming back to his bed.

He stopped and eyed me beside his bed, but with the darkness surrounding us, he couldn’t tell that I was awake.

I’d stayed in my exact spot for most of the night, so comfortable I wondered if I could sleep in his recliner every night.

Surely, he wouldn’t notice a new addition to his place—right?

Smiling, I let my eyes drift shut just as I heard Coke crawl back into bed.

But then he cursed and sat back up.

“What is it?” I asked sleepily.

He paused, half in, half out of bed.

“It’s cold in here. Are you cold?” he asked.

He sounded almost horrified.

“Not really, no.” I paused. “I have your sweatpants on, though.”

He digested that for a moment. “I guess that’s one way to keep warm. If you need anything else…”

“My toes are kind of cold,” I admitted. “But I’m tucking them underneath the arm cushion, so they’re okay for now.”

He got up and walked to the dresser where I’d stolen his sweatpants while he’d been in the shower earlier. Once there, he opened the first drawer—which I’d found out were his socks and underwear—and pulled something out.

He shut the drawer and turned, coming to stand next to me.

“Let me have your feet,” he ordered gruffly.

I poked one foot out from under the heavy blanket that he’d found for me—apparently Frankie was a blanket freak and had like a million—and he slipped a heavy wool sock on over my cold foot.

“Other foot,” he ordered once he dropped my foot.

I lifted up my other foot and sighed when that sock moved into place.

His bare knuckles rested on the side of my calf for a few long seconds, and then he patted my thigh. “I’m sorry. I never thought to turn up the heat, and I forgot that there was supposed to be a cold front coming through. This damn room is the coldest part of the house with all the windows and the door that leads to the outside.”

I licked my lips, trying not to think about how awesome his hand had felt on the side of my thigh through pants and a blanket.

“It’s not a big deal. I don’t sleep with the heat on in my room because it dries my nose out and makes me stuffy.” I paused. “But you can turn on your heat if you want to. I won’t complain. You’ll just have to deal with me having a stuffy nose and sounding like I need to blow it constantly.”

He chuckled and finally removed his hand, heading back to his bed.

“We have a couple more hours of sleep yet, darlin’,” he murmured, voice rough and edgy. “Sleep tight.”

I wiggled my toes in the socks that I planned on stealing from him when he finally kicked me out of his chair and closed my eyes.

When I opened them again, it was to sunlight starting to pour in through the blinds covering his massive bedroom window and to Coke once again moving around.

He was making his bed, tucking the sheet into place then the comforter. With the way the bed was positioned, I couldn’t see anything from the waist down, so I focused on the muscles in his arms and how they retracted and bunched with his movements.

Then there was his abs.

The man had a great set of them.

Like, really good. Once he got out of the military, I knew that it was much harder to maintain. Obviously, Coke had no problem doing it, though.

Once he finished making the bed, he stood up, and it was then that I realized that Coke didn’t wear anything to bed but those boxer briefs I’d spied in his dresser drawer last night during my search for pants.

The pair he had on were red, and I could see every single delicious inch of his body.

He looked magnificent.

I wanted to eat him alive.

Even through the clothes he normally wore, I could tell that he was in great shape.

Holy shit, seeing him in his normal street attire was all fine and good, but seeing him in nothing but boxer briefs? Jesus Christ on a cracker. There was no comparison at all. Hands down, him practically naked won every single fucking time.

No ifs, ands or buts.

I licked my lips, trying not to move, so as not to bring his attention to me, and thank God I didn’t. Because he turned, giving me a full-frontal view, and my eyes automatically went to the bulge in the front of those boxer briefs.

My eyes went wide.

Holy guacamole.

The size of this man’s dick was downright frightening—in the best possible way, though.

Those boxer briefs traveled down his thick, muscular thighs coming to a stop about six inches above his knee. The waistband of his briefs rode low on his hips, displaying that expanse of muscled flesh that no woman could help but look at. The V.

But his cock?

Starting at the apex of his thighs, completely escaping the cup-shaped area meant to contain his balls and dick, it traveled down the length of his left thigh to just above where the hem of his underwear began around his thigh.

Just a scant inch and that big ol’ dick of his would be peeking out!

I swallowed past a sudden dryness in my throat and tried not to squirm.

Holy crap, but I wanted nothing more than to run my hand along the length of it.

He looked so hard and inviting…

Then his eyes, which had been focused on the floor where he was moving around the bed, moved to me.

I immediately slammed my eyes closed, and felt my heart nearly pound its way out of my chest.

But it didn’t matter if my eyes were open or closed—I would forever see him there, in all his glory, with a hard cock that I wanted—no, needed—in my mouth.

Holy crap.

I was so going to hell.

He moved around the room, and I heard the drawer right next to me open and then close.

Moments later, I felt him walk up to my side.

“Come on, get up,” he ordered, smacking my ass to get me moving. “You’re coming to work with me.”

“I’m…I’m what?” I asked, surprise and a tinge of excitement entering my voice as I sat up in my chair and wiped my wild hair out of my eyes.

“You can draw anywhere, correct?”

I nodded. “Yes, but today’s work is a little more digitalized. I do a lot of my work on the computer.”

“Does your computer transport easily?”

I opened my mouth, then closed it. “My laptop, yes.”

“Then bring it with you,” he suggested. “But you’re not gonna stay here by yourself. I know that you want to prove that you’re all strong and a female version of Superman, but today you don’t have to do that. Honestly, I’m surprised that your father even left you and went home.”

I smiled. “My dad thinks I’m a badass.”

He grunted. “We’ll go over to your place so you can grab your things, and then we’ll head out. You have an aversion to riding a motorcycle?”

I immediately shook my head. “My dad…let’s just say that I grew up on the back of one. I took my first ride on one when I was a toddler.”

He grinned. “Frankie took her first ride when she was six, but that was only because every time I tried to take her earlier, my ex-wife would freak the fuck out and threaten to call CPS on me. In the long run, it was easier to just let her have her way.”

It was then I allowed my eyes to take in what he was wearing.

He had on a pair of sweatpants nearly identical to the gray ones I had on, only the ones that he was wearing were black.

And that was it.

He had nothing else covering him, and I could still make out the outline of his hard cock.

Maybe he didn’t know how noticeable it was?

I didn’t know, but I really didn’t care either.

I licked my lips and tried not to stare at his chest when I said, “Your wife is a dumbass.”

He burst out laughing, which subsequently caused his dick to jump.

I felt things in my lower half clench that had never clenched quite like that before and hoped that my nipples weren’t showing through my t-shirt.

“You can use the bathroom first. I’ll make coffee. We will check on your eggs when we pick up your computer.”

Then he was gone, and I was left staring at the finest ass I’d ever seen.

I slumped down in the chair and let one hand slip down my pants.

There was no way around it.

I had to fix this little problem.

Now.