Retribution (18 page)

“
Leanbh,
come here,” he crooned softly. “I’ve got you. Oh, baby, I’m so sorry.”

She didn’t acknowledge his presence. Fear slithered through him as he stooped to pick her up out of the now-cold shower. Dray wrapped her in a huge bath towel, settling her against his chest as he headed out of the bathroom. So fucking tiny; she was spun glass in his hands, infinitely precious and breakable. He sat on her bed, murmuring words designed to comfort and quiet her. Each of her cries bit deep into him, a rusty knife dull and deadly. The pain this woman had suffered at Dempsey’s hands, because of him, would haunt Dray for the rest of his life.

Dray settled her in his lap, trying not to dwell on the feel of her silky skin or the way her scent curled through his midsection. It was useless. He rested his back against the headboard of the bed and held her close. Her muscles released, and eventually the shivering stopped, though she quieted as soon as he tucked her head against his chest. She hadn’t looked at him. He couldn’t tell if she knew where she was or was just comforted by his strength and tone.

He continued to croon soft Gaelic phrases, offering reassurance the only way he knew. His grandfather had once sung Gaelic lullabies to him and his brother before he died. Dare had learned a lot of the old songs. Dray could only remember some, and he sang them to her.

Time passed and he lost track of it. The knowledge that she was here, against him, calmed the raging beast he’d become when he’d heard she was hurt. He stayed that way for hours, singing softly in his deep baritone until he too fell into a light slumber.

Sasha rushed headlong into wakefulness. Heat wrapped around and inside her, soothing even as it stirred. Surely she’d fallen asleep on the sun. A part of her brain cautioned stillness, yet another part demanded she press deeper into the warmth.

Damn, her head hurt. As if to ram the thought home, the pounding increased ten-fold, large railroad spikes of pain digging relentlessly into her skull. It reminded her of how she normally felt after getting drunk and—oh yeah, she
had
gotten drunk.

Sasha took a deep breath. It didn’t help. Alarm pierced her as her faculties rejoined her one by one. Could she move her arms? Check. Her legs? Check. Everything was attached? Check. The surface beneath her shifted, and a scent she remembered in her dreams assaulted her. Seriously. It punched her in the gut and ran over the rest of her.

She moaned as her palms came into contact with silk-covered steel that seemed immersed in fire. The fire shifted and rolled beneath her hands.

She stiffened.
What the hell?

She should not be noticing her breasts pressed against that silk-covered steel. She should not be noticing how her legs were entwined with someone—
oh shit!

She was butt-assed naked, and that wasn’t the sun she was lying on. It was another
person
. A very large, very hard, very warm
person
. Before she could struggle up and away, big hands cupped her head.

“Sasha.” Just her name in a beautiful baritone she only heard in her dreams. The tone and the scent reminded her of…

Look up, Sasha. No, no, no! Don’t look up!

She did and there he was.
Dray
.

This is it. I’ve finally passed on because there is no way I’m seeing you, much less laying on a bed with you—okay, more like on you.

He smiled his drop-your-panties smile and chuckled low in his throat. She winced as she realized she’d spoken out loud.

The wince jarred her completely awake. Fury was her heat now, and it was stifling. How quickly could she go from peace to blazing anger? She’d just found out.

“You son of a bitch! How dare you be here right now!” she yelled, pushing up and then grabbing her head when her voice rang like cymbals in her ears.

His smile disappeared, replaced with resignation.

I win
, she thought. Confusion finished ripping her awake because the loss of his grin didn’t really feel like winning.

“Sasha, be quiet. Come lie back down. You were hurt last night, and I don’t want you waking up everybody in the house. I’m forever telling you to be quiet. Come lay back down, and we’ll talk like normal adults,” he cajoled.

That tone pissed her off, but her stupid body didn’t recognize the anger as it curved back toward him.

He reached and hauled her back, covering her in the blankets and rolling to his side to face her. She stayed stiff in his arms, but the touch of his skin against hers was heaven. He smoothed her hair back, and she cuddled into the touch like a baby.

Dray took a deep breath, and it brought him even closer to her.

“How do you feel?” he asked.

“Like shit, Dray, how would you feel?”

“Do you need me to get Surrey to look you over? Does your head hurt?”

“I’m not talking about my damn head! I’m talking about—” She let the silence take over, but feminine fear forced the next words from her lips. “Why are you here, Dray?”

He sighed. It was sexy as hell. His scent was warm vanilla and sweet sin. His skin was molten lava. His face the stuff of her dreams.

She hated him.

But not really. It was probably herself she hated for not hating him.

“I came to make sure you were safe. A call was placed to this house that led our team to believe you were in dan—”

Sasha held up a hand. “No!” One second…two…“Why are you here in my bed and I have no clothes on?”

One corner of his mouth ticked up, and her heart followed. “Do you remember last night at all?”

“I remember everything. Vividly,” she stated in a waspish tone as she pushed the blanket down around her body. She waved a hand between them. “Except for this.”

The more she pulled the blanket to cover and surround her, the more it took it away from him. And the more golden skin was revealed, the more difficult her breathing became. His chest was sculpted muscle, flexing when he moved and making her ache in places she damn well didn’t want to ache.

She glanced up just in time to see his gaze track to her barely covered breasts. His face hardened and went blank. His eyes, though? Yeah, they were hot. Sasha took a deep breath. It didn’t help.

He was the one taking a breath then. “Do you remember leaving the house and going into the woods after Hal put you to bed? Do you remember being snuck up on; do you remember Hal being knocked out?”

“I remember—well damn—I remember Hal crying out, and when I turned, I saw her lying on the ground, so I ran to her. Someone called my name from behind. I thought the voice sounded familiar, but nobody was there. The next thing I remember is someone knocking on my door, and then I think I took a shower. Is Hal okay?”

They faced each other in her bed, his right hand resting on her hip, squeezing and releasing the entire time she’d talked.

Sasha picked up his hand and removed it, setting it in front of him as she scooted farther away.

He grinned again.

“Stop doing that!” she spat.

The grin didn’t disappear. “What?”

She closed her eyes and counted to ten, opening to find him still smiling.
Ass
.

“How is Hal?” She bit out each word between clenched teeth. The ache in her temples threatened to kill her.

“She’s fine. She must have a harder head than you. This is what we know: someone called the house last night looking for you after you’d taken off from the house.” Dray’s voice was hard as stone. “Hal followed you to your clearing, and when the men couldn’t find either one of you, they searched until they heard you screaming. They found Hal knocked out cold, but they had to search for a while as they followed the sounds of your voice. You were huddled in a ditch beside an oak tree screaming bloody murder. Surrey brought you back here and sedated you because they couldn’t get you calmed down.” He drew a finger down her cheek. “How do you feel, baby?”

She allowed his touch—hell, who was she kidding? She reveled in it, allowing herself five seconds of bliss as she absorbed what he said. She couldn’t remember any of what happened in the woods. Her skin tightened as panic grabbed her by the throat. Was there to be no peace for her?

“I feel all right. I need to get up and get dressed. And you need to get out of my bed and out of my room before Mama and Daddy have a conniption fit,” she stated irritably. “And don’t call me baby.”

He grinned. “It’s just now six in the morning, and your mama and daddy are gone to your Aunt Lola’s. We only have to worry about your nosey sisters and my men, and they know that I’m in here with you. Calm down,
mo ghrá
. Everything is fine. Come lie back down beside me and let me…” He seemed bewildered by what he was going to do next, as if he was unsure of what move to make now that they were face to face and both cognizant.

She turned away from temptation as weariness tugged at her body.

“I’m really tired, Dray. Let me get some clothes on, and then we’ll talk more, okay?”

She needed the temporary fortification of clothes. Dray Bonner, with his naked chest so close and his entire hard body in her bed, was more than she could handle.

She gingerly slid off the bed, making sure to keep the blanket around her. She pulled out some worn sweats with EMORY blazoned across the chest and pants’ legs and went to the bathroom to change. She was haunted by her sudden inability to physically handle herself. She’d studied martial arts for years trying to avoid this insecurity that swamped her now.

Afghanistan was never far from her. The reality of what she’d endured forced her to eat her vulnerability day and night. She’d been so strong. Now she was weak. She walked into the bathroom, and as the door snicked closed, Sasha took a deep breath and released her tears.

*

Sasha was his. Or she was going to be.

Dray pulled his shirt over his head as he watched her walk into the bathroom. His heart had made a decision. Any doubts he’d ever had about love or women were eclipsed in the certainty, and he could feel the weight on his chest lifting. He wasn’t a big believer in love, but even someone as hard as he was could see she’d been created for him. His instincts screamed at him, demanding he soothe and cherish her. It wasn’t love. What he felt made that emotion simple in comparison.

Something inside him unclenched at his unspoken declaration. She was his, and he would protect her from anyone who thought to harm her.

Now he just had to convince Sasha that beside him was the safest place to be. He hoped the damage he’d done to her last night wasn’t going to be the obstacle he was expecting.

Dray chuckled to himself, thinking of her ire from moments ago. Almost immediately he sobered up, resigning himself to the fact that he had a long, uphill climb with Sasha. He was preparing himself for the task when she walked out of the bathroom.

Goddamn, she stole his breath. Every time he saw her was like the first time. Freefalling through space would feel like this—no control and no ability to breathe. She’d brushed her hair until the dark-honey locks crackled. He could smell her minty toothpaste as she ventured by him.

His dick hardened. How toothpaste could be erotic, he had no idea. He grabbed her by the arm as she passed and hauled her against his body. He was unable to resist the temptation being this close to her presented.

Body to body they stood, nothing but the unknown separating them. He held her face in one large, callused hand and cupped his other around her hip as he drew her even closer. The dichotomy of their skin tones brought home their differences to him. He was dark where she was light. He was hard where she was soft. Damn, was she soft.

She let out a deep breath and lifted her gaze to his. Her gold gaze caught on his, and the banked desire there had his tongue sticking to the roof of his mouth. Dray cleared his throat and blinked. Her eyes widened and her lips parted. Invitation if he’d ever had one. He no longer had to wonder what it would be like to kiss her when she was awake. Here she was, and it was his move to make.

He lowered his head to hers. “
Mo chroí.
” The words welled up from his soul before his lips settled in feather-like caresses along hers. “I have waited an eternity for this, Sasha. Open up for me,
cheannsa
.”

She inhaled sharply, and as she parted her lips, he moved in deeper, licking at the seam, feasting as if it were his last meal. Sasha’s moan sounded an instant before she began returning his kiss with hot strokes of her tongue.

The constant arousal he fought around her exploded with her touch, and his cock hardened fully against his fly. It was the most painful type of pleasure. She still tasted of lemon drops, even with her freshly brushed teeth. It was a flavor unique to Sasha, and he craved it, wanted to devour her whole and never stop. She moved restlessly, trying to crawl up his body as he lifted her so the juncture of her thighs straddled his hips. He pressed deeply into the vee of her thighs and then moved backward toward the bed. She tugged on his hair, and he hissed at the pressure building between them.

Dray laid her gently on the covers, coming down on top of her but never breaking their frantic kisses. Her legs tightened on his hips, and he flexed forward. She moaned and he tasted it. She arched into him and he nearly lost it.

He had known it would be like this—pleasure beyond all imagining. It was insane to need her on this level. Yet he recognized her soul as if it was the other part of his. As she continued to melt and flow into him, he knew he’d never be able to break away from Sasha.

“I’m sorry.” The words were torn from him. As soon as he uttered them he wanted to kick his own ass.

She stiffened beneath him as she broke away, turning her head to the side. Air left him in a whoosh.
Way to go, asshole
.

He was here with her now, but she was immersed in new thoughts. Probably thoughts of last night. With no small amount of disbelief, he noticed his hands were shaking.
Fuck
.

Sasha’s heart thudded against his chest as she continued to face away from him. He pulled back slightly, and her gaze sliced to his.