The Price (House of Sin #5) - Elisabeth Naughton Page 0,21
all closed, and I held my breath as I stopped outside his room. A shiver racked my spine, one that made me wish I’d tossed a sweater over my tank in this cold castle, but I didn’t want to waste time and go get one now. I just wanted Luc.
The knob squeaked as I turned it in my hand, the sound sending my pulse up even higher. Moving quickly so the hinges didn’t wake anyone, I pushed the door open only a few inches, slipped into the room, then quietly shut it at my back.
Only a sliver of moonlight shone through the upper windows along the wall not covered by curtains. My gaze swept over the dark room and landed on Luc lying facedown on the bed, the sheet low across his hips to reveal the fresh bandage across his back, one bare foot hanging off the end of the mattress.
My heart bumped. His hands were up near his face, and as I rounded the mattress, I realized the pillows were half covering his head, either to block the light or drown out sound.
Memories of the way he’d looked on the bathroom floor flooded my mind—memories of him bent over and shaking, his voice raspy and deep, sounding nothing like him.
I stopped at the side of the bed, still couldn’t quite see his face. Indecision warred inside me. More than anything, I wanted to touch him, to wrap my arms around him, to slide between those sheets with him and hold him to me, but if he freaked out again, if I somehow triggered the same kind of reaction—
His head shifted my way, pushing the pillow partway off his face so I could see his nose and lips and the sexy scruff on his jaw I loved to run my fingers over. “Ang...letto?”
Warmth flooded my chest. “Yes,” I whispered, dropping to my knees beside his bed. “I’m right here.” I slid the pillow the rest of the way off his handsome face and brushed the soft hair back from his forehead. “I’m right here.”
He didn’t open his eyes, but I didn’t need him to. The way he angled his face toward my hand told me he sensed me. I blinked back happy tears.
He lifted his muscular arm, grimacing with the motion, and wrapped it around my shoulders. “C’mere.”
When he pulled me toward him, I didn’t resist. I climbed beneath the covers with him, fixed the pillow at my back, and let him drape his big body over mine. And when his head was resting on my chest and his legs were entwined with mine, I wrapped my arms around him, careful not to graze his wounds.
“I’ve got you,” I whispered, holding him close, sifting my fingers through his silky hair. “You’re all mine.” I pressed my lips against his forehead, hoping he felt all the love I held inside for him. “I’m not letting you go.”
He sighed and relaxed against me. As his weight pressed me deeper into the mattress and his warmth and strength surrounded me, I closed my eyes and was finally able to drift to sleep.
Felicity was right. All we needed was faith. We could survive anything so long as we held on to each other.
Voices woke me. Angry voices. Well, one angry voice. The other sounded... frustrated.
I struggled to pull my eyes open. A door slammed somewhere close, followed by that same angry voice yelling, “Just get her the fuck out of here!”
Blinking several times, I looked up and around. Luc’s room. I was in Luc’s room. I’d gone to him in the middle of the night.
Pushing up on my hands, I glanced across the empty bed toward the closed bathroom door. Marco dropped his hands from the doorframe and turned my way with a perturbed expression.
Unease filled my belly as I brushed the unruly curls back from my face. “What’s going on?”
“He woke to find you in his bed, and he’s not happy. That’s what’s going on.”
My gaze shifted to the bathroom door. “He wanted me in here last night. When I came in to check on him, he wouldn’t let me leave.”
“Is she gone yet?” Luc called.
Marco frowned and glanced back at the door. “Not yet.”
“Get her the fuck out of here because I’m not coming out until she leaves,” Luc snapped.
Marco moved to the side of the bed, leveling an apologetic expression at me. “That’s the pain talking. He’s due for his next dose of meds.”