handle anyone else touching me right now. As soon as they were gone, I rushed into the bedroom. Went through the doors to the balcony. Lifting my face to the cooler night of approaching Autumn, I focused on my breathing.
“Hero?”
I couldn’t answer her.
“Ryker, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know she was going to grab you.” Willow came up behind me. “Do you want me to touch you or not?”
I nodded.
Her hands came around me in an instant. She gripped my shirt, pulled it up. Sliding her hands along the warm skin of my belly, I felt my insides relax.
My next breath was easier. It didn’t stick in my throat. Didn’t make my pulse pound in my ears. “I love your mother, but sweet fuck, she can’t just touch me whenever she wants.” I laid my hands over Willow’s. Pressed her fingers harder into my flesh.
Willow set her nails into my skin. Applied pressure. That sweet slide of pain that kept me from spiraling into the darkness that waited deep inside. The perfect blend of stability and chaos that told me I was safe. That I was alive.
The sweet pain from the love of my life.
“I’ll talk to her. Explain it,” Willow whispered into my back. “Are you okay?”
I nodded. “Yeah. I need to take a shower. A hot one.”
“Can I come or do you need to do that alone?”
I groaned. “You can come with me. But you can’t jump my body, no matter how irresistible you find me.” I turned around, kept her arms around me.
She pouted at me. “Then it might be better for me to wait until you’re done.” She smiled. “Because for tonight, for all the nights you’ve saved me, I really want to jump your bones and show you my appreciation.”
I laughed. “I’ll be quick like a bunny.” I kissed her nose.
“I’ll be waiting.”
Chapter 30 – Willow
I rinsed out my mouth, put my toothbrush away. The steamy outline of Ryker in the shower made the humidity in the room feel ten times hotter. That man would make Adonis look flabby.
I shivered and went back out to the bedroom. I wasn’t going to peep on my man, make a crappy situation even worse with my loitering. I clenched my teeth as I replayed Momma grabbing him tonight.
I could have slapped her silly. We were going to have a long talk. A heart to heart. Ryker wasn’t like her other sons. She couldn’t just touch him as if he were. He was special. Different.
I heard the water shut off as I slid between the covers of Ryker’s ginormous bed. I swear, it could eat my king size and still have room for dessert. It was honestly the most comfortable thing I’d ever slept in.
My man came out of the bathroom. The towel tucked low against his hips. I licked my lips imagining the taste of his skin right there in the V line that pointed the way to my personal heaven. Yum.
He flung his towel at me. “I feel like such a piece of meat.” His voice was pitched high as he flicked his imaginary long hair over his shoulder.
“I’m a carnivore, baby,” I said in my best man voice. “I’ll eat you right up.”
We both laughed. He slid some sleep pants on. Covering his delicious body from my eyes.
I looked up into his eyes. Saw the hesitation, the uncertainty. My guy didn’t want me to jump him tonight. I could fully understand that.
I flicked his corner of the covers back. “Remind me to ride you like a cowgirl in the morning, yeah?”
His face cleared as he slid into bed. “Yes, ma’am.”
I wrinkled my nose. “Was that supposed to be a southern drawl?”
He smiled, nodded. “If I got to watch TV, it was with Grams. She loved Westerns.” He pulled me into his arms after he turned the lights off. He pushed his face into my hair. Sighed.
“When are you going to tell Baxter to bring her home?” I asked.
“After the gala. I don’t want her around until this whole thing is resolved. It will be easier to move her fewer times as well.”
“You miss her.”
I felt him nod, his chin rubbing over my hair. “Yeah. I visited her every week. Usually on Wednesdays.”
“Why do you hide her at Good Shepherd?”
He sighed. “I don’t hide her, necessarily. She told me, before her illness got bad, to make sure she was far enough away to not be a bother. She wanted all new faces so she didn’t have to