“If you’re a death sentence, that meal on the table isn’t the last thing I want to eat.”
Standing, she went to move around him.
He caught her arm.
“I’m tired,” she lied, achingly conscious of his grip and proximity. The top of her head was level with his shoulder. She wanted to turn into him and hold him again. Fear held her back. The fear that she wouldn’t have the strength to part from him again when the time came, which was only a couple days away.
Pressing a quick, hard kiss to her forehead, he released her.
She brushed her teeth, then climbed into bed. Brian gathered up what he needed and headed into the bathroom to shower. She feigned sleep when he slipped between the sheets and curled up behind her. Soaking up his warmth and the comfort of his embrace, she finally shut off the horrible images in her mind and drifted off.
Chapter 4
Layla’s soft cry of distress woke Brian a moment before she jerked violently in his arms.
“Baby,” he murmured, jostling her carefully. “Wake up. It’s okay.”
Her short nails dug into the forearm he had draped over her waist. She gasped and turned into his chest, burying her face against his bare skin.
“It’s okay,” he said again, running his hands up and down her spine to soothe her trembling. “I’ve got you.”
She pushed him to his back and climbed over him, clinging to his torso like a crab.
“Wanna talk about it?” he asked quietly, glancing at the clock on the nightstand. It was just past two in the morning.
“No,” she mumbled into the crook of his neck. “Just hold me.”
“Always.” He hugged her tight.
Wriggling over him, Layla got more comfortable. The position notched her pussy directly over his cock, the heat of her flesh burning through her boy-short underwear and his boxer briefs. His dick responded despite his strenuous efforts to keep it in check. When it came to Layla, he’d never been able to control his reactions to her—bodily or otherwise.
He knew the moment she became aware of his hard-on. She tensed slightly, her breathing hitching a moment, before continuing with a cautious tempo that was obviously considered.
“Ignore that,” he said.
Instead, she rolled her hips, stroking herself with the hard length of his cock. With her lips to his skin, she whispered, “It’s too big to ignore.”
Her tongue flicked over his throat and he cursed, his body tightening.
“Layla . . .” he warned.
Her hands slid down the sides of his chest to his waist. “Here’s a tip, tough guy: You’re about to get laid.”
Christ. Brian’s eyes squeezed shut. He wanted her so badly his teeth ached with it, but adrenalized by a nightmare wasn’t the state of mind he wanted her in when they finally went at each other.
But Layla wasn’t the kind of woman to be deterred, especially when it came to sex. And when she slid down his body and her teeth scraped lightly over the flat disk of his nipple, Brian lost the will to deny her.
Her tongue licked over the sensitive flesh and he jolted with a grunt.
“Watch it, baby,” he growled. “You know what it’s like with me when it’s been a while since I’ve had you.”
She wouldn’t have forgotten. He’d sometimes been overseas on a mission for months at a time. When he came home to her, she knew to have a cleared schedule and the kitchen stocked, because they wouldn’t be leaving his house for days.
“God, you’re sexy, Brian,” she said with a low moan and unmistakable note of resentment. “I get wet and needy just looking at you.”
And he was apparently going to pay for that. The way she reached between them and squeezed his erection wasn’t tender or tentative. It was firm and demanding. The stroke of her palm up and down was quick and forceful.
“Just thinking about you does it for me,” he said gruffly, startled when she lifted off him and slid out of bed.