deep V between his abs and his hips clearly visible and undeniably mouthwatering.
“Why are you here?” I ask dumbly as his hand wraps around my ankle and slides one of my legs free so I can finally turn and hang them off the edge of the bed. I ignore the burning on the skin of my leg where he touched me and instead, focus on the fact that I’m barely wearing more than him.
“I heard you screaming from downstairs.”
My thin, small, purple tank top doesn't leave much to the imagination so I cross my arms over my braless chest and try to calm my breathing but realize it's pointless because I’m wearing an equally revealing pair of matching boy shorts.
I look up at him in confusion. “What?’
He chuckles and reaches over, running his fingers through my hair. It's still damp from the shower I took before bed to try and scrub the feel of that disgusting man’s hands off of me.
“You asked what I was doing here. I heard you screaming. You scared the shit out of me with those lungs on you.”
I reach up with one hand and rub my temple, the beginning of a headache forming after the events of tonight and the awful dream.
“No, I mean, what are you doing here. In my house. In the middle of the night, like…that,” I stutter, my hand waving in his general direction.
Brady looks down at himself and then back up to me, raising one eyebrow.
“Well, I usually sleep in the buff, but when I heard you scream, I didn’t have time to throw much else on. Is this bothering you?” he asks with a smirk on his full lips.
Full, kissable lips.
Shut up, Layla.
“As for why I’m here, I didn’t feel right leaving when that guy is still out there. I’m going to stick around until he’s caught just to be on the safe side.”
My arms fall to my sides, and I turn and stare at him in shock, my eyes widening and my mouth dropping open.
“You can’t stay here. I mean, it’s nice of you to offer and all, but I have a brand new security system. And Finn lives in the cabin right behind me.”
And you being this close to me twenty-four seven when all I can think about is licking your stomach is NOT good. Not good at all.
“Sorry, sweetheart, I’m not negotiating this with you. I was hired to do a job, and I’m not going to slack off. What happened tonight should have never happened, and I need to find out why it did. I can’t do that if I’m constantly worried about your safety by being elsewhere,” he explains.
Would he really think about me and worry about me if he wasn’t here? Gaaaah, focus! You CANNOT have this man living with you.
Before I can continue the argument, my eyes zero in on the tattoo I noticed when we went on our run all those weeks ago. Now that he isn’t wearing a shirt, I can see the black inked words that flow in cursive script across his upper bicep. Without thinking, I reach out and run my fingers over the words.
“I will never forget,” I read aloud in a low whisper.
Brady’s jaw clenches as I finish running my fingertips over the words and look up at his face.
“What won’t you forget?” I ask him, looking back and forth between his eyes.
He swallows and wets his lips, and I can’t help but stare at his mouth when he opens it to speak.
“Friends, family, all the people I’ve let down,” he speaks softly.
I shift my eyes away from his mouth and wonder about his words. This is the most he’s opened up to me since that day in the woods and I want more. I want so much more. I don’t want him to shut down by asking more questions, though, so I change the subject.
I notice a black and blue mark on his chin that’s roughly the same size and shape as the one I currently sport under my eye. I immediately reach out and touch him.
“Was this from tonight?” I ask, my fingers grazing back and forth over the bruise.
Brady sucks in a sharp breath when I touch him again, his eyes roaming over my face, down my neck, and glancing heatedly over the cleavage showing at the top of my tank. I feel my nipples tingle and tighten as I watch him looking at me. He swallows thickly a few times as his